Atomic force microscope imaging of ribosome and chromosome

We present three-dimensional atomic force microscope (AFM) images of eukaryotic ribosome for what we believe to be the first time in air with a tapping-mode AFM. In AFM images, the typical structure of ribosome and its subunits is clearly shown. In addition, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, an entire polytene chromosome of Drosophila has been imaged by AFM with scanning size 116×116 μm. The AFM image showed details of band pattern and puff regions. Compared with the optical image of the same specimen with staining, the AFM images may provide much higher spatial resolution with height information.