{
  "abstract": "Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has enabled rapid progress in structural biology throughout the last decade. However, cryo-EM sample preparation still represents a major bottleneck in high-resolution structure determination. Many proteins and macromolecular complexes interact with the air-water interface during sample preparation, which can cause protein denaturation, complex disassembly, and preferred particle orientation. Development of methods to alleviate these issues is an active field of investigation. However, a universally applicable solution to this problem has not been found so far. Here, we describe the simple and cost-effective usage of synthetic peptides with defined amino acid sequence to protect cryo-EM samples from complex disassembly and reduce preferred orientation. We show benefits during cryo-EM grid preparation of a large E3 ubiquitin ligase termed the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C), and the small CDK11:cyclin L:SAP30BP complex.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "The Institute of Cancer Research"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "C. Alfieri"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. V. C. Young"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. J. S. McGeoch"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Jessop"
    },
    {
      "name": "B. J. Greber"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mcvpdmbnb3kt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.30.755610",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755610v1.full",
  "id": "8mcvpdmbnb3kt",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755610v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "biochemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1315|Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7215040978",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755610v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-30",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mcvpdmbnb3kt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:35Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.30.755610",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755610v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1315|Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications",
      "subfield": "structural-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Cryo-tides: synthetic peptides for cryo-EM grid preparation of multi-subunit protein complexes sensitive to the air-water interface",
  "title_text": "Cryo-tides: synthetic peptides for cryo-EM grid preparation of multi-subunit protein complexes sensitive to the air-water interface",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:35Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mcvpdmbnb3kt",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}