We demonstrate that ion-beam milling of frozen, hydrated protein crystals to thin lamella preserves the crystal lattice to near-atomic resolution. This provides a vehicle for protein structure determination, bridging the crystal size gap between the nanometer scale of conventional electron diffraction and micron scale of synchrotron microfocus beamlines. The demonstration that atomic information can be retained suggests that milling could provide such detail on sections cut from vitrified cells.

中文翻译：

---

加工蛋白质微晶以通过电子衍射确定结构 [生物物理学和计算生物学]

我们证明了将冷冻的水合蛋白质晶体离子束研磨成薄层可以将晶格保持在接近原子的分辨率。这为蛋白质结构确定提供了一种载体，弥合了传统电子衍射的纳米级和同步加速器微聚焦光束线的微米级之间的晶体尺寸差距。原子信息可以保留的证明表明，铣削可以提供从玻璃化细胞切下的切片的这种细节。