Bacterial cryotomography

Electron cryotomography (ECT) is an emerging technique that allows thin samples such as small cells, viruses, or tissue sections to be imaged in 3-D in a near-native, ``frozen-hydrated'' state to molecular ($\sim $4 nm) resolution. Thus ECT fills a critical gap between light microscopy and higher resolution structural techniques like X-ray crystallography and NMR. In a combination of technology development and biological application, during the past few years our lab has been studying bacterial ultrastructure through ECT of intact, plunge-frozen cells. We have now collected over a thousand tomograms of more than ten different species. This work has revealed the surprising complexity of the bacterial cytoskeleton as well as the architectures of several important ``supramolecular'' complexes including the chemoreceptor array, the flagellar motor, and the cell wall peptidoglycan. Example results highlighting both the potential and limitations of this technology will be shown.