肌动蛋白的原子力显微镜研究

原子力显微镜 (AFM )是一种能够在生理条件下对生物大分子、活细胞表面以及细胞膜下结构进行在体或离体研究的强有力的新型工具 ,具有原子级的成像分辨率和纳牛顿级的力测定功能。目前原子力显微镜已被广泛地应用于生物大分子、超分子体系的结构解析、动力学过程观察 ,分子力学研究及细胞功能鉴定。原子力显微镜能够通过尖锐探针扫描待测样品表面 ,收集被测样品表面地貌坐标数据从而对单分子或细胞进行成像或操作 ,并能通过移动探针、记录探针与样品之间的作用力 ,对生物大分子 (蛋白质、核酸和多糖等 )的结构力学特性进行分析以获取分子构象、功能及其相互关系的有用信息。肌动蛋白是一种细胞内普遍存在 ,具有广泛、复杂生理功能的重要蛋白质 ,原子力显微镜的各项功能已广泛地用于肌动蛋白结构、功能及动力学研究。通过综述原子力显微镜在肌动蛋白研究中的应用 ,阐明了原子力显微镜在现代生命科学研究中的重要意义及巨大应用前景。

Atomic Force Microscopy of Actin

Atomic force microscope (AFM) is a powerful and novel tool to investigate the surface and submembranous structures of living cells under physiological conditions at high resolution, and has force measure at nano-Newton level. AFM can image and manipulate samples (single macromolecule, cells, and so on) at very high, sometimes atomic resolution by scanning a fine tip over the surface of interest and detecting physical interactions between the tip and sample. Actin is one of the most important proteins, involved extensively in various cell physiological activities and functions in eukaryotes. The present paper clarified the crucial significance and the enormous applicable prospects of AFM in modern biological sciences by reviewing the usage of AFM in actin study, which can be taken as a good example for expounding almost all functions that AFM owns, and can be utilized in life sciences exploration.