Pair Distribution Function from Electron Diffraction in Cryogenic Electron Microscopy: Revealing Glassy Water Structure

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, vol. 11, pp. 1564–1569

Abstract

In recent years, cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) has revolutionized the structure determination of wet samples and especially that of biological macromolecules. The glassy-water medium in which the molecules are embedded is considered an almost in vivo environment for biological samples. The local structure of amorphous ice is known from neutron- and X-ray-diffraction studies, techniques appropriate for much larger volumes than those used in cryo-EM. We here present a first study of the pair-distribution function g ( r ) of glassy water under cryo-EM conditions using electron diffraction data. We found g ( r ) to be between that of low-density amorphous ice and that of supercooled water. Under electron exposure, cubic-ice regions were found to nucleate in thicker glassy-water samples. Our work enables to obtain quantitative structural information using g ( r ) from cryo-EM.

Authors 9

1. João Batista Souza corresponding

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

2. Gabriel Ravanhani Schleder

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia · Universidade Federal do ABC

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

   Federal University of ABC (UFABC), 09210-580 Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil

3. Felippe Mariano Colombari

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

4. Marcelo Alexandre de Farias

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

5. Jefferson Bettini

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

6. Marin van Heel Aachen Netherlands Centre for Electron Nanoscopy (NeCEN)

   Leiden University · Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia · Imperial College London

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

   Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K

   Netherlands Centre for Electron Nanoscopy (NeCEN), 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands

7. Rodrigo V. Portugal

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

8. A. Fazzio

   Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia · Universidade Federal do ABC

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

   Federal University of ABC (UFABC), 09210-580 Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil

9. Edson Roberto Leite corresponding

   Universidade Federal de São Carlos · Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials · Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia

   Affiliation as printed

   Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), 13083-970 Campinas, Brazil

   Department of Chemistry, Federal University of São Carlos, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil