Cryo-EM structure of haemoglobin at 3.2 Å determined with the Volta phase plate

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms16099
• Publication Date: 2017-06-30T14:56:34Z
• Authors: Maryam Khoshouei; Mazdak Radjainia; Wolfgang Baumeister; Radostin Danev
• Keywords: Cryo-Electron Microscopy

With the advent of direct electron detectors, perspectives cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) have changed in a profound way. These cameras are superior to previous detectors coping with intrinsically low contrast and beam-induced motion radiation-sensitive organic materials embedded amorphous ice, hence they enabled structure determination many macromolecular assemblies atomic or near-atomic resolution. Nevertheless, there still limitations one them is size target structure. Here, we report use Volta phase plate determining human haemoglobin (64 kDa) at 3.2 Å. Our results demonstrate that this method can be applied complexes significantly smaller than those previously studied by conventional defocus-based approaches. Cryo-EM now close becoming fast cost-effective alternative crystallography for high-resolution protein determination.