Cheng Yifan
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, 600 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Cell. 2015 Apr 23;161(3):450-457. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.03.049.
Until only a few years ago, single-particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) was usually not the first choice for many structural biologists due to its limited resolution in the range of nanometer to subnanometer. Now, this method rivals X-ray crystallography in terms of resolution and can be used to determine atomic structures of macromolecules that are either refractory to crystallization or difficult to crystallize in specific functional states. In this review, I discuss the recent breakthroughs in both hardware and software that transformed cryo-microscopy, enabling understanding of complex biomolecules and their functions at atomic level.
直到几年前，单颗粒冷冻电子显微镜（cryo-EM）对于许多结构生物学家来说通常都不是首选方法，因为其分辨率在纳米到亚纳米范围内有限。如今，这种方法在分辨率方面可与X射线晶体学相媲美，可用于确定那些难以结晶或在特定功能状态下难以结晶的大分子的原子结构。在这篇综述中，我将讨论在硬件和软件方面的最新突破，这些突破改变了冷冻显微镜技术，使得在原子水平上理解复杂生物分子及其功能成为可能。
