有一会儿对能够决定大生物建筑群的结构的仪器的一个重要要求。当时原子力量显微镜学(RT-AFM ) 直接提供了的房间温度单个蛋白质的亚纳米分辨率图象,在更大的生物集会的图象的分辨率由于这些样品的固有的柔软部分至少是相当差的[1,2 ] 。我们以前为生物样品明确地开发了一台唯一的低温实验法的原子力量显微镜(cryo-AFM ) ,它能在象 77 K 一样低的温度想象[3 ] 。期望是所有生物分子将在这些低温实验法的温度变得难得多以便成像将是可能的为实质上所有生物样品不管他们的尺寸,异质的柔软,或范围。随后的直接大小证实了这些期望[3 ] ,并且这台仪器现在提供了大生物样品的详细图象,从 oligomeric 抗体到未经触动的房间膜,与能与 RT-AFM 被获得的超过那的分辨率[4-6 ] 。
There is presently a significant demand for instruments capable of determining the structures of large biological complexes. While room temperature atomic force microscopy (RT-AFM) has provided direct sub-nanometer resolution images of individual proteins, the resolution in images of larger biological assemblies is rather poor at least partly due to the inherent softness of these samples [1,2]. We previously developed a unique cryogenic atomic force microscope (cryo-AFM) specifically for biological samples, which can image at temperatures as low as 77 K [3].