title: Scanning tunneling microscopy of planar biomembranes.
abstract: We combined planar membrane monolayer techniques with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to measure the thickness of metal-coated purple membrane (PM) isolated from Halobacterium halobium. Although the metal coating precluded obtaining high-resolution lateral information, it facilitated obtaining high-resolution vertical information. For example, the apparent mean thickness of planar PM and variations in thickness of enzyme-treated PM could be detected and quantified at sub-nanometer resolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0130.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Yanagimoto
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Whitfield
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006217:Halobacterium / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008670:Metals; D016252:Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling
chemical_list: D008670:Metals