Abstract
The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a new and exciting method of direct surface analysis. Following the microscope’s first construction by Binnig and Rohrer in 1982 (1,2)—for which they won the 1986 Nobel Prize for Physics—the instrument has been extensively used to investigate the surface properties of many inorganic conducting materials. In recent years, the microscope has been utilized to investigate biological molecules deposited on suitable conducting surfaces, providing atomic resolution images of single molecules, with no conformational averaging as occurs for spectroscopic techniques associated with the study of bulk molecules. These studies show that the technique is a potentially valuable biophysical tool complementary to the other well established methods that are extensively reviewed in this volume. To date, high resolution images of biological systems, such as DNA (3), globular macromolecules, such as vicilin (4), and phospholipid membranes (5) have been obtained, with the body of scientific literature increasing rapidly with time. This chapter reports on the basis of the use of the technique for imaging biologicals, the equipment required, and how STM imaging is undertaken.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Binnig, G., Rohrer, H., Gerber, C., and Weibel, E. (1982) Surface studres by scanning tunneling microscopy. Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 57–61.
Binnig, G. and Rohrer, H. (1985) The scanning tunneling microscope. Sci. Am. 253, 50–56.
Arscott, P. G., Lee, G, Bloomfield, V. A., and Evans, D. F. (1989) Scanning tunneling microscopy of Z-DNA. Nature (London) 119, 484–486.
Welland, M. E, Miles, M J, Lambert, N., Morris, V. J., Coombs, J. H., and Pethica, J. B. (1989) Structure of the globular protein Vicilin revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 11, 29–32.
Zasadzinski, J A. N. (1989) Scanning tunneling microscopy with apphcations to brological surfaces. Biotechniques 7, 174–187.
Tersoff, J. and Hamann, D. R. (1983) Theory and applications for the scanning tunneling microscope. Phys. Rev L&t. 50, 1998–2001
Baratoff, A. (1984) Theory of scanning tunneling microscopy-methods and applications. Physica (Utrecht) 127B, 143–150.
Hansma, P. K and Tersoff, J. (1987) Scanning tunneling microscopy. J Appl Phys. 61, R1–458
Mittal, K. (ed.) (1979) Suface Contamination Plenum, New York.
Hara, M., Iwakabe, Y., Tochigi, K., Sasabe, H., Garito, A. F., and Yamada, A. (1990) Anchoring structure of smectic liquid-crystal layers on molybdenum sulphide observed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Nature (London) 344, 228–230
McMaster, T. J., Carr, H. J, Miles, M. J., Cairns, P., and Morris, V J (1990) Scanning tunneling microscopy of poly-benzyl-L-glutamate. J. Vac. Sci. Technol A8, 672–677.
Miles, M.J., McMaster, T., Carr, H. J., Tatham, A. S., Shewry, P. R., Field, J. M., Belton, P. S., Jeens, B, Hanley, M., Whittam, P., Cairns, P., Morris, V. J., and Lambert, N. (1990) Scanning tunneling microscopy of biomolecules. J. Vat. Sci. Technol. A8, 698–702.
Linsay, S M., Thundat, T., Nagahara, L, Knipping, U., and Rill, R.L. (1989) Images of the DNA double helix in water. Science 244, 1063–1064.
Zasadzinski, J. A. N., Schneir, J., Gurley, J., Elings, V., and Hansma, P. K. (1988) Scanning tunneling microscopy of freeze-fractured replicas of biomembranes. Science 239, 1013–1014.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Humana Press Inc, Totowa, NJ
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Williams, P.M., Cheema, M.S., Davies, M.C., Jackson, D.E., Tendler, S.J. (1994). Biological Applications of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy. In: Jones, C., Mulloy, B., Thomas, A.H. (eds) Microscopy, Optical Spectroscopy, and Macroscopic Techniques. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 22. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-232-9:25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-232-9:25
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-232-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-509-9
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols