Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, D-60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
J Exp Bot. 2011 Apr;62(7):2393-402. doi: 10.1093/jxb/err034. Epub 2011 Mar 25.
For more than half a century, electron microscopy has been a main tool for investigating the complex ultrastructure and organization of chloroplast thylakoid membranes, but, even today, the three-dimensional relationship between stroma and grana thylakoids, and the arrangement of the membrane protein complexes within them are not fully understood. Electron cryo-tomography (cryo-ET) is a powerful new technique for visualizing cellular structures, especially membranes, in three dimensions. By this technique, large membrane protein complexes, such as the photosystem II supercomplex or the chloroplast ATP synthase, can be visualized directly in the thylakoid membrane at molecular (4-5 nm) resolution. This short review compares recent advances by cryo-ET of plant thylakoid membranes with earlier results obtained by conventional electron microscopy.
半个多世纪以来，电子显微镜一直是研究叶绿体类囊体膜复杂超微结构和组织的主要工具，但即使在今天，基质和粒层类囊体之间的三维关系以及其中膜蛋白复合物的排列仍未完全清楚。电子冷冻断层成像术（cryo-ET）是一种用于可视化三维细胞结构，尤其是膜结构的强大新技术。通过该技术，可以在分子（4-5nm）分辨率下直接在类囊体膜中可视化大型膜蛋白复合物，如光系统 II 超复合物或叶绿体 ATP 合酶。这篇简短的综述比较了植物类囊体膜 cryo-ET 的最新进展与传统电子显微镜获得的早期结果。
