Visualization of unstained DNA nanostructures with advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques

Yoones Kabiri; Raimond B. G. Ravelli; Tibor Lehnert; Haoyuan Qi; Allard J. Katan; Natascha Roest; Ute Kaiser; Cees Dekker; Peter J. Peters; Henny Zandbergen

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-43687-5

Visualization of unstained DNA nanostructures with advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques

Yoones Kabiri, Raimond B. G. Ravelli, Tibor Lehnert, Haoyuan Qi, Allard J. Katan, Natascha Roest, Ute Kaiser, Cees Dekker, Peter J. Peters^*, Henny Zandbergen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Over the last few years, tremendous progress has been made in visualizing biologically important macromolecules using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and understanding their structure-function relation.Yet, despite the importance of DNA in all forms of life, TEM visualization of individual DNA molecules in its native unlabeled form has remained extremely challenging. Here, we present high-contrast images of unstained single-layer DNA nanostructures that were obtained using advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques. These include sub-Angstrom low voltage electron microscopy (SALVE), the use of a volta-potential phase plate (VPP), and dark-field (DF) microscopy. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of these techniques for broad applications in structural biology and materials science.

Original language	English
Article number	7218
Number of pages	9
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43687-5
Publication status	Published - 10 May 2019

Keywords

PLATE

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10.1038/s41598-019-43687-5Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Visualization of unstained DNA nanostructures with advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques",

abstract = "Over the last few years, tremendous progress has been made in visualizing biologically important macromolecules using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and understanding their structure-function relation.Yet, despite the importance of DNA in all forms of life, TEM visualization of individual DNA molecules in its native unlabeled form has remained extremely challenging. Here, we present high-contrast images of unstained single-layer DNA nanostructures that were obtained using advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques. These include sub-Angstrom low voltage electron microscopy (SALVE), the use of a volta-potential phase plate (VPP), and dark-field (DF) microscopy. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of these techniques for broad applications in structural biology and materials science.",

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note = "Funding Information: Part of the work was done under Q-SORT which has received funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 766970 Q-SORT (H2020-FETOPEN-1-2016-2017). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, The Author(s).",

year = "2019",

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doi = "10.1038/s41598-019-43687-5",

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T1 - Visualization of unstained DNA nanostructures with advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques

AU - Kabiri, Yoones

AU - Ravelli, Raimond B. G.

AU - Lehnert, Tibor

AU - Qi, Haoyuan

AU - Katan, Allard J.

AU - Roest, Natascha

AU - Kaiser, Ute

AU - Dekker, Cees

AU - Peters, Peter J.

AU - Zandbergen, Henny

N1 - Funding Information: Part of the work was done under Q-SORT which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 766970 Q-SORT (H2020-FETOPEN-1-2016-2017). Publisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).

PY - 2019/5/10

Y1 - 2019/5/10

N2 - Over the last few years, tremendous progress has been made in visualizing biologically important macromolecules using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and understanding their structure-function relation.Yet, despite the importance of DNA in all forms of life, TEM visualization of individual DNA molecules in its native unlabeled form has remained extremely challenging. Here, we present high-contrast images of unstained single-layer DNA nanostructures that were obtained using advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques. These include sub-Angstrom low voltage electron microscopy (SALVE), the use of a volta-potential phase plate (VPP), and dark-field (DF) microscopy. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of these techniques for broad applications in structural biology and materials science.

AB - Over the last few years, tremendous progress has been made in visualizing biologically important macromolecules using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and understanding their structure-function relation.Yet, despite the importance of DNA in all forms of life, TEM visualization of individual DNA molecules in its native unlabeled form has remained extremely challenging. Here, we present high-contrast images of unstained single-layer DNA nanostructures that were obtained using advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques. These include sub-Angstrom low voltage electron microscopy (SALVE), the use of a volta-potential phase plate (VPP), and dark-field (DF) microscopy. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of these techniques for broad applications in structural biology and materials science.

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