A Fast and Effective Microfluidic Spraying-Plunging Method for High-Resolution Single-Particle Cryo-EM

Structure. 2017 Apr 4;25(4):663-670.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2017.02.005. Epub 2017 Mar 9.

Abstract

We describe a spraying-plunging method for preparing cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) grids with vitreous ice of controllable, highly consistent thickness using a microfluidic device. The new polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based sprayer was tested with apoferritin. We demonstrate that the structure can be solved to high resolution with this method of sample preparation. Besides replacing the conventional pipetting-blotting-plunging method, one of many potential applications of the new sprayer is in time-resolved cryo-EM, as part of a PDMS-based microfluidic reaction channel to study short-lived intermediates on the timescale of 10-1,000 ms.

Keywords: EM grid preparation; PDMS-based microsprayer; apoferritin; ice thickness; time-resolved cryo-EM.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Cryoelectron Microscopy / methods*
  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes / chemistry
  • Microfluidics / instrumentation*
  • Microfluidics / methods

Substances

  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes
  • baysilon