Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Department of Structural Biology, Am Klopferspitz 18, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany.
J Struct Biol. 2012 Jan;177(1):135-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jsb.2011.08.012. Epub 2011 Sep 1.
Cryo-electron tomography allows to visualize individual actin filaments and to describe the three-dimensional organization of actin networks in the context of unperturbed cellular environments. For a quantitative characterization of actin filament networks, the tomograms must be segmented in a reproducible manner. Here, we describe an automated procedure for the segmentation of actin filaments, which combines template matching with a new tracing algorithm. The result is a set of lines, each one representing the central line of a filament. As demonstrated with cryo-tomograms of cellular actin networks, these line sets can be used to characterize filament networks in terms of filament length, orientation, density, stiffness (persistence length), or the occurrence of branching points.
冷冻电子断层扫描允许可视化单个肌动蛋白丝，并描述在未受干扰的细胞环境中肌动蛋白网络的三维组织。为了对肌动蛋白丝网络进行定量描述，断层扫描必须以可重复的方式进行分割。在这里，我们描述了一种用于肌动蛋白丝分割的自动化程序，该程序将模板匹配与一种新的跟踪算法相结合。结果是一组线，每条线代表一条纤维的中心线。正如细胞肌动蛋白网络的冷冻断层扫描所证明的那样，这些线集可用于根据纤维长度、方向、密度、刚性（持久长度）或分支点的出现来描述纤维网络。
