冷冻电镜单颗粒技术的发展、现状与未来

Application of cryo-electron microscopy in structure biology:current status and future perspectives

近年来冷冻电子显微镜成像技术突飞猛进,越来越广泛地应用于生物大分子的高精度结构研究中,尤其在解析其他方法难以应对的蛋白质复合物的结构研究方面取得了瞩目的进展。文章对冷冻电镜单颗粒重构技术近年来的发展做了回顾和总结,重点介绍了冷冻电镜单颗粒重构技术中的基本流程及其使用的图像处理技术和算法,并对近年来人们重点关注的问题进行了讨论。最后对冷冻电镜单颗粒重构技术未来的发展趋势,尤其是对细胞内原位的分子结构以及蛋白质分子的动态信息的捕捉等方面进行了初步的探讨。

Cryo-electron microscopy（cryo-EM） is becoming a powerful tool for determining high resolution structures of protein machineries. Its advancement and applications in structure determination are reviewed in this article. The workflow for single particle imaging is described,with an emphasis on major breakthroughs in data processing, specifically the application of Bayesian theorem in model reconstruction. Cryo- EM shows great promise in solving many more structures, and its application in in situ structure studies and protein dynamics research will expand its territory to hitherto unexplored regions of molecular biology.