2022

chapter in scholarly textbook

english

EN Rising antibiotic abuse is predicted to lead to antibiotic/drug resistance and make it one of the most emerging public health problems globally. To face this issue it is essential to look for fast and facile techniques in order to understand the antibiotic resistance mechanisms thus develop some lifesaving strategies. Recently used methods including optical microscopy and standard molecular biology tests (such as Western Blot, ELISA, gel purification, DNA gel purification, or polymerase chain reaction) allow to provide the overall information about microbial population and are usually limited to sample visualization together with general information about cellular collapse, cell wall disintegration, and number of death and life cells. To understand the mechanism of microbial activity, the examination of individual bacterial cell is mandatory. In order to face that, several improvements of nanotechnology based tools have been developed to image and identify structural changes of bacteria qualitatively and quantitatively. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique seems to have a great potential in terms of detailed biological characterization with nanoscale resolution, in the field of bacteriology, virology, mycology, and cell biology. The recent development and modifications of AFM in the past three decades have enabled to image both, large structures and single molecules such as nucleic acids and proteins. Recently developed, novel AFM imaging modes push its capabilities towards more advanced studies. This chapter will explore the basic principles of AFM bioimaging, its evolution and combination with other techniques (infrared, Raman spectroscopy, Raman-scanning probe microscopy/AFM) in terms of microbial systems detailed characterization which in turn will allow to better understand the antibiotic resistance phenomenon.

479 - 515

10.1016/B978-0-12-823426-6.00003-6

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-823426-6.00003-6

Handbook of Microbial Nanotechnology

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