Spatiotemporal resolution in high-speed atomic force microscopy for studying biological macromolecules in action

High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) is a unique approach that allows direct real-time visualization of biological macromolecules in action under near-physiological conditions, without any chemical labeling. Typically, the temporal resolution is sub-100 ms, and the spatial resolution is 2–3 nm in the lateral direction and ∼0.1 nm in the vertical direction. A wide range of biomolecular systems and their dynamic processes have been studied by HS-AFM, providing deep mechanistic insights into how biomolecules function. However, the level of mechanistic detail gleaned from an HS-AFM experiment critically depends on the spatiotemporal resolution of the system. In this review article, we explain the principle of HS-AFM and describe how the resolution is determined. We also discuss recent attempts to improve the resolution of HS-AFM to further extend the observable range of biological phenomena.