High-Yield Characterization of Single Molecule Interactions with DeepTip Atomic Force Microscopy Probes.

Single molecule interactions between biotin and streptavidin were characterized with functionalized DeepTip probes and used as a model system to develop a comprehensive methodology for the high-yield identification and analysis of single molecular events. The procedure comprises the covalent binding of the target molecule to a surface and of the sensing molecule to the DeepTip probe, so that the interaction between both chemical species can be characterized by obtaining force-displacement curves in an atomic force microscope. It is shown that molecular resolution is consistently attained with a percentage of successful events higher than 90% of the total number of recorded curves, and a very low level of unspecific interactions.