ABSTRACT
Fabricated AFM Probes ............................................................................ 20 2.5 AFM Imaging and Manipulation with the Fabricated AFM Probes ........ 22 2.6 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 28 Acknowledgment ................................................................................................ 28 References ........................................................................................................... 28
The chromosome has a complex structure that consists of DNA and proteins, and the length of DNA sequence reaches about three billion base pairs for the human genome [1]. During cell division, the mitotic chromosome forms a highly condensed structure, and distributes the genetic information to two daughter cells evenly and accurately. Therefore, the formation of a higher order chromosomal structure is an indispensable aspect of its vital activity. However, it has only been possible to observe the macro structure, because chromosome research has been largely carried out by optical or electron microscopy (see also Part II). Recently, genomic research that centers on DNA has advanced prominently. However, the relationships between the structure of the chromosome and the distribution of the
genes and their base sequences have not been determined in detail. Therefore, a new analytical technique that can include these spatially distributed elements is required for advanced research on chromosomes. For example, the chromosome could be finely fractionated by a probe for atomic force microscopy (AFM), then these parts distributed to each chamber of an array, and DNA would be detected by using a suitable method, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification (see also Chapter 3).
