Nanoscale analysis of surface topography and adhesion force measurements of flagella isolated from chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Self-assembled microtubular structures such as flagella are one of the most robust and versatile bioactive materials available in nature. It is therefore necessary to study the surface of such biomolecular nanosystems in its native environment. Hence atomic force microscopy becomes a tool of choice for conducting such real time studies. In this paper, flagella were isolated and purified from an algal species, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Further, with the aid of AFM we reveal the surface topography of extracted and purified flagella using AFM in contact mode. Adhesion force measurements of the flagella at various stages of solubilization were subsequently measured using a modified flagellar AFM tip. Force-displacement curves between the modified probe and silicon substrate show that solubilized flagella have much better adhesion force as compared to as-extracted flagella. This implies the suitability of the solubilized flagella being used as a nanobiomaterial layer for tactile material interfaces. Copyright © 2013 American Scientific Publishers.