Fig. 2.

Series of AFM height images showing the progress of rodlet disassembly. Time between images was 36 min (a to b), 3 min (b to c), and 6 min (c to d), for a total time between a and d of 45 min. In the circled regions, banded remnants of rodlet structure (a) disassemble into thinner fibrous structures (d). In b, the area imaged in c is indicated with a light gray box. In b and c, the area imaged in a and d is indicated with a dark gray box. In e, which is an enlarged part of d, arrows indicate the end point of rodlet disruption, i.e., fibrils with a diameter of 2–3 nm, oriented roughly perpendicular to the rodlets. [Scale bars: 50 nm (a and c–e) and 200 nm (b).]