1.
Eur Phys J E Soft Matter
; 38(12): 140, 2015 Dec.
Artigo
em Inglês
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26701715
RESUMO
The atomic force microscope (AFM) evolved as a standard device in modern microbiological research. However, its capability as a sophisticated force sensor is not used to its full capacity. The AFM turns into a unique tool for quantitative adhesion research in bacteriology by using "bacterial probes". Thereby, bacterial probes are AFM cantilevers that provide a single bacterium or a cluster of bacteria as the contact-forming object. We present a step-by-step protocol for preparing bacterial probes, performing force spectroscopy experiments and processing force spectroscopy data. Additionally, we provide a general insight into the field of bacterial cell force spectroscopy.