Factors that Influence the Formation and Stability of Thin, Cryo-EM Specimens.

ABSTRACT: Poor consistency of the ice thickness from one area of a cryo-electron microscope (cryo-EM) specimen grid to another, from one grid to the next, and from one type of specimen to another, motivates a reconsideration of how to best prepare suitably thin specimens. Here we first review the three related topics of wetting, thinning, and stability against dewetting of aqueous films spread over a hydrophilic substrate. We then suggest that the importance of there being a surfactant monolayer at the air-water interface of thin, cryo-EM specimens has been largely underappreciated. In fact, a surfactant layer (of uncontrolled composition and surface pressure) can hardly be avoided during standard cryo-EM specimen preparation. We thus suggest that better control over the composition and properties o

SUBMITTER: Glaeser RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4775786 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature