Rapid structural analysis of bacterial ribosomes in situ

Abstract Rapid structural analysis of purified proteins and their complexes has become increasingly common thanks to key methodological advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and associated data processing software packages. In contrast, analogous structural analysis in cells via cryo-electr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Barrett M. Powell, Tyler S. Brant, Joseph H. Davis, Shyamal Mosalaganti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Communications Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07586-y
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Summary:Abstract Rapid structural analysis of purified proteins and their complexes has become increasingly common thanks to key methodological advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and associated data processing software packages. In contrast, analogous structural analysis in cells via cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) remains challenging due to critical technical bottlenecks, including low-throughput sample preparation and imaging, and laborious data processing methods. Here, we describe a rapid in situ cryo-ET sample preparation and data analysis workflow that results in the routine determination of sub-nm resolution ribosomal structures. We apply this workflow to E. coli, producing a 5.8 Å structure of the 70S ribosome from cells in less than 10 days and facilitating the discovery of a minor population of 100S-like disomes. We envision our approach to be widely applicable to related bacterial samples.
ISSN:2399-3642