Teaching electron diffraction and imaging of macromolecules.

W Chiu; M F Schmid; B V Prasad

doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(93)81533-9

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Teaching electron diffraction and imaging of macromolecules.

W Chiu·M F Schmid·B V Prasad

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Abstract

Electron microscopic analysis can be used to determine the three-dimensional structures of macromolecules at resolutions ranging between 3 and 30 A. It differs from nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy or x-ray crystallography in that it allows an object's Coulomb potential functions to be determined directly from images and can be used to study relatively complex macromolecular assemblies in a crystalline or noncrystalline state. Electron imaging already has provided valuable structural information about various biological systems, including membrane proteins, protein-nucleic acid complexes, contractile and motile protein assemblies, viruses, and transport complexes for ions or macromolecules. This article, organized as a series of lectures, presents the biophysical principles of three-dimensional analysis of objects possessing different symmetries.

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Biophysics Crystallography Education, Graduate Image Processing, Computer-Assisted Macromolecular Substances Microscopy, Electron Models, Molecular Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

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W Chiu, M F Schmid, B V Prasad. 1993. Teaching electron diffraction and imaging of macromolecules.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0006-3495(93)81533-9

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