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Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Viruses with AFM

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Atomic Force Microscopy

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1886))

Abstract

Microscopes are used to characterize small objects with the help of probes that interact with the specimen, such as photons and electrons in optical and electron microscopies, respectively. In atomic force microscopy (AFM) the probe is a nanometric tip located at the end of a micro cantilever which palpates the specimen under study as a blind person manages a walking stick. In this way AFM allows obtaining nanometric resolution images of individual protein shells, such as viruses, in liquid milieu. Beyond imaging, AFM also enables not only the manipulation of single protein cages, but also the characterization of every physicochemical property able of inducing any measurable mechanical perturbation to the microcantilever that holds the tip. In this chapter we start revising some recipes for adsorbing protein shells on surfaces. Then we describe several AFM approaches to study individual protein cages, ranging from imaging to spectroscopic methodologies devoted for extracting physical information, such as mechanical and electrostatic properties. We also explain how a convenient combination of AFM and fluorescence methodologies entails monitoring genome release from individual viral shells during mechanical unpacking.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge our collaborators and projects FIS2017-89549-R, Fundación BBVA and “María de Maeztu” Program for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0377).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structure of Macromolecules, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB–CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    Álvaro Ortega-Esteban, Mercedes Hernando-Pérez & Cármen San MartÚn

  2. Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Natália Martín-González, Francisco Moreno-Madrid & Pedro J. de Pablo

  3. School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Aida Llauró

  4. Solid Condensed Matter Institute IFIMAC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Pedro J. de Pablo

Authors
  1. Álvaro Ortega-Esteban
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  2. Natália Martín-González
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  3. Francisco Moreno-Madrid
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  4. Aida Llauró
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  5. Mercedes Hernando-Pérez
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  6. Cármen San MartÚn
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  7. Pedro J. de Pablo
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Correspondence to Pedro J. de Pablo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Nuno C. Santos

  2. Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Filomena A. Carvalho

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Ortega-Esteban, Á. et al. (2019). Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Viruses with AFM. In: Santos, N., Carvalho, F. (eds) Atomic Force Microscopy. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1886. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8894-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8894-5_15

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