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Field ion microscopy of biomolecules
Author(s) -
Machlin E. S.,
Freilich A.,
Agrawal D. C.,
Burton J. J.,
Briant C. L.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1975.tb04012.x
Subject(s) - biomolecule , chemical physics , denaturation (fissile materials) , macromolecule , field (mathematics) , chemistry , nanotechnology , microscopy , field ion microscope , molecule , biological system , biophysics , materials science , ion , optics , physics , biology , biochemistry , mathematics , organic chemistry , pure mathematics , nuclear chemistry
SUMMARY A new type of image, existing only at field strengths below the denaturation field strengths of molecules, has been discovered. This type of image has structure, is not symmetrical and thus differs from previously reported low field strength images. The possibility that macromolecules adsorbed on tip surfaces produce such structured images has been exhaustively investigated. The result is that no observation has been found which disproves this hypothesis and many tests conducted in such attempts yielded correlations consistent with this hypothesis. It is therefore concluded that it is highly probable that biomolecules produce structured images and that it is highly improbable that these correlations represent a chance event. On the other hand, these correlations may be due to some cause unknown to the authors; but we consider this possibility to be unlikely. Some micrographs have been obtained which provide a reasonable basis for the hope that tertiary structure information may be derived from low field strength imaging of partially embedded biomolecules or of biomolecules that are resistant to field denaturation during imaging. Information may presently be obtained from analysis of low field strength ion micrographs about the size and shape of some biomolecules.