Download Introduction to Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility at Korea Basic

Introduction to Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility
at Korea Basic Science Institute.
Jaekyung Hyun1, 2*, Hyeongseop Jeong1, and Hyun-Ju Lee1
1
Division of Electron Microscopy Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do
28119, Republic of Korea, 2Department of Bio-analytical Science, Korea University of Science and
Technology, Daejeon 305-350 Republic of Korea
Recently, single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has emerged as a mainstream structural
biology technique, as evidenced by being selected as “Method of the Year 2015” in Nature Methods [1].
This remarkable development gained additional momentum by recent structure determination of large
protein complexes to near-atomic resolution (<3Å) from which side chains of amino acid could be
identified, hence allowing for de novo atomic structural analysis [2]. Ever since the first demonstration of
3D reconstruction from 2D projection of transmission electron microscope (TEM) in 1968 [3], the field
has been steadily growing. Current success of cryo-EM has been led by pioneering groups in Europe,
USA and Japan, where cooperative academia-industry R&D, thorough theoretical evaluations and
ingenious practical experiments took place.
In Korea, however, the field has been largely unnoticed until recent flood of high-profile publications
by cryo-EM studies. Therefore, mandatory research infrastructure for cryo-EM studies, including high-end
instruments and expertise, is far behind many leading groups in the world. Fortunately, the first highperformance TEM that is dedicated to high-resolution cryo-EM work (Titan Krios, FEI Co. with direct
electron detector) has been installed at Korea Basic Science Institute in 2016 March. While issues related
to the number of experts and data process scheme remains to be resolved, efficient management of the
facility and earnest collaborations should lead to a prompt establishment of cryo-EM field in Korea. Here,
we present major features of the newly installed TEM, management scheme and future plans for better
research support, hoping to provide an “open” environment where structural biologists may freely utilize
our facility.
[1] E. Nogales Nature Methods, 13 (1), 24, 2016.
[2] A. Bartesaghi, A. Merk, S. Banerjee, D. Matthies, X. Wu, J.L.S. Milne and S. Subramaniam Science,
348 (6239), 1147, 2015.
[3] D.J. De Rosier and A. Klug Nature, 217, 130, 1968.
Keywords: cryo-electron microscopy, single particle analysis, transmission electron microscope