Abstract
High-speed atomic force microscopy (HSAFM) is an important tool for studying the dynamic behavior of large biomolecular assemblies at surfaces. However, unlike light microscopy techniques, which visualize each point in the field of view at the same time, in HSAFM, the surface is literally imaged pixel-by-pixel with a variable extent of time separation existing between recordings made at one pixel and all others within the surface image. Such “temporal asynchronicity” in the recording of the spatial information can introduce distortions into the image when the surface components move at a rate comparable to that at which the surface is imaged. This Letter describes recently released software developments that are able to predict the likely form of these distortions and estimate confidence levels when assigning the identity of observed structures. These described approaches may facilitate both the design and optimization of future HSAFM experimental protocols. Further to this, they may assist in the interpretation of results from already published HSAFM studies.
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Notes
The driving force may take the form of piezoelectric transduction of an electrical current, radiation pressure typically caused by a pulsed laser separate from the detection laser or even acoustic or magnetic transduction effects.
Such that we have FM, frequency modulation, or AM, amplitude modulation, as a result of the feedback cycle.
Variations of these three sampling regimes are possible based on combining information from high resolution sampling to produce averaged lower resolution (larger pixel value) images (see (Hall and Foster, 2023)).
By open, we are referring to an open system, i.e., it allows the transfer of matter.
To the present author at least.
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Acknowledgements
DH would like to thank Assist. Prof. Takashi Sumikama and Prof. Toshio Ando for discussion and comments made on an earlier draft of this Letter. DH acknowledges funding associated with the receipt of a “Tokunin” Assistant Professorship carried out at the WPI-Center for Nano Life Science, Kanazawa University. This work was supported, in part, by KAKENHI Start-Up grant (21K20633) and a KAKENHI Kiba C grant (23K05712) awarded to D.H.
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‘Issue Focus on 2022 IUPAB Workshop on the Computational Biophysics of Atomic Force Microscopy’
Guest Editors: T. Sumikama, H. Flechsig and D. Hall
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Hall, D. Simulating biological surface dynamics in high-speed atomic force microscopy experiments. Biophys Rev 15, 2069–2079 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-023-01169-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-023-01169-z