Preliminary study on the morphology of rabies virus by atomic force microscopy / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the application of atomic force microscopy( AFM ) on the research of morphology of the rabies viruses. Methods To prepare the rabies virus CTN-1v strains by ultracentrifugation, and observe it with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) which negatively stained by phosphotungstic acid. Then study the morphology of rabies virus with AFM based on the result of TEM. AFM image applies the tapping mode to rabies virus without any further treatment in air at room temperature. Results The TEM image is two-dimensional image which can be seen the classical bullet-shaped structure,and the spike structure can also be seen. The AFM image showed the rabies virus morphology with three-dimensional image which can shows the characteristics of the virus surface and edge. The rabies virus particle was successfully observed by TEM or AFM methods. Conclusion It's the first time to get the three-dimensional morphological structure of rabies virus by atomic force microscopy, compared with transmission electron microscopy, AFM is a new research tool for viral morphology study with the advantages of simple sample preparing and intuitionistic and visible interface for researchers.