title: Biological imaging by soft x-ray diffraction microscopy.
abstract: We have used the method of x-ray diffraction microscopy to image the complex-valued exit wave of an intact and unstained yeast cell. The images of the freeze-dried cell, obtained by using 750-eV x-rays from different angular orientations, portray several of the cell's major internal components to 30-nm resolution. The good agreement among the independently recovered structures demonstrates the accuracy of the imaging technique. To obtain the best possible reconstructions, we have implemented procedures for handling noisy and incomplete diffraction data, and we propose a method for determining the reconstructed resolution. This work represents a previously uncharacterized application of x-ray diffraction microscopy to a specimen of this complexity and provides confidence in the feasibility of the ultimate goal of imaging biological specimens at 10-nm resolution in three dimensions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beetz
authors.forename: Veit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Elser
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Howells
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: Janos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kirz
authors.forename: Enju
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Huijie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Aaron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Neiman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sayre
mesh_terms: D005612:Freeze Drying; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008853:Microscopy; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction