title: High-speed AFM imaging.
abstract: Proteins are dynamic in nature and function at the single molecule level. To achieve a straightforward and in-depth understanding of their underlying functional mechanism, we need to directly observe protein molecules at work at high resolution, without the use of protein-attached markers. To realize such objectives, high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) has been developed and recently its capability has been fully established. This approach opens a new avenue to directly and closely observe individual molecules at submolecular spatial resolution and sub-100 ms time resolution. The captured molecular movies of proteins directly report and provide great insights into how the proteins function. Moreover, the very recent progress of HS-AFM technology has extended its use to the observation of dynamic cellular processes. In this article, I review imaging studies to show the innovative power and potential of this new microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan; Bio-AFM Frontier Research Center, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan. Electronic address: tando@staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ando
mesh_terms: D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins