RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A simple pressure-assisted method for MicroED specimen preparation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 665448
DO 10.1101/665448
A1 Jingjing Zhao
A1 Hongyi Xu
A1 Hugo Lebrette
A1 Marta Carroni
A1 Helena Taberman
A1 Martin Högbom
A1 Xiaodong Zou
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/19/665448.abstract
AB Micro-crystal electron diffraction (MicroED) has shown great potential for structure determination of macromolecular crystals too small for X-ray diffraction. However, specimen preparation remains a major bottleneck. Here, we report a simple method for preparing MicroED specimens, named Preassis, in which excess liquid is removed through an EM grid with the assistance of pressure. We show the ice thicknesses can be controlled by tuning the pressure in combination with EM grids with appropriate hole sizes. Importantly, Preassis can handle a wide range of protein crystals grown in various buffer conditions including those with high viscosity, as well as samples with low crystal contents. Preassis is a simple and universal method for MicroED specimen preparation, and will significantly broaden the applications of MicroED.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.