MPI Campus Seminar: Cryo-EM goes atomic!!

In recent years single particle cryo-EM has become a popular method to solve 3D structures of biological macromolecules. With advancements in microscope hardware, image processing algorithms and availability of cluster computation, most structures can be resolved to beyond 4Å for building atomic models. However, models built from such resolution do not accurately and precisely map the positions of atoms in a protein, nor can it visualize the surrounding solvents which are key players in a catalysis. In order to truly depict the chemical mechanism of a target protein solely from its structure, a nominal resolution of 1.5Å or better is required, and this is yet not vastly available. Here I share with you a 1.25Å structure of a model protein apoferritin obtained from a newly developed TEM equipped with a monochromator and second generation spherical aberration corrector BCOR, and its subsequent applications to proteins with more heterogeneities.