Electron tomography in plant cell biology

Marisa S Otegui; Jannice G Pennington

doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfy133

Electron tomography in plant cell biology

Microscopy (Oxf). 2019 Feb 1;68(1):69-79. doi: 10.1093/jmicro/dfy133.

Authors

Marisa S Otegui^{1

2

3}, Jannice G Pennington^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison WI, USA.
² Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison WI, USA.
³ Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 425 Henry Mall, Madison WI, USA.
⁴ Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison WI, USA.
⁵ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA.

PMID: 30452668
DOI: 10.1093/jmicro/dfy133

Abstract

Electron tomography (ET) approaches are based on the imaging of a biological specimen at different tilt angles by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). ET can be applied to both plastic-embedded and frozen samples. Technological advancements in TEM, direct electron detection, automated image collection, and imaging processing algorithms allow for 2-7-nm scale axial resolution in tomographic reconstructions of cells and organelles. In this review, we discussed the application of ET in plant cell biology and new opportunities for imaging plant cells by cryo-ET and other 3D electron microscopy approaches.

Keywords: cryo-electron microscopy; electron tomography; plant biology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Arabidopsis / ultrastructure*
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / ultrastructure*
Cryoelectron Microscopy / methods
Electron Microscope Tomography / methods*
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / methods
Plant Cells / ultrastructure*
Plant Structures / ultrastructure*