Fig. 4

Formation and dynamics of fibrous structures along with the shell sheet assemblies under HS-AFM. a Appearance of fiber-like structures during the disassembly of shell sheets composed of Hoch_5815 hexamers, as shown by AFM image series. b AFM topograph of fiber structures. c Cross-section analysis (dash line in panel b) reveals a spacing of 3.72 ± 0.31 nm (n = 30) between adjacent fiber structures, and the average height is 2.46 ± 0.22 nm (n = 30). d AFM topograph of shell patches composed of Hoch_5815 hexamers. e Cross-section analysis (dash line in panel d) reveals that the average height of Hoch_5815 hexamers is 3.45 ± 0.16 nm (n = 25). f The fiber-like structures present a reduced height compared with flat sheets consisting of Hoch_5815 hexamers (*p < 0.05, two-way ANOVA). g Proposed organization and formation of the fiber-like structure, representing a string of Hoch_5815 monomers