Single particle cryo-EM reconstruction of 52 kDa streptavidin at 3.2 Angstrom resolution

Nat Commun. 2019 Jun 3;10(1):2386. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-10368-w.

Abstract

The fast development of single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has made it more feasible to obtain the 3D structure of well-behaved macromolecules with a molecular weight higher than 300 kDa at ~3 Å resolution. However, it remains a challenge to obtain the high-resolution structures of molecules smaller than 200 kDa using single-particle cryo-EM. In this work, we apply the Cs-corrector-VPP-coupled cryo-EM to study the 52 kDa streptavidin (SA) protein supported on a thin layer of graphene and embedded in vitreous ice. We are able to solve both the apo-SA and biotin-bound SA structures at near-atomic resolution using single-particle cryo-EM. We demonstrate that the method has the potential to determine the structures of molecules as small as 39 kDa.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biotin / metabolism*
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy / methods*
  • Graphite
  • Macromolecular Substances / ultrastructure
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Single Molecule Imaging / methods*
  • Streptavidin / metabolism
  • Streptavidin / ultrastructure*

Substances

  • Macromolecular Substances
  • Biotin
  • Graphite
  • Streptavidin