Single-Particle Cryo-EM at Crystallographic Resolution

Until only a few years ago, single-particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) was usually not the first choice for many structural biologists due to its limited resolution in the range of nanometer to subnanometer. Now, this method rivals X-ray crystallography in terms of resolution and can be used...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCell Vol. 161; no. 3; pp. 450 - 457
Main Author Cheng, Yifan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 23.04.2015
Subjects
biochemical compounds
computer software
cryo-electron microscopy
crystallization
Crystallography, X-Ray - instrumentation
Crystallography, X-Ray - methods
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Likelihood Functions
Molecular Conformation
Software
X-ray diffraction
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Summary:Until only a few years ago, single-particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) was usually not the first choice for many structural biologists due to its limited resolution in the range of nanometer to subnanometer. Now, this method rivals X-ray crystallography in terms of resolution and can be used to determine atomic structures of macromolecules that are either refractory to crystallization or difficult to crystallize in specific functional states. In this review, I discuss the recent breakthroughs in both hardware and software that transformed cryo-microscopy, enabling understanding of complex biomolecules and their functions at atomic level.
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ISSN:0092-8674
1097-4172
1097-4172
DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2015.03.049