Nanodissection and noncontact imaging of plasmid DNA with an atomic force microscope

In this paper we report that a combination of noncontact and contact atomic force microscopy is a convenient and reliable method for imaging and dissecting single plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strands on mica at ambient conditions without leaving feedback and without damage to the scanning tips. The width and thickness measured at different points of the DNA strands agree with literature data and are the same before and after dissection.