title: Negative staining permits 4.0 A resolution with low-dose electron diffraction of catalase crystals.
abstract: Low-dose electron diffraction of thin single crystals of catalase that are negatively stained with the light-atom compound, dipotassium glucose-1,6-diphosphate, reveals Bragg reflections extending to 4.0A (= 0.40 nm). Under the same conditions, negative staining with the traditional heavy-metal salt, ammonium molybdate, also gives diffraction spots extending to 4.0 A. These results establish that negative staining of protein crystals preserves periodic structural information into the high-resolution range, unlike the widely accepted current belief that this methodology can give a resolution limited to only 20-25 A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103, USA. massover@anatomy2.umdnj.edu
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Massover
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marsh
mesh_terms: D002374:Catalase / Q000737:chemistry*; D003461:Crystallography; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D002374:Catalase