Targeting of a mitochondrial protein using gold fiducials for high resolution in-situ cryo-electron tomography

In-situ cryo-electron tomography has emerged as an attractive method for determining high-resolution structures of macromolecules in their native state. While it is possible to achieve sub-nanometer resolution, it can prove difficult to precisely determine the location of the particle of interest in-situ amongst the wide range of cellular structures and particles present in a cell. To overcome this limitation, we have attached a gold fiducial in situ to a mitochondrial protein that allowed for improved targeting of the protein, while acting to facilitate better tilt-series alignments.