title: Introduction to high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy.
abstract: For many years two techniques have dominated structural biology - X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. Traditional cryo-electron microscopy of biological macromolecules produced macromolecular reconstructions at resolution limited to 6-10 Å. Recent development of transmission electron microscopes, in particular the development of direct electron detectors, and continuous improvements in the available software, have led to the "resolution revolution" in cryo-EM. It is now possible to routinely obtain near-atomic-resolution 3D maps of intact biological macromolecules as small as ~100 kDa. Thus, cryo-EM is now becoming the method of choice for structural analysis of many complex assemblies that are unsuitable for structure determination by other methods.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium Struktury Białka, Międzynarodowy Instytut Biologii Molekularnej i Komórkowej w Warszawie, ul. Ks. Trojdena 4, 02-109 Warszawa, Polska.
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Czarnocki-Cieciura
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium Struktury Białka, Międzynarodowy Instytut Biologii Molekularnej i Komórkowej w Warszawie, ul. Ks. Trojdena 4, 02-109 Warszawa, Polska.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowotny
mesh_terms: D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy / Q000379:methods*
keywords: cryo-EM; electron microscopy; negative stain; single particle reconstruction; structural biology