Abstract
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is an emerging imaging technique that combines the power of three-dimensional(3-D) imaging of large pleomorphic structures such as cells or organelles with a close-to-life preservationof the sample. At the present resolution of approximately 4 nm, supramolecular structures can be studiedin unperturbed cellular environments. Application of this method to prokaryotic cells has provided newinsights into the structural organization of the bacterial cytoskeleton. In Spiroplasmamelliferum, it is built of three parallel ribbons of thicker and thinner filaments that spanthe cell from one end to the other just underneath the cell membrane, thereby giving the cell its helicalshape and enabling it to swim by processive change in body helicity.
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© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Kürner, J., Baumeister, W. (2006). Cryo-electron Tomography Reveals the Architecture of a Bacterial Cytoskeleton. In: Shively, J.M. (eds) Complex Intracellular Structures in Prokaryotes. Microbiology Monographs, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/7171_030
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7171_030
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