ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the imaging of proteins in native membranes by atomic force microscopy (AFM), taking advantage of its capability to image single molecules in native samples. It describes the studies about prokaryotic photosynthetic membranes and on the characterization of eukaryotic eye lens membranes. In addition to high-resolution topographic imaging, another key advantage of AFM is its excellent capacity to nano-manipulate individual membrane proteins by applying additional loading forces to the imaging tip, along with adapted scan rates and feedback parameters to deliberately act on the surface of the biological object. High-resolution imaging and manipulation often benefit each other during the study of membrane protein structure. AFM is a powerful tool for the characterization of biological molecules, providing high-resolution topographic data of biological molecules under physiological buffer conditions at room temperature and ambient pressure. The shape of the tip of the apex determines the imaging resolution and the pyramid the distribution of the applied force over the sample.
