title: MRC2014: Extensions to the MRC format header for electron cryo-microscopy and tomography.
abstract: The MRC binary file format is widely used in the three-dimensional electron microscopy field for storing image and volume data. Files contain a header which describes the kind of data held, together with other important metadata. In response to advances in electron microscopy techniques, a number of variants to the file format have emerged which contain useful additional data, but which limit interoperability between different software packages. Following extensive discussions, the authors, who represent leading software packages in the field, propose a set of extensions to the MRC format standard designed to accommodate these variants, while restoring interoperability. The MRC format is equivalent to the map format used in the CCP4 suite for macromolecular crystallography, and the proposal also maintains interoperability with crystallography software. This Technical Note describes the proposed extensions, and serves as a reference for the standard.
authors.affiliation: National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Electron Microscopy Group, New York Structural Biology Center, 89 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA. Electronic address: acheng@nysbc.org.
authors.forename: Anchi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0347, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mastronarde
authors.affiliation: Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Center for Macromolecular Imaging, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 70030, USA.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ludtke
authors.affiliation: FEI, Achsteweg Noord 5, 5600 KK Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Remco H M
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Schoenmakers
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Short
authors.affiliation: Univ Autonoma Madrid, Escuela Politécnia Superior, E-28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marabini
authors.affiliation: National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Electron Microscopy Group, New York Structural Biology Center, 89 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Sargis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dallakyan
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California at San Francisco UCSF, MC 2240 600 16th Street, Room S412D, San Francisco, CA 94158-2517, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Agard
authors.affiliation: Scientific Computing Department, STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, United Kingdom. Electronic address: martyn.winn@stfc.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Martyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winn
mesh_terms: D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D055032:Electron Microscope Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software
keywords: Electron microscopy; File format; Image data; Macromolecular crystallography