Dunstone Michelle A, de Marco Alex
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia.
ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017 Aug 5;372(1726). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0210.
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is a three-dimensional imaging technique that makes it possible to analyse the structure of complex and dynamic biological assemblies in their native conditions. The latest technological and image processing developments demonstrate that it is possible to obtain structural information at nanometre resolution. The sample preparation required for the cryo-ET technique does not require the isolation of a protein and other macromolecular complexes from its native environment. Therefore, cryo-ET is emerging as an important tool to study the structure of membrane-associated proteins including pores.This article is part of the themed issue 'Membrane pores: from structure and assembly, to medicine and technology'.
冷冻电子断层扫描(cryo-ET)是一种三维成像技术,它能够在天然条件下分析复杂且动态的生物组装体的结构。最新的技术和图像处理进展表明,可以获得纳米分辨率的结构信息。cryo-ET技术所需的样品制备不需要将蛋白质和其他大分子复合物从其天然环境中分离出来。因此,cryo-ET正在成为研究包括孔在内的膜相关蛋白结构的重要工具。本文是主题为“膜孔:从结构与组装到医学与技术”的特刊的一部分。