TY - JOUR
AU - Henderikx, Rene J. M.
AU - Schotman, Maaike J. G.
AU - Shahzad, Saba
AU - Fromm, Simon A.
AU - Mann, Daniel
AU - Hennies, Julian
AU - Heidler, Thomas V.
AU - Ashtiani, Dariush
AU - Hagen, Wim J. H.
AU - Jeurissen, Roger J. M.
AU - Mattei, Simone
AU - Peters, Peter J.
AU - Sachse, Carsten
AU - Beulen, Bart W. A. M. M.
TI - Ice thickness control and measurement in the VitroJet for time-efficient single particle structure determination
JO - Journal of structural biology
VL - 216
IS - 4
SN - 1047-8477
CY - San Diego, Calif.
PB - Elsevier
M1 - FZJ-2024-06070
SP - 108139 -
PY - 2024
AB - Embedding biomolecules in vitreous ice of optimal thickness is critical for structure determination by cryoelectronmicroscopy. Ice thickness assessment and selection of suitable holes for data collection are currentlypart of time-consuming preparatory routines performed on expensive electron microscopes. To address thischallenge, a routine has been developed to measure ice thickness during sample preparation using an opticalcamera integrated in the VitroJet. This method allows to estimate the ice thickness with an error below ±20 nmfor ice layers in the range of 0–70 nm. Additionally, we characterized the influence of pin printing parametersand found that the median ice thickness can be reproduced with a standard deviation below ±11 nm forthicknesses up to 75 nm. Therefore, the ice thickness of buffer-suspended holes on an EM grid can be tuned andmeasured within the working range relevant for single particle cryo-EM. Single particle structures of apoferritinwere determined at two distinct thicknesses of 30 nm and 70 nm. These reconstructions demonstrate theimportance of ice thickness for time-efficient cryo-EM structure determination.
LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6 - 39433138
UR - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001343861100001
DO - DOI:10.1016/j.jsb.2024.108139
UR - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1032201
ER -