Fig. 2

AFM imaging of β-Amylase using tapping mode in liquid environment. Top row (a, b, c, d) corresponds to images obtained when β-Amylase was deposited on Nickel pre-treated mica whereas the bottom row (e, f, g, h) corresponds to bare mica. Non-irradiated β-Amylase is shown in (a, e) whereas increasing exposure to X-ray beam is shown in (b, f) for 10 s exposure, (c, g) 5 min exposure, (d, h) 30 min exposure. The scan size is 1 μm with each line made of 512 pixels. A clear increase in height (and diameter) can be easily seen upon increase exposure (radiation damage) with no apparent differences between control and standard exposure (10 s) time. A total of 13 AFM images have been used for statistical analysis representing a total of 3693 and 948 particles measured on nickel pre-treated mica and bare mica, respectively