Biologia estrutural celular conforme revelada pela tomografia crioeletrônica: mero acaso, fortuita necessidade ou design inteligente?

quarta-feira, novembro 06, 2019

Cellular structural biology as revealed by cryo-electron tomography

Rossitza N. Irobalieva, Bruno Martins, Ohad Medalia

Journal of Cell Science 2016 129: 469-476; doi: 10.1242/jcs.171967


ABSTRACT

Understanding the function of cellular machines requires a thorough analysis of the structural elements that underline their function. Electron microscopy (EM) has been pivotal in providing information about cellular ultrastructure, as well as macromolecular organization. Biological materials can be physically fixed by vitrification and imaged with cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) in a close-to-native condition. Using this technique, one can acquire three-dimensional (3D) information about the macromolecular architecture of cells, depict unique cellular states and reconstruct molecular networks. Technical advances over the last few years, such as improved sample preparation and electron detection methods, have been instrumental in obtaining data with unprecedented structural details. This presents an exciting opportunity to explore the molecular architecture of both individual cells and multicellular organisms at nanometer to subnanometer resolution. In this Commentary, we focus on the recent developments and in situ applications of cryo-ET to cell and structural biology.

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