Invited Talk 21st International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry 2025

Visualization of the protein-inorganic interface by cryo-electron microscopy (121610)

Brent Nannenga 1
  1. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States

Visualizing the structure of the protein-inorganic interface is critically important for a more complete understanding of biomineralization. Unfortunately, there are limited approaches for the direct and detailed study of biomolecules that interact with inorganic materials. In our group, we use single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to elucidate the high-resolution details of the protein-inorganic interface. In recent work we have determined the 2.85 Å structure of human light chain ferritin bound to its native iron oxide NP substrate. The resulting cryo-EM maps confirmed and enhanced previously proposed interactions of the protein with the material along the B-helix and revealed new interaction at the C-terminus of light chain ferritin. This work sheds new light on the mechanisms of ferritin biomineralization and further demonstrates the application of cryo-EM for the study of protein-inorganic systems.