Imaging biological macromolecules in thick specimens: The role of inelastic scattering in cryoEM.

ABSTRACT: We investigate potential improvements in using electron cryomicroscopy to image thick specimens with high-resolution phase contrast imaging. In particular, using model experiments, electron scattering theory, Monte Carlo and multislice simulations, we determine the potential for improving electron cryomicrographs of proteins within a cell using chromatic aberration (C_c) correction. We show that inelastically scattered electrons lose a quantifiable amount of spatial coherence as they transit the specimen, yet can be used to enhance the signal from thick biological specimens (in the 1000 to 5000 Å range) provided they are imaged close to focus with an achromatic lens. This loss of information quantified here, which we call "specimen induced decoherence", is a fundamental limit on

SUBMITTER: Dickerson JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9355893 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature