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Imaging bacterial membrane vesicles with a delicate touch

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 19, page 76 (2021)Cite this article

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This month’s Under the Lens discusses the application of high-speed atomic force microscopy to image fragile bacterial membrane vesicles by briefly touching them with a gentle tapping force, revealing species-specific heterogeneity in membrane vesicle size distribution linked to biological function.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a type of scanning probe microscopy where a probe consisting of a cantilever with a sharp tip at the end physically scans the surface of the specimen examined. The tip’s proximity to the surface generates an atomic force that results in cantilever movement, and this is detected by changes in laser reflected light. Unlike optical microscopy, AFM resolution is not limited by diffraction or light aberrations as there are no lenses involved, and AFM can easily reach a sub-nanometre scale (~1,000 times better than optical microscopy). There are two major operational modes of AFM: contact mode, when the tip is constantly touching the sample, and tapping mode, when the tip vibrates around the sample surface, reducing the force applied.

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References

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Ruth Cohen-Khait

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  1. Ruth Cohen-Khait
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Correspondence to Ruth Cohen-Khait.

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Cohen-Khait, R. Imaging bacterial membrane vesicles with a delicate touch. Nat Rev Microbiol 19, 76 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-00492-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-00492-6

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