Direct visualization of charge transport in suspended (or free-standing) DNA strands by low-energy electron microscopy
Abstract
Low-energy electrons offer a unique possibility for long exposure imaging of individual biomolecules without significant radiation damage. In addition, low-energy electrons exhibit high sensitivity to local potentials and thus can be employed for imaging charges as small as a fraction of one elementary charge. The combination of these properties makes low-energy electrons an exciting tool for imaging charge transport in individual biomolecules. Here we demonstrate the imaging of individual deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules at the resolution of about 1 nm with simultaneous imaging of the charging of the DNA molecules that is of the order of less than one elementary charge per nanometer. The cross-correlation analysis performed on different sections of the DNA network reveals that the charge redistribution between the two regions is correlated. Thus, low-energy electron microscopy is capable to provide simultaneous imaging of macromolecular structure and its charge distribution which can be beneficial for imaging and constructing nano-bio-sensors.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1908.09374,
title = {Direct visualization of charge transport in suspended (or free-standing) DNA strands by low-energy electron microscopy},
author = {Tatiana Latychevskaia and Conrad Escher and William Andregg and Michael Andregg and Hans-Werner Fink},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.09374},
year = {2019}
}