Cellular Electron Microscopy

Recent advances in the imaging technique electron microscopy (EM) have improved the method, making it more reliable and rewarding, particularly in its description of three-dimensional detail. Cellular Electron Microscopy will help biologists from many disciplines understand modern EM and the value it might bring to their own work. The book's five sections deal with all major issues in EM of cells: specimen preparation, imaging in 3-D, imaging and understanding frozen-hydrated samples, labeling macromolecules, and analyzing EM data. Each chapter was written by scientists who are among the best in their field, and some chapters provide multiple points of view on the issues they discuss. Each section of the book is preceded by an introduction, which should help newcomers understand the subject. The book shows why many biologists believe that modern EM will forge the link between light microscopy of live cells and atomic resolution studies of isolated macromolecules, helping us toward the goal of an atomic resolution understanding of living systems.

Advances in the imaging technique electron microscopy (EM) have improved the method, making it more reliable and rewarding, particularly in its description of three-dimensional detail. This book helps biologists from many disciplines understand modern EM and the value it might bring to their own work.

Introduction: McIntosh - A new era in electron microscopy of cellsPreparative Methods for Cellular Electron Microscopy1. The physics of rapid cooling and its implications for cryo-immobilization of cells2. Cryopreparation Methods for Electron Microscopy of Selected Model Systems3. Cryo-preparation methodology for plant cell biology 4. Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy of Early C. elegans Embryos in Mitosis Imaging Fixed Cells in Three Dimensions 5. Understanding microtubule organizing centers by comparing mutant and wild-type structures with electron tomography 6. Whole Cell Investigation of Microtubule Cytoskeleton Architecture by Electron Tomography7. Electron Microscopy of archaea 8. Reconstructing Mammalian Membrane Architecture by Large Area Cellular Tomography 9. Visualization of Membrane-Cytoskeletal Interactions during Plant Cytokinesis10. Electron Tomographic Methods for Studying the Chemical Synapse 11. Using electron microscopy to understand functional mechanisms of chromosome alignment on the mitotic spindle 12. EM Analysis of the Leading Edge in Migrating Cells 13. Imaging actomyosin in situ Imaging Frozen-Hydrated Cells and Cell Parts14. Electron tomography of bacterial chemotaxis receptor assemblies 15. How to "read? a vitreous section 16. Single Particle Electron Cryomicroscopy of the Ion Channels in the Excitation-Contraction Coupling Junction 17. Electron microscopy of microtubule-based cytoskeletal machinery 18. Reconstructing the endocytotic machinery Localizing Macromolecules in Cells19. 3-D Immuno-localization with plastic sections20. EM analysis of viral morphogenesis 21. Electron tomography of immuno-labeled cryosections 22. Visualizing macromolecules with fluoronanogold: from photon microscopy to electron tomography23. Markers for correlated light and electron microscopy 24. Localizing Specific Elements Bound to Macromolecules by EFTEM 25. Localization of protein complexes by pattern recognition Aspects of Data Collection and Analysis Instrumentation for image acquisition26. Application of Energy Filtered Electron Microscopy to Tomography of Thick, Selectively Stained Biological Samples 27. Optimization of Image Collection for Cellular Electron Microscopy 28. Future Directions for Camera Systems in Electron Microscopy Computational methods for the analysis of cellular data29. Structure determination in situ by averaging of tomograms 30. Methods for image segmentation in cellular tomography 31. Database Resources for Cellular Electron Microscopy