*2.6. Fluorescence Microscopy*

Fluorescence microscopy was used to determine the conjugation of AMPs to the pDA with a Leica DM6000B widefield epifluorescence microscope (Leica Microsystems Ltd., Milton Keynes, UK), equipped with a 100 W short-arc epifluorescence mercury burner and a Leica DFL350 FX firewire camera (Leica Microsystems Ltd., Milton Keynes, UK) located at the Institute of Biomedical Research (IBR) in the School of Medicine, University of Birmingham. Measurements were performed with an epifluorescence filter set at an excitation wavelength of 480 nm and a green emission wavelength of 527 nm, corresponding to the green fluorescence associated with 5(6)-FAM. For each sample, a set of five random points were recorded for comparison and the brightness of the green light was analysed using the ImageJ 1.46r analysis program.
