Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center

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Studying the Supramolecular Organization of Photosynthetic Membranes within Freeze-fractured Leaf Tissues by Cryo-scanning Electron Microscopy

Dana Charuvi^1,3, Reinat Nevo¹, Ifat Kaplan-Ashiri², Eyal Shimoni², Ziv Reich¹

¹Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, ²Department of Chemical Research Support, Weizmann Institute of Science, ³Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center

Here we describe a procedure for studying freeze-fractured plant tissues. High-pressure frozen leaf samples are freeze-fractured and double-layer coated, yielding well preserved frozen-hydrated samples that are imaged using the cryo-scanning electron microscope at high magnifications with minimal beam damage.