Project description:We report the solution structure of Escherichia coli β-galactosidase (∼465 kDa), solved at ∼3.2-Å resolution by using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Densities for most side chains, including those of residues in the active site, and a catalytic Mg(2+) ion can be discerned in the map obtained by cryo-EM. The atomic model derived from our cryo-EM analysis closely matches the 1.7-Å crystal structure with a global rmsd of ∼0.66 Å. There are significant local differences throughout the protein, with clear evidence for conformational changes resulting from contact zones in the crystal lattice. Inspection of the map reveals that although densities for residues with positively charged and neutral side chains are well resolved, systematically weaker densities are observed for residues with negatively charged side chains. We show that the weaker densities for negatively charged residues arise from their greater sensitivity to radiation damage from electron irradiation as determined by comparison of density maps obtained by using electron doses ranging from 10 to 30 e(-)/Å(2). In summary, we establish that it is feasible to use cryo-EM to determine near-atomic resolution structures of protein complexes (<500 kDa) with low symmetry, and that the residue-specific radiation damage that occurs with increasing electron dose can be monitored by using dose fractionation tools available with direct electron detector technology.
Project description:This paper proposes a method for deblurring of class-averaged images in single-particle electron microscopy (EM). Since EM images of biological samples are very noisy, the images which are nominally identical projection images are often grouped, aligned and averaged in order to cancel or reduce the background noise. However, the noise in the individual EM images generates errors in the alignment process, which creates an inherent limit on the accuracy of the resulting class averages. This inaccurate class average due to the alignment errors can be viewed as the result of a convolution of an underlying clear image with a blurring function. In this work, we develop a deconvolution method that gives an estimate for the underlying clear image from a blurred class-averaged image using precomputed statistics of misalignment. Since this convolution is over the group of rigid body motions of the plane, SE(2), we use the Fourier transform for SE(2) in order to convert the convolution into a matrix multiplication in the corresponding Fourier space. For practical implementation we use a Hermite-function-based image modeling technique, because Hermite expansions enable lossless Cartesian-polar coordinate conversion using the Laguerre-Fourier expansions, and Hermite expansion and Laguerre-Fourier expansion retain their structures under the Fourier transform. Based on these mathematical properties, we can obtain the deconvolution of the blurred class average using simple matrix multiplication. Tests of the proposed deconvolution method using synthetic and experimental EM images confirm the performance of our method.
Project description:Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provides a technical platform for nanoscopic mapping of biological structures. Correct preparation of SEM samples can provide an unprecedented understanding of the nexus between cellular morphology and topography. This comparative study critically examines two coating methods for preparing biological samples for scanning electron microscopy, while also providing novel advice on how to prepare in vitro epithelial or endothelial samples for high-resolution scanning-electron microscopy (HR-SEM). Two obstacles often confront the biologist when investigating cellular structures grown under tissue culture conditions, namely., how to prepare and present the biological samples to the HR-SEM microscope without affecting topographical membrane and cellular structural alterations. Firstly, our use of the Millicell cellulose inserts on which to grow our cellular samples in preparation for HR-SEM is both novel and advantageous to comparing the permeability function of cells to their morphological function. Secondly, biological material is often non-conducting, thermally sensitive and fragile and, therefore, needs to be fixed correctly and coated with thin conducting metal to ensure high-resolution detail of samples. Immortalized mouse brain endothelial cells (bEnd5) was used as a basis for describing the preferences in the use of the protocol. We compare two biological sample coating modalities for the visualizing and analysis of texturized, topographical, membranous ultrastructures of brain endothelial cell (BEC) confluent monolayers, namely, carbon and gold:palladium (Au:Pd) sputter coating in preparation for HR-SEM. BEC monolayers sputter-coated with these two modalities produced three-dimensional micrographs which have distinctly different topographical detail from which the nanostructural cellular data can be examined. The two coating methods display differences in the amount of nanoscopic detail that could be resolved in the nanosized membrane cytoarchitecture of BEC monolayers. The micrographical data clearly showed that Au:Pd sputter-coated samples generate descript imagery, providing useful information for profiling membrane nanostructures compared to carbon-coated samples. The recommendations regarding the contrast in two modalities would provide the necessary guidance to biological microscopists in preparing tissue culture samples for HR-SEM.
Project description:Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful imaging modality capable of visualizing proteins and macromolecular complexes at near-atomic resolution. The low electron-doses used to prevent radiation damage to the biological samples, however, result in images where the power of the noise is 100 times greater than the power of the signal. To overcome these low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), hundreds of thousands of particle projections are averaged to determine the three-dimensional structure of the molecule of interest. The sampling requirements of high-resolution imaging impose limitations on the pixel sizes that can be used for acquisition, limiting the size of the field of view and requiring data collection sessions of several days to accumulate sufficient numbers of particles. Meanwhile, recent image super-resolution (SR) techniques based on neural networks have shown state-of-the-art performance on natural images. Building on these advances, here, we present a multiple-image SR algorithm based on deep internal learning designed specifically to work under low-SNR conditions. Our approach leverages the internal image statistics of cryo-EM movies and does not require training on ground-truth data. When applied to single-particle datasets of apoferritin and T20S proteasome, we show that the resolution of the 3D structure obtained from SR micrographs can surpass the limits imposed by the imaging system. Our results indicate that the combination of low magnification imaging with in silico image SR has the potential to accelerate cryo-EM data collection by virtue of including more particles in each exposure and doing so without sacrificing resolution.
Project description:Current spatial transcriptomics methods provide molecular and spatial information but no morphological readout. Here, we present STEM - a method that correlates multiplexed error-robust FISH with electron microscopy from neighboring tissue sections of the same sample. STEM links transcriptional and spatial organization of single cells with ultrastructural morphology of the tissue in vivo. Using STEM to characterize demyelinated white-matter lesions allowed us to link morphology of myelin-laden foamy microglia to transcriptional signature. Moreover, we revealed that interferon-response microglia have unique morphology and are enriched near CD8 T-cells.