Cross-Sectional Reconstructions of Sickle Cell Hemoglobin Macrofibers.
We have succeeded in performing two-dimensional cross sectional image reconstructions of sickle cell hemoglobin (HbS) macrofibers. Macrofibers are long helical structures which are intermediates in the crystallization of deoxygenated sickle cell hemoglobin at low pH. Earlier work has established that macrofibers are aggregates of Wishner-Love double strands which consist of 2 half-staggered HbS molecules repeating every 64 A in the axial direction. Thin sections of embedded aggregating macrofiber cross sections reveal a dumbbell like pattern of double strands (Figure 2a,b) that is similar to the a-axis projection of the crystal structure. Approximately 5 rows with 10 double strands per row were identified in the cross section, but structural features in the thin sections were obscured by an approximately 15 degree rotational blur due to the finite thickness (400 A) of the helical section, the ill defined boundaries of the section due to uneven staining, and apparent particle damage. These structural features have now been resolved in reconstructed cross sections obtained using a real space filtered back projection algorithm.