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Three-Dimensional Electron Microscopy. The Coming of Age of a Versatile Structural Biology Technique

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Advanced Techniques in Biophysics

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Biophysics ((BIOPHYSICS,volume 10))

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10.7 Concluding Remarks

Analysis of the structure and dynamics of big macromolecular complexes is one of the great challenges of the postgenomic era. It is expected that in the next few years a great number of protein domain structures will be made available through X-ray crystallography and NMR studies, as all branches of biology strive to process the avalanche of data coming from genome sequencing. The understanding of cellular functions requires studying these domains in their context, taking part in the big macromolecular complexes and within the framework of living cells. The contributions from cryo-EM and cryo-ET can bring us to a new scenario, where the researcher could “see” individual molecular motors working within an astonishing complicated factory, the cell. We are convinced that all the possibilities that 3DEM offers will illustrate these and many other breakthroughs in a not very distant future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biocomputing Unit, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Darwin 3, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen San Martín & Mikel K. Valle

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  1. Carmen San Martín
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  2. Mikel K. Valle
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  1. Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Unidad de Biofísica (Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV), P.O. Box 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain

    José Luis R. Arrondo  & Alicia Alonso  & 

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San Martín, C., Valle, M.K. (2006). Three-Dimensional Electron Microscopy. The Coming of Age of a Versatile Structural Biology Technique. In: Arrondo, J.L.R., Alonso, A. (eds) Advanced Techniques in Biophysics. Springer Series in Biophysics, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-30786-9_10

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