The State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Department of Geriatrics and National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610044, China.
MOE Key Laboratory for Cellular Dynamics and Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China.
Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2022 Feb 23;7(1):58. doi: 10.1038/s41392-022-00916-0.
Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has emerged as an unprecedented tool to resolve protein structures at atomic resolution. Structural insights of biological samples not accessible by conventional X-ray crystallography and NMR can be explored with cryo-EM because measurements are carried out under near-native crystal-free conditions, and large protein complexes with conformational and compositional heterogeneity are readily resolved. RNA has remained underexplored in cryo-EM, despite its essential role in various biological processes. This review highlights current challenges and recent progress in using cryo-EM single-particle analysis to determine protein-free RNA structures, enabled by improvement in sample preparation and integration of multiple structural and biochemical methods.
低温电子显微镜（cryo-EM）的出现为解析蛋白质结构提供了前所未有的手段，达到原子分辨率。低温电子显微镜可以探索传统 X 射线晶体学和 NMR 无法获得的生物样本的结构信息，因为测量是在接近天然的无晶体条件下进行的，并且易于解析具有构象和组成异质性的大型蛋白质复合物。尽管 RNA 在各种生物过程中起着至关重要的作用，但在低温电子显微镜中，RNA 的研究仍不够充分。本文综述了利用低温电子显微镜单颗粒分析来确定无蛋白质 RNA 结构的当前挑战和最新进展，这得益于样品制备的改进和多种结构和生化方法的整合。
