Dengue virus purification and sample preparation for cryo-electron microscopy

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a valuable tool used to study the structures of icosahedral viruses without having to resort to crystallization. During the last few decades, significant progress has been made where virus structures previously resolved only to low resolution have now breached the sub-nanometer threshold. Critical to such excellent results are the acquisition of highly purified virus samples and well-frozen samples in vitreous ice. With the virus particles locked in their native conformations, cryo-EM together with single-particle analysis can then be deployed to study the structures of the viruses in their fully hydrated states.