Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Atomic Force Microscope Conductivity Measurements Of Single Ferritin Molecules, Degao Xu

Theses and Dissertations

Conductive Atomic Force Microscope (c-AFM) was used to measure the conductivity of single horse spleen ferritin (HoSF) and azotobacter vinelandii bacterial ferritin (AvBF) molecules deposited on flat gold surfaces. A 500 micron diameter gold ball was also used as a contact probe to measure the conductivity of a thin film of ferritin molecules. The average current measured for holo HoSF was 13 and 5 times larger than that measured for apo HoSF as measured by c-AFM at 1V and gold ball at 2V and respectively, which indicates that the core of ferritin is more conductive than the protein shell and …