Photothermal AFM-IR Depth Sensitivity: An Original Pathway to Tomographic Reconstruction.

Photothermal atomic force microscopy-infrared (AFM-IR) enables label-free chemical imaging and spectroscopy with nanometer-scale spatial resolution through the integration of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and infrared radiation. The capability for subsurface and three-dimensional (3D) tomographic material analysis remains, however, largely unexplored. Here, we establish a simple and robust empirical relationship between the probing depth and laser repetition rate for three important modes of AFM-IR operation: resonance-enhanced, tapping, and surface-sensitive AFM-IR.

Exploring the organic nature, morphological plasticity and ecological significance of Aster like nanoparticles.

The smallest entities in aquatic ecosystems, i.e., femtoplankton, are certainly the largest reservoir of uncharacterized biodiversity.

Variations of organic functional chemistry in carbonaceous matter from the asteroid 162173 Ryugu.

Primordial carbon delivered to the early earth by asteroids and meteorites provided a diverse source of extraterrestrial organics from pre-existing simple organic compounds, complex solar-irradiated macromolecules, and macromolecules from extended hydrothermal processing. Surface regolith collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft from the carbon-rich asteroid 162173 Ryugu present a unique opportunity to untangle the sources and processing history of carbonaceous matter. Here we show carbonaceous grains in Ryugu can be classified into three main populations defined by spectral shape: Highly aromatic (HA), Alkyl-Aromatic (AA), and IOM-like (IL).

Genome Analysis of a Variant of M145 with High Lipid Content and Poor Ability to Synthetize Antibiotics.

M145 is a model strain extensively studied to elucidate the regulation of antibiotic biosynthesis in species. This strain abundantly produces the blue polyketide antibiotic, actinorhodin (ACT), and has a low lipid content. In a process designed to delete the gene encoding the isocitrate lyase () of the glyoxylate cycle, an unexpected variant of was obtained besides deletion mutants.