[21] Physical methods to locate metal atoms in biological systems

Many biological systems are known to use structural colour effects to generate aspects of their appearance and visibility. The study of these phenomena has informed an eclectic group of fields ranging, for example, from evolutionary processes in behavioural biology to micro-optical devices in technologically engineered systems. However, biological photonic systems are invariably structurally and often compositionally more elaborate than most synthetically fabricated photonic systems. For this reason, an appropriate gamut of physical methods and investigative techniques must be applied correctly so that the systems' photonic behaviour may be appropriately understood. Here, we survey a broad range of the most commonly implemented, successfully used and recently innovated physical methods. We discuss the costs and benefits of various spectrometric methods and instruments, namely scatterometers, microspectrophotometers, fibre-optic-connected photodiode array spectrometers and integrating spheres. We then discuss the role of the materials' refractive index and several of the more commonly used theoretical approaches. Finally, we describe the recent developments in the research field of photonic crystals and the implications for the further study of structural coloration in animals.

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Creation of Nanometer-Sized Features in Polysilicon Using Fusing

10.1115/imece2001/mems-23858 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Jeremy A. Levitan ◽

Dan Good ◽

Michael J. Sinclair ◽

Joseph M. Jacobson

Keyword(s):

Structural Change ◽

Small Perturbation ◽

Biological Systems ◽

Fabrication Process ◽

Length Scales ◽

Physical Methods ◽

Necked Region ◽

Single Electrons ◽

Novel Processes

Abstract Current microfabrication systems can achieve resolutions of approximately 0.1μm. We present physical methods for creating structures with length scales and characteristic dimensions significantly below current fabrication resolutions. These structures, themselves fabricated in conventional, gross-resolution (greater than 2μm) semiconductor facilities, undergo structural change to create features below the lithography limits of the fabrication process. These devices — dog-boned microfabricated polysilicon fuses — are heated just below melting, and a small perturbation current heats a narrow, necked region of the beam, resulting in fusing. Infrastructure has already been constructed to create gross-resolution structures in microfabrication. Novel processes and mechanisms are needed to utilize these resolutions and create structures capable of addressing biological systems, functioning quantum mechanically, use single electrons, or require extreme speeds.

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Transmission Electron Microscopy of Protein Macromolecules

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100066176 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 424-425

Author(s):

Henry S. Slayter

Keyword(s):

Biological Systems ◽

Metal Vapor ◽

Resolving Power ◽

Electron Microscopic ◽

Chemical Methods ◽

Molecular Weights ◽

The Past ◽

Physical Chemical ◽

Transmission Electron

Electron microscopic methods have been applied increasingly during the past fifteen years, to problems in structural molecular biology. Used in conjunction with physical chemical methods and/or Fourier methods of analysis, they constitute powerful tools for determining sizes, shapes and modes of aggregation of biopolymers with molecular weights greater than 50, 000. However, the application of the e.m. to the determination of very fine structure approaching the limit of instrumental resolving power in biological systems has not been productive, due to various difficulties such as the destructive effects of dehydration, damage to the specimen by the electron beam, and lack of adequate and specific contrast. One of the most satisfactory methods for contrasting individual macromolecules involves the deposition of heavy metal vapor upon the specimen. We have investigated this process, and present here what we believe to be the more important considerations for optimizing it. Results of the application of these methods to several biological systems including muscle proteins, fibrinogen, ribosomes and chromatin will be discussed.

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Incommensurate modulated phases of the NbxTa1-xTe4 charge density wave system

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100120692 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 58-59

Author(s):

S. Ritchie ◽

J. C. Bennett ◽

A. Prodan ◽

F.W. Boswell ◽

J.M. Corbett

Keyword(s):

Charge Density ◽

Charge Density Wave ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Density Wave ◽

Wave System ◽

Modulated Phases ◽

Metal Atoms ◽

Incommensurate Modulation ◽

End Members ◽

Modulation Wave Vector

A continuous sequence of compounds having composition NbxTa1-xTe4; 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 have been studied by electron diffraction and microscopy. Previous studies have shown that the end members of the series, TaTε4 and NbTε4 possess a quasi-one-dimensional character and exhibit charge density wave (CDW) distortions. In these compounds, the subcell structure is tetragonal with axes (a × a × c) and consists of the metal atoms (Nb or Ta) centered within an extended antiprismatic cage of Te atoms. At room temperature, TaTε4 has a commensurate modulation structure with a 2a × 2a × 3c unit cell. In NbTε4, an incommensurate modulation with × ∼ 16c axes is observed. Preliminary studies of the mixed compounds NbxTα1-xTε4 showed a discontinuous jump of the modulation wave vector commensurate to incommensurate when the Nb dopant concentration x, exceeded x ≃ 0.3, In this paper, the nature of the compositional dependence of is studied in greater detail and evidence is presented for a stepwise variation of . This constitutes the first direct evidence for a Devil's staircase in CDW materials.

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Ultra high resolution SEM at high voltage images individual fab fragments applied as molecular label to cell surface receptors

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010015232x ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 70-71

Author(s):

Klaus-Ruediger Peters

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

High Energy ◽

Metal Coating ◽

Beam Diameter ◽

Surface Receptors ◽

Surface Mobility ◽

Metal Atoms ◽

Shadowing Effect ◽

Imaging Mode ◽

Deposition Techniques

Topographic ultra high resolution can now routinely be established on bulk samples in cold field emission scanning electron microscopy with a second generation of microscopes (FSEM) designed to provide 0.5 nm probe diameters. If such small probes are used for high magnification imaging, topographic contrast is so high that remarkably fine details can be imaged on 2DMSO/osmium-impregnated specimens at ribosome surfaces even without a metal coating. On TCH/osmium-impregnated specimens topographic resolution can be increased further if the SE-I imaging mode is applied. This requires that beam diameter and metal coating thickness be made smaller than the SE range of ~1 nm and background signal contributions be reduced. Subnanometer small probes can be obtained (only) at high accelerating voltages. Subnanometer thin continuous metal films can be produced under the following conditions: self-shadowing effect between metal atoms must be reduced through appropriate deposition techniques and surface mobility of metal atoms must be diminished through high energy sputtering and/or specimen cooling.

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Freeze-fracture cytochemistry: A goal set by Russell Steere in 1957

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010014614x ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 51 ◽

pp. 60-61

Author(s):

Nicholas J Severs

Keyword(s):

Chemical Nature ◽

Biological Systems ◽

Freeze Fracture ◽

Structural Components ◽

Major Goal ◽

Membrane Biology ◽

Routine Application ◽

The Future ◽

Freeze Etching

In his pioneering demonstration of the potential of freeze-etching in biological systems, Russell Steere assessed the future promise and limitations of the technique with remarkable foresight. Item 2 in his list of inherent difficulties as they then stood stated “The chemical nature of the objects seen in the replica cannot be determined”. This defined a major goal for practitioners of freeze-fracture which, for more than a decade, seemed unattainable. It was not until the introduction of the label-fracture-etch technique in the early 1970s that the mould was broken, and not until the following decade that the full scope of modern freeze-fracture cytochemistry took shape. The culmination of these developments in the 1990s now equips the researcher with a set of effective techniques for routine application in cell and membrane biology.Freeze-fracture cytochemical techniques are all designed to provide information on the chemical nature of structural components revealed by freeze-fracture, but differ in how this is achieved, in precisely what type of information is obtained, and in which types of specimen can be studied.

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Seeking to uncover biology's chemical roots

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20190012 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (5) ◽

pp. 435-443 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Addy Pross

Keyword(s):

Environmental Changes ◽

Biological Systems ◽

Significant Development ◽

The Road ◽

Physical Chemical ◽

Systems Chemistry ◽

Biological World ◽

Inanimate Matter ◽

The Origin Of Life ◽

Opening Up

Despite the considerable advances in molecular biology over the past several decades, the nature of the physical–chemical process by which inanimate matter become transformed into simplest life remains elusive. In this review, we describe recent advances in a relatively new area of chemistry, systems chemistry, which attempts to uncover the physical–chemical principles underlying that remarkable transformation. A significant development has been the discovery that within the space of chemical potentiality there exists a largely unexplored kinetic domain which could be termed dynamic kinetic chemistry. Our analysis suggests that all biological systems and associated sub-systems belong to this distinct domain, thereby facilitating the placement of biological systems within a coherent physical/chemical framework. That discovery offers new insights into the origin of life process, as well as opening the door toward the preparation of active materials able to self-heal, adapt to environmental changes, even communicate, mimicking what transpires routinely in the biological world. The road to simplest proto-life appears to be opening up.

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