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Published on: October 8, 2013
Protein denaturation at the air-water interface and how to prevent it
Edoardo D'Imprima1, Davide Floris1, Mirko Joppe2
1Department of Structural Biology, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany.
Abstract:
Electron cryo-microscopy analyzes the structure of proteins and protein complexes in vitrified solution. Proteins tend to adsorb to the air-water interface in unsupported films of aqueous solution, which can result in partial or complete denaturation. We investigated the structure of yeast fatty acid synthase at the air-water interface by electron cryo-tomography and single-particle image processing. Around 90% of complexes adsorbed to the air-water interface are partly denatured. We show that the unfolded regions face the air-water interface. Denaturation by contact with air may happen at any stage of specimen preparation. Denaturation at the air-water interface is completely avoided when the complex is plunge-frozen on a substrate of hydrophilized graphene.
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