Single‐Molecule Determination of the Face‐Specific Adsorption of Amelogenin’s C‐Terminus on Hydroxyapatite

On the face of it: An atomic force microscopy tip, functionalized with Amelogenin protein (Amel), is used to directly determine the single-molecule, face-specific free energy of Amel binding to crystalline hydroxyapatite (see picture). The experimental values compare well with those from molecular dynamics simulations and enable the key interactions controlling face-specific binding to be identified.