Beam-induced motion correction for sub-megadalton cryo-EM particles

Elife. 2014 Aug 13:3:e03665. doi: 10.7554/eLife.03665.

Abstract

In electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM), the electron beam that is used for imaging also causes the sample to move. This motion blurs the images and limits the resolution attainable by single-particle analysis. In a previous Research article (Bai et al., 2013) we showed that correcting for this motion by processing movies from fast direct-electron detectors allowed structure determination to near-atomic resolution from 35,000 ribosome particles. In this Research advance article, we show that an improved movie processing algorithm is applicable to a much wider range of specimens. The new algorithm estimates straight movement tracks by considering multiple particles that are close to each other in the field of view, and models the fall-off of high-resolution information content by radiation damage in a dose-dependent manner. Application of the new algorithm to four data sets illustrates its potential for significantly improving cryo-EM structures, even for particles that are smaller than 200 kDa.

Keywords: cryo-EM; image analysis; single-particle analysis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases / chemistry
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases / ultrastructure*
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy / instrumentation
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy / statistics & numerical data*
  • Electron Transport Complex I / chemistry
  • Electron Transport Complex I / ultrastructure*
  • Escherichia coli / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Motion
  • Ribosomes / chemistry
  • Ribosomes / ultrastructure*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / chemistry
  • beta-Galactosidase / chemistry
  • beta-Galactosidase / ultrastructure*

Substances

  • beta-Galactosidase
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases
  • Electron Transport Complex I