Attaching Biological Molecules to AFM Probes for Nanoscale Molecular Recognition Studies

摘要

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is an important tool to study nanoscale molecular interactions. A strong suit of AFM is its ability to measure ligand-receptor interactions with picoNewton sensitivity These biomolecular interactions are critical factors in a variety of physiological processes; such as the initiation, modulation and termination of DNA replication, transcription, enzyme activity, infection, immune responses, tissue generation, wound healing, cell differentiation, apotopsis, and physiological responses from drugs, hormones and toxic agents. Using AFM, scientists can probe and quantify these interactions in their native environments or perform dynamic experiments in situ by removing or adding ions, solutes or other reagents to the sample environment. Ligand-receptor unbinding forces and several kinetic parameters can be calculated and used to infer structural information about the molecular interactions. Nanoscale bioconjugation chemistry and surface chemistry are often required in these studies because, for the AFM to resolve the mechanical forces required to separate the ligands from their targets, the ligands must be immobilized on the AFM probe and the receptors need to be immobilized on stationary substrates.