Polymorphic phase transition of a membrane protein - analysis of continuous diffuse electron diffraction intensity

Author(s):  
Douglas L. Dorset ◽  
Andrew K. Massalski

Matrix porin, the ompF gene product of E. coli, has been the object of a electron crystallographic study of its pore geometry in an attempt to understand its function as a membrane molecular sieve. Three polymorphic forms have been found for two-dimensional crystals reconstituted in phospholipid, two hexagonal forms with different lipid content and an orthorhombic form coexisting with and similar to the hexagonal form found after lipid loss. In projection these have been shown to retain the same three-fold pore triplet geometry and analyses of three-dimensional data reveal that the small hexagonal and orthorhombic polymorphs have similar structure as well as unit cell spacings.

Author(s):  
J.L. Carrascosa ◽  
G. Abella ◽  
S. Marco ◽  
M. Muyal ◽  
J.M. Carazo

Chaperonins are a class of proteins characterized by their role as morphogenetic factors. They trantsiently interact with the structural components of certain biological aggregates (viruses, enzymes etc), promoting their correct folding, assembly and, eventually transport. The groEL factor from E. coli is a conspicuous member of the chaperonins, as it promotes the assembly and morphogenesis of bacterial oligomers and/viral structures.We have studied groEL-like factors from two different bacteria:E. coli and B.subtilis. These factors share common morphological features , showing two different views: one is 6-fold, while the other shows 7 morphological units. There is also a correlation between the presence of a dominant 6-fold view and the fact of both bacteria been grown at low temperature (32°C), while the 7-fold is the main view at higher temperatures (42°C). As the two-dimensional projections of groEL were difficult to interprete, we studied their three-dimensional reconstruction by the random conical tilt series method from negatively stained particles.


Author(s):  
A. Verschoor ◽  
J. Frank ◽  
M. Radermacher ◽  
T. Wagenknecht ◽  
M. Boublik

The small (30S) subunit of prokaryotic ribosomes can assume any of a wide range of tilt positions on the specimen support. Correspondence analysis should make it possible to order views appearing in the electron micrograph according to the angle of tilt.231 individual windowed images from two micrographs showing negatively stained 30S subunits from E. coli ribosomes were subjected to multireference alignment. Correspondence analysis yielded six morphologically significant factors of variance. The second of these related to variations in stain concentrations, which are irrelevant at the level of gross morphology. The coordinates for each image in five-dimensional space (relating to factors 1,3,4,5, and 6) were subjected to a nonlinear mapping algorithm, which calculated an optimal two-dimensional map.The resulting distribution (Fig 1) consisted of two clusters, one of rightfacing, the other of left-facing views. Subaverages along the outer margin of the cluster on the left showed the particle in a range of typical views.


1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1209-1217 ◽  
Author(s):  
S-B. Lee ◽  
S. R. Stock ◽  
M. D. Butts ◽  
T. L. Starr ◽  
T. M. Breunig ◽  
...  

Composite preform fiber architectures range from the very simple to the complex, and the extremes are typified by parallel continuous fibers and complicated three-dimensional woven structures. Subsequent processing of these preforms to produce dense composites may depend critically on the geometry of the interfiber porosity. The goal of this study is to fully characterize the structure of a 0°/90° cloth layup preform using x-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM). This characterization includes the measurement of intercloth channel widths and their variability, the transverse distribution of through-cloth holes, and the distribution of preform porosity. The structure of the intercloth porosity depends critically on the magnitude and direction of the offset between adjacent cloth layers. The structures observed include two-dimensional networks of open pipes linking adjacent holes, arrays of parallel one-dimensional pipes linking holes, and relatively closed channels exhibiting little structure, and these different structures would appear to offer very different resistances to gas flow through the preform. These measurements, and future measurements for different fiber architectures, will yield improved understanding of the role of preform structure on processing.


Author(s):  
James A. Lake

The understanding of ribosome structure has advanced considerably in the last several years. Biochemists have characterized the constituent proteins and rRNA's of ribosomes. Complete sequences have been determined for some ribosomal proteins and specific antibodies have been prepared against all E. coli small subunit proteins. In addition, a number of naturally occuring systems of three dimensional ribosome crystals which are suitable for structural studies have been observed in eukaryotes. Although the crystals are, in general, too small for X-ray diffraction, their size is ideal for electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
H.A. Cohen ◽  
T.W. Jeng ◽  
W. Chiu

This tutorial will discuss the methodology of low dose electron diffraction and imaging of crystalline biological objects, the problems of data interpretation for two-dimensional projected density maps of glucose embedded protein crystals, the factors to be considered in combining tilt data from three-dimensional crystals, and finally, the prospects of achieving a high resolution three-dimensional density map of a biological crystal. This methodology will be illustrated using two proteins under investigation in our laboratory, the T4 DNA helix destabilizing protein gp32*I and the crotoxin complex crystal.


Author(s):  
B. Ralph ◽  
A.R. Jones

In all fields of microscopy there is an increasing interest in the quantification of microstructure. This interest may stem from a desire to establish quality control parameters or may have a more fundamental requirement involving the derivation of parameters which partially or completely define the three dimensional nature of the microstructure. This latter categorey of study may arise from an interest in the evolution of microstructure or from a desire to generate detailed property/microstructure relationships. In the more fundamental studies some convolution of two-dimensional data into the third dimension (stereological analysis) will be necessary.In some cases the two-dimensional data may be acquired relatively easily without recourse to automatic data collection and further, it may prove possible to perform the data reduction and analysis relatively easily. In such cases the only recourse to machines may well be in establishing the statistical confidence of the resultant data. Such relatively straightforward studies tend to result from acquiring data on the whole assemblage of features making up the microstructure. In this field data mode, when parameters such as phase volume fraction, mean size etc. are sought, the main case for resorting to automation is in order to perform repetitive analyses since each analysis is relatively easily performed.


Author(s):  
Yu Liu

The image obtained in a transmission electron microscope is the two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional (3D) object. The 3D reconstruction of the object can be calculated from a series of projections by back-projection, but this algorithm assumes that the image is linearly related to a line integral of the object function. However, there are two kinds of contrast in electron microscopy, scattering and phase contrast, of which only the latter is linear with the optical density (OD) in the micrograph. Therefore the OD can be used as a measure of the projection only for thin specimens where phase contrast dominates the image. For thick specimens, where scattering contrast predominates, an exponential absorption law holds, and a logarithm of OD must be used. However, for large thicknesses, the simple exponential law might break down due to multiple and inelastic scattering.


Author(s):  
D. E. Johnson

Increased specimen penetration; the principle advantage of high voltage microscopy, is accompanied by an increased need to utilize information on three dimensional specimen structure available in the form of two dimensional projections (i.e. micrographs). We are engaged in a program to develop methods which allow the maximum use of information contained in a through tilt series of micrographs to determine three dimensional speciman structure.In general, we are dealing with structures lacking in symmetry and with projections available from only a limited span of angles (±60°). For these reasons, we must make maximum use of any prior information available about the specimen. To do this in the most efficient manner, we have concentrated on iterative, real space methods rather than Fourier methods of reconstruction. The particular iterative algorithm we have developed is given in detail in ref. 3. A block diagram of the complete reconstruction system is shown in fig. 1.


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