Takayuki Umakoshi1, Shingo Fukuda2, Ryota Iino3, Takayuki Uchihashi4, Toshio Ando5. 1. Department of Applied Physics, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. 2. Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan. 3. Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8787, Japan. 4. Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan. 5. Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan. Electronic address: tando@staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) has successfully visualized a variety of protein molecules during their functional activity. However, it cannot visualize small molecules interacting with proteins and even protein molecules when they are encapsulated. Thus, it has been desired to achieve techniques enabling simultaneous optical/AFM imaging at high spatiotemporal resolution with high correlation accuracy. METHODS: Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is a candidate for the combination with HS-AFM. However, the imaging rate of SNOM has been far below that of HS-AFM. We here developed HS-SNOM and metal tip-enhanced total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) by exploiting tip-scan HS-AFM and exploring methods to fabricate a metallic tip on a tiny HS-AFM cantilever. RESULTS: In tip-enhanced TIRFM/HS-AFM, simultaneous video recording of the two modalities of images was demonstrated in the presence of fluorescent molecules in the bulk solution at relatively high concentration. By using fabricated metal-tip cantilevers together with our tip-scan HS-AFM setup equipped with SNOM optics, we could perform simultaneous HS-SNOM/HS-AFM imaging, with correlation analysis between the two overlaid images being facilitated. CONCLUSIONS: This study materialized simultaneous tip-enhanced TIRFM/HS-AFM and HS-SNOM/HS-AFM imaging at high spatiotemporal resolution. Although some issues remain to be solved in the future, these correlative microscopy methods have a potential to increase the versatility of HS-AFM in biological research. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: We achieved an imaging rate of ~3 s/frame for SNOM imaging, more than 100-times higher than the typical SNOM imaging rate. We also demonstrated ~39 nm resolution in HS-SNOM imaging of fluorescently labeled DNA in solution.
BACKGROUND: High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) has successfully visualized a variety of protein molecules during their functional activity. However, it cannot visualize small molecules interacting with proteins and even protein molecules when they are encapsulated. Thus, it has been desired to achieve techniques enabling simultaneous optical/AFM imaging at high spatiotemporal resolution with high correlation accuracy. METHODS: Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is a candidate for the combination with HS-AFM. However, the imaging rate of SNOM has been far below that of HS-AFM. We here developed HS-SNOM and metal tip-enhanced total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) by exploiting tip-scan HS-AFM and exploring methods to fabricate a metallic tip on a tiny HS-AFM cantilever. RESULTS: In tip-enhanced TIRFM/HS-AFM, simultaneous video recording of the two modalities of images was demonstrated in the presence of fluorescent molecules in the bulk solution at relatively high concentration. By using fabricated metal-tip cantilevers together with our tip-scan HS-AFM setup equipped with SNOM optics, we could perform simultaneous HS-SNOM/HS-AFM imaging, with correlation analysis between the two overlaid images being facilitated. CONCLUSIONS: This study materialized simultaneous tip-enhanced TIRFM/HS-AFM and HS-SNOM/HS-AFM imaging at high spatiotemporal resolution. Although some issues remain to be solved in the future, these correlative microscopy methods have a potential to increase the versatility of HS-AFM in biological research. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: We achieved an imaging rate of ~3 s/frame for SNOM imaging, more than 100-times higher than the typical SNOM imaging rate. We also demonstrated ~39 nm resolution in HS-SNOM imaging of fluorescently labeled DNA in solution.
Authors: Laura Andolfi; Alice Battistella; Michele Zanetti; Marco Lazzarino; Lorella Pascolo; Federico Romano; Giuseppe Ricci Journal: Int J Mol Sci Date: 2021-04-07 Impact factor: 5.923