High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy and Nanomechanical Mapping as Tools for Studying Dynamic Membrane Remodeling Processes

摘要: Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has recently undergone significant technological improvements that enable recording of surface topography in the sub-second timescales. This development, termed High-Speed AFM (HS-AFM) is particularly of interest for the study of the dynamics of biomolecules. It was used with great success to study the structural dynamics of molecular motors such as myosin V [1] and the characterization of membrane protein dynamics in a lipid bilayer [2]. Most recently, we have succeeded to visualize the molecular mechanism of Snf7 assembly formation [3]. Snf7 is the major polymerization component of the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport-III (ESCRT-III). We observed the formation of spiraling filaments on negatively charged membranes and estimated that these filaments can store sufficient elastic energy to drive membrane deformation. In our most recent work, we studied …