[Evaluation of thermal resistance of Azotobacter chroococcum 66 using atomic force microscopy]

A possibility to use atomic force microscopy (AFM) for comparative analysis of thermal resistance of Azotobacter chroococcum 66 cells has been studied. The sizes of bacteria cells and the structuredness of the cytoderm have been shown to vary depending on the dose of hyperthermic action and on the composition of the media for heating and subsequent incubation. A thermally induced increase of a standard roughness parameter (R(a)) and of cell sizes has been revealed to reflect an increased level of their resistance to hyperthermia.