Cryo-electron microscopy for structural analysis of dynamic biological macromolecules

• Published in: Biochimica et biophysica acta Vol. 1862; no. 2; pp. 324 - 334
• Main Authors: Murata, Kazuyoshi, Wolf, Matthias
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.02.2018
• Subjects: algorithms; biochemical compounds; cryo-electron microscopy; Cryo-electron tomography; Electron cryomicroscopy; Molecular dynamics; Protein structure; Single particle 3D reconstruction; Molecular dynamics; Cryo-electron tomography; Single particle 3D reconstruction; Protein structure; Electron cryomicroscopy
• ISSN: 0304-4165; 0006-3002; 1872-8006
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2017.07.020

Since the introduction of what became today's standard for cryo-embedding of biological macromolecules at native conditions more than 30years ago, techniques and equipment have been drastically improved and the structure of biomolecules can now be studied at near atomic resolution by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) while capturing multiple dynamic states. Here we review the recent progress in cryo-EM for structural studies of dynamic biological macromolecules. We provide an overview of the cryo-EM method and introduce contemporary studies to investigate biomolecular structure and dynamics, including examples from the recent literature. Cryo-EM is a powerful tool for the investigation of biological macromolecular structures including analysis of their dynamics by using advanced image-processing algorithms. The method has become even more widely applicable with present-day single particle analysis and electron tomography. The cryo-EM method can be used to determine the three-dimensional structure of biomacromolecules in near native condition at close to atomic resolution, and has the potential to reveal conformations of dynamic molecular complexes. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Biophysical Exploration of Dynamical Ordering of Biomolecular Systems" edited by Dr. Koichi Kato. •The recent progress in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is reviewed.•Two modalities of single particle analysis and subtomogram averaging are introduced.•Recent advances of cryo-EM are provided by detector & image processing technologies.•The technologies in cryo-EM make it possible to study the molecular dynamics.