Imaging of DNA molecules by scanning probe microscopy

摘要

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been widely used to study biomolecules. The reslution at this level, however, is insufficient for sequencing DNA, which requires a breakthrough in the current resolution limits. Non-Contact (NC) AFM has extremely high sensitivity, which has achieved true atomic-order resolution for clean surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions. We have successfully demonstrated that NC-AFM is able to image double helical structure of DNA molecule [1]. We will show the advantage of combined measurements of NC-AFM with scanning tunnelling microscopy.