The scanning force microscopy of DNA in air and in n‐propanol using new spreading agents

FEBS Letters

Jovin, Thomas M.¹  Starink, J.P.Pascual¹  Schaper, Achim¹ 

[1]Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, PO Box 2841, 37018 Göttingen, Germany

关键词: Atomic force microscopy;    Scanning tunneling microscopy;    DNA;    Cetylpyridinium chloride;    Benzylalkonium chloride;    2;    4;    6-Tris(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol;   

DOI  :  10.1016/0014-5793(94)01166-4

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

We present recent advances in DNA specimen preparation technique for scanning force microscopy (SFM) based on spreading on mica in the presence of cationic and non-ionic detergents. Reproducible DNA imaging in air and in n-propanol has been achieved in the presence of the non-ionic detergent 2,4,6-tris(dimethylaminomethyl) phenol (DMP-30) or the cationic detergent cetylpyridinium chloride (CP) in a microdrop containing nanograms of DNA. In an alternative procedure, a microdrop of detergent is applied to the surface just prior to the DNA. Quantitative image analysis yields as the apparent molecular dimensions of the DNA a width of ∼ 7 nm and a height of ∼ 0.7 nm, and delineates the problems of DNA metrology by SFM.

【 授权许可】

Unknown