Abstract
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become a conventional tool for elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of protein aggregation and, specifically, for analysis of assembly pathways, architecture, aggregation state, and heterogeneity of oligomeric intermediates or mature fibrils. AFM imaging provides useful information about particle dimensions, shape, and substructure with nanometer resolution. Conventional AFM methods have been very helpful in the analysis of polymorphic assemblies formed in vitro from homogeneous proteins or peptides. However, AFM imaging on its own provides limited insight into conformation or composition of assemblies produced in the complex environment of a cell, or prepared from a mixture of proteins as a result of cross-seeding. In these cases, its combination with fluorescence microscopy (AFFM) increases its resolution.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- AFM:
-
Atomic force microscopy
- AFFM:
-
Atomic force fluorescence microscopy
References
Anderson, M., Bocharova, OV, Makarava, N., Breydo, L., Salnikov, VV, and Baskakov IV. (2006) Polymorphysm and Ultrastructural Organization of Prion Protein Amyloid Fibrils: An Insight from High Resolution Atomic Force Microscopy. J Mol Biol 358, 580–596.
Jansen, R., Dzwolak, W., and Winter, R. (2005) Amyloidogenic Self-Assembly of Insulin Aggregates Probed by High Resolution Atomic Force Microscopy. Biophys J 88, 1344–1353.
Zhu, M., Han, S., Zhou, F., Carter, SA, and Fink, AL. (2004) Annular olgomeric amyloid intermediates observed by in situ atomic force microscopy. J Biol Chem 279, 24452–24459.
Chamberlain, AK, MacPhee, CE., Zurdo, J. et al. (2000) Ultrastructural Organization of Amyloid Fibrils by Atomic Force Miscroscopy. Biophys J 79, 3282–3293.
Makarava, N., Lee, CI, Ostapchenko, VG, and Baskakov IV. (2007) Highly promiscuous nature of prion polymerization. J Biol Chem 282, 36704–36713.
Makarava, N., Ostapchenko, VG., Savtchenko, R., and Baskakov, IV. (2009) Conformational switching within individual amyloid fibrils. J Biol Chem 28, 14386–14395.
Baskakov, IV. (2009) Switching in amyloid structure within individual fibrils: implication for strain adaptation, species barrier and strain classification. FEBS Lett 583, 2618–2622.
Makarava, N., and Baskakov, IV. (2008) The same primary structure of the prion protein yields two distinct self-propagating states. J Biol Chem 283, 15988–15996.
Lisa, S., Meli, M., Cabello, G., Gabizon, R., Colombo, G., and Gasset, M. (2010) The structural intolerance of the PrP α-fold for polar substitution of the helix-3 methionines. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 67, 2825–2838
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in parts by the National Institute of Health (grant R01 NS045585 to I.V.B), the Spanish MICINN (BFU2009—07971 to MG), and the Fundación CIEN (to MG).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Ostapchenko, V., Gasset, M., Baskakov, I.V. (2012). Atomic Force Fluorescence Microscopy in the Characterization of Amyloid Fibril Assembly and Oligomeric Intermediates. In: Sigurdsson, E., Calero, M., Gasset, M. (eds) Amyloid Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 849. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-551-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-551-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-550-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-551-0
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols