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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 7: Poster I

BP 7.16: Poster

Monday, March 23, 2009, 17:45–20:00, P3

In vitro assembly and characterization of keratin 8/18 intermediate filaments — •Anke Leitner¹, Norbert Mücke³, Tatjana Wedig², Harald Herrmann², Michael Beil⁴, and Othmar Marti¹ — ¹Department of Experimental Physics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany — ²Division of Molecular Genetics, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany — ³Division Biophysics of Macromolecules, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany — ⁴Department of Internal Medicine I, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

In order to find out more about the mechanical properties of the keratin cytoskeleton it is usefull to have a look on in vitro assembled keratin filaments. In the work presented here we will show nanomechanical properties of the assembled keratin 8/18 filaments. The investigations are done by means of atomic force microscope (AFM). Two different substrates and ways of sample preparation are used. From the 2-dimensional AFM images we calculate the persistence length of the keratin 8/18 filaments with the worm-like-chain model.