Cryo-EM Part A: Sample Preparation and Data Collection is dedicated to a description of the instruments, samples, protocols, and analyses that belong to cryo-EM. It emphasizes the relatedness of the ideas, instrumentation, and methods underlying all cryo-EM approaches, which allow practitioners to easily move between them. Within each section, the articles are ordered according to the most common symmetry of the sample to which their methods are applied. - Includes time-tested core methods and new innovations applicable to any researcher - Methods included are useful to both established researchers and newcomers to the field - Relevant background and reference information given for procedures can be used as a guide

cryoEM, a new volume in the Methods in Enzymology series, continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field. This volume covers research methods and new developments in recording images, the creation, evaluation and validation of 3D maps from the images, model building into maps and refinement of the resulting atomic structures, and applications of essentially single particle methods to helical structures and to sub-tomogram averaging. - Continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field - Covers research methods that determine the structures of biological molecules, a vital step for understanding their function - Contains the technical developments underpinning the advances of cryoEM and captures the exciting insights that have resulted

This volume is dedicated to a description of the instruments, samples, protocols, and analyses that belong to cryo-EM. It emphasizes the relatedness of the ideas, instrumentation, and methods underlying all cryo-EM approaches, which allow practitioners to easily move between them. Within each section, the articles are ordered according to the most common symmetry of the sample to which their methods are applied. - Includes time-tested core methods and new innovations applicable to any researcher - Methods included are useful to both established researchers and newcomers to the field - Relevant background and reference information given for procedures can be used as a guide

This volume, along with Part A and Part B, is dedicated to a description of the instruments, samples, protocols, and analyses that belong to cryo-EM. It emphasizes the relatedness of the ideas, instrumentation, and methods underlying all cryo-EM approaches, which allow practitioners to easily move between them. Within each section, the articles are ordered according to the most common symmetry of the sample to which their methods are applied. - Includes time-tested core methods and new innovations applicable to any researcher - Methods included are useful to both established researchers and newcomers to the field - Relevant background and reference information given for procedures can be used as a guide

The book reproduces 55 of more than 300 articles written by the author, representing milestones in methods development of single-particle cryo-EM as well as important results obtained by this technique in the study of biological macromolecules and their interactions. Importantly, neither symmetries nor ordered arrangements (as in two-dimensional crystals, helical assemblies, icosahedral viruses) are required. Although the biological applications are mainly in the area of ribosome structure and function, the elucidation of membrane channel structures and their activation and gating mechanisms are represented, as well. The book is introduced by a commentary that explains the original development of concepts, describes the contributions of the author's colleagues and students, and shows how challenges were overcome as the technique matured. Along the way, the ribosome served as an example for a macromolecule with intricate structure and conformational dynamics that pose challenges for three-dimensional visualization. Toward the end of the book -- bringing us to the present time -- molecular structures with near-atomic resolution are presented, and a novel type of computational analysis, manifold embedding, is introduced. Single-particle cryo-EM is currently revolutionizing structural biology, presenting a powerful alternative to X-ray crystallography as a means to solve the structure of biological macromolecules. The book presents in one place a number of articles containing key advances in mathematical and computational methods leading up to the present time. Secondly, the development of the technique over the years is reflected by ever-expanding discoveries in the field of ribosome structure and function. Thirdly, as all histories of ideas, the history of concepts pertaining to this new method of visualization is fascinating all in itself.

In the past several years, there has been an explosion in the ability of biologists, molecular biologists and biochemists to collect vast amounts of data on their systems. Biothermodynamics, Part C presents sophisticated methods for estimating the thermodynamic parameters of specific protein-protein, protein-DNA and small molecule interactions. The use of thermodynamics in biological research is used as an “energy book-keeping system. While the structure and function of a molecule is important, it is equally important to know what drives the energy force. These methods look to answer: What are the sources of energy that drive the function? Which of the pathways are of biological significance? As the base of macromolecular structures continues to expand through powerful techniques of molecular biology, such as X-ray crystal data and spectroscopy methods, the importance of tested and reliable methods for answering these questions will continue to expand as well. Elucidates the relationships between structure and energetics and their applications to molecular design, aiding researchers in the design of medically important molecules Provides a "must-have" methods volume that keeps MIE buyers and online subscribers up-to-date with the latest research Offers step-by-step lab instructions, including necessary equipment, from a global research community

The combination of faster, more advanced computers and more quantitatively oriented biomedical researchers has recently yielded new and more precise methods for the analysis of biomedical data. These better analyses have enhanced the conclusions that can be drawn from biomedical data, and they have changed the way that experiments are designed and performed. This volume, along with the 2 previous Computer Methods volumes for the Methods in Enzymology serial, aims to inform biomedical researchers about recent applications of modern data analysis and simulation methods as applied to biomedical research. - Presents step-by-step computer methods and discusses the techniques in detail to enable their implementation in solving a wide range of problems - Informs biomedical researchers of the modern data analysis methods that have developed alongside computer hardware - Presents methods at the "nuts and bolts" level to identify and resolve a problem and analyze what the results mean