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In our postgenomic era, understanding of protein-protein interactions by characterizing the structure of the corresponding protein complex is becoming increasingly important. An important problem is that many protein complexes are only stable for a few minutes. Dissociation will occur when using the typical, time-consuming purification methods such as tandem affinity purification and multiple chromatographic separations. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a quick and efficient protein-complex purification method for 3D structure characterization. The graphene oxide (GO)center dot streptavidin complex is prepared via a GO center dot biotin center dot streptavidin strategy and used for affinity purification The complex shows a strong biotin recognition capability and an excellent loading capacity. Capturing biotinylated DNA, fluorophores and Au nanoparticles on the GO center dot streptavidin complexes demonstrates the usefulness of the GO center dot streptavidin complex as a docking matrix for affinity purification. GO shows a high transparency towards electron beams, making it specifically well suited for direct imaging by electron microscopy. The captured protein complex can be separated via a filtration process or even via on-grid purification and used directly for single-particle analysis via cryo-electron microscopy. Therefore, the purification, sample preparation, and characterization are rolled into one single step.
