Covalent attachment of proteins to calcite surface for the single molecule experiments

Two protocols of covalent attachment of proteins onto the calcite surface, viz. one using the metallochelat and second using the aminohexil, are elaborated. Single molecule force spectroscopy method has been used to test their efficiency and practical applicability. Experiments were performed measuring the specific interaction force between bovine serum albumin (BSA) fixed onto the freshly cleaved calcite single crystal surface (procedure under the study here) and its polyclonal antibody (Ab-BSA) immobilized onto an AFM tip using standard and well studied procedure. We found the conditions, when up to 3-3.5% of tip-sample approaches lead to the formation of a single specific bond. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.