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Updated: Apr 14, 2026
Sample Preparation for Single Virion Atomic Force Microscopy and Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging
Published on: January 2, 2014
Electrochemical atomic force microscopy imaging of redox-immunomarked proteins on native potyviruses: from
Laurent Nault1, Cécilia Taofifenua1, Agnès Anne1
1†Laboratoire d'Electrochimie Moléculaire, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Unité Mixte de Recherche Université, CNRS No 7591, Bâtiment Lavoisier, 15 rue Jean-Antoine de Baïf, 75205 Cedex 13 Paris, France.
Abstract:
We show herein that electrochemical atomic force microscopy (AFM-SECM), operated in molecule touching (Mt) mode and combined with redox immunomarking, enables the in situ mapping of the distribution of proteins on individual virus particles and makes localization of individual viral proteins possible. Acquisition of a topography image allows isolated virus particles to be identified and structurally characterized, while simultaneous acquisition of a current image allows the sought after protein, marked by redox antibodies, to be selectively located. We concomitantly show that Mt/AFM-SECM, due to its single-particle resolution, can also uniquely reveal the way redox functionalization endowed to viral particles is distributed both statistically among the viruses and spatially over individual virus particles. This possibility makes Mt/AFM-SECM a unique tool for viral nanotechnology.
