Description:
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X-ray diffraction microscopy complements other x-ray microscopy methods by being free of lens-imposed radiation dose and resolution limits, and it allows for high-resolution imaging of biological specimens too thick to be viewed by electron microscopy. We report here the highest resolution (11–13 nm) x-ray diffraction micrograph of biological specimens, and a demonstration of molecular-specific gold labeling at different depths within cells via through-focus propagation of the reconstructed wavefield. The lectin concanavalin A conjugated to colloidal gold particles was used to label the α-mannan sugar in the cell wall of the yeast
<jats:italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</jats:italic>
. Cells were plunge-frozen in liquid ethane and freeze-dried, after which they were imaged whole using x-ray diffraction microscopy at 750 eV photon energy.
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