Berlin 2024 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 27: Single Molecule Biophysics
BP 27.2: Talk
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 09:45–10:00, H 0112
Imaging Mucin with Low Energy Electron Holography — •Moritz Edte1,2, Ben Yang1, Luigi Malavolti1, and Klaus Kern1,2 — 1Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany — 2École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
The glycosylated protein family of transmembrane mucins plays an important role in living cells [1,2]. Mucin molecules show different degrees of glycosylation in healthy and cancerous cells [1,2] associated with a possible structural change. Due to the high complexity and flexibility of these molecules, which challenges state-of-the-art methods, a single-molecule imaging technique is required to study how the degree of glycosylation affects the mucin structure. In our in-house custom-built low-energy electron holography (LEEH) setup, a low-energy electron beam in the 50-150 eV energy range allows high-contrast imaging of single biomolecules deposited by electrospray ion beam deposition (ES-IBD) [3,4]. Our method allows the mapping of conformational variability of single flexible molecules [3,4]. Here, I present LEEH imaging of single mucin molecules with varying degrees of glycosylation, and show that LEEH combined with ES-IBD is able to image these flexible molecules. This study demonstrates that LEEH can be used as a complementary method to study structural features associated with conformational changes in individual biomolecules. [1]*D.W. Kufe et al., Nature Review Cancer 9, 874-885 (2009) [2]*G.C. Hansson, Annual Review of Biochemistry 89, 769-793 (2020) [3]*H. Ochner et al., PNAS 118 (51), e2112651118 (2021) [4]*H. Ochner et al., scientific reports 13, 10241 (2023)
Keywords: Single Molecule Imaging; Proteins; Low Energy Electron Holography; Electrospray Ion Beam Deposition