Analytical Sciences

Heat-fixation Method Used in an Atomic Force Microscopy Study of Cell Morphology

Zhe-Xue LU,* Zhi-Ling ZHANG,* Wan-Liang SHI,** Dai-Wen PANG,* Zhi-Xiong XIE,** and Ping SHENG**

*College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China
**College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China

In order to overcome the difficulties with existing methods for sample immobilization in imaging Halobacterium salinarum (H. salinarum) living in a highly salty medium by atomic force microscopy (AFM), a heat-fixation method was, for the first time, used to overcome existing problems in preparing samples for AFM. The effect on the cell morphology of the heat-fixation method was studied by MAC mode AFM, and was compared with the drop-and-dry and the polylysine-adhesion methods. It was found that the heat-fixation method can be successfully used for preparing Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria samples for AFM studies. Using this method, high-resolution AFM images of H. salinarum were obtained. Round protrusions on the cell surface and horn-like protrusions only at one pole of H. salinarum were observed.

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