Atomic Force Microscopy and Its Application in Microbiology

摘要

The atomic force microscopy (AFM), invented by Binning et al. in 1986, was a technique for surface analysis at nanometer scale. This technique not only provides, in real time, three-dimensional information of the bio-specimen surface under physiological conditions, but also can be used to probe the physical properties of the specimen, e.g., molecular interaction force, surface topograph, surface charge distribution, and various mechanical properties. The measurements performed by AFM provide the information on related structure and function of a variety of microbial surfaces.