Imaging and Quantifying Chemical and Physical Properties of Native Proteins at Molecular Resolution by Force–Volume AFM

Use the force: Force–volume atomic force microscopy (AFM) can image native membrane proteins and quantify and map their chemical and physical properties at molecular resolution (see images). For the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin (BR), the data shows that lipids form a flexible framework embedding a mechanically anisotropic proton pump, and that the BR adopts different structurally stable conformations that are important for proton pumping.