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Main Authors: Carrion, Jackson, Davis, Joseph H.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.22719
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author Carrion, Jackson
Davis, Joseph H.
author_facet Carrion, Jackson
Davis, Joseph H.
contents Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) has emerged as a powerful tool for studying the structural heterogeneity of proteins and their complexes, offering insights into macromolecular dynamics directly within cells. Driven by recent computational advances, including powerful machine learning frameworks, researchers can now resolve both discrete structural states and continuous conformational changes from 3D subtomograms and stacks of 2D particle-images acquired across tilt-series. In this review, we survey recent innovations in particle classification and heterogeneous 3D reconstruction methods, focusing specifically on the relative merits of workflows that operate on reconstructed 3D subtomogram volumes compared to those using extracted 2D particle-images. We additionally highlight how these methods have provided specific biological insights into the organization, dynamics, and structural variability of cellular components. Finally, we advocate for the development of benchmarking datasets collected in vitro and in situ to enable a more objective comparison of existent and emerging methods for particle classification and heterogeneous 3D reconstruction.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_22719
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Resolving structural dynamics in situ through cryogenic electron tomography
Carrion, Jackson
Davis, Joseph H.
Biomolecules
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) has emerged as a powerful tool for studying the structural heterogeneity of proteins and their complexes, offering insights into macromolecular dynamics directly within cells. Driven by recent computational advances, including powerful machine learning frameworks, researchers can now resolve both discrete structural states and continuous conformational changes from 3D subtomograms and stacks of 2D particle-images acquired across tilt-series. In this review, we survey recent innovations in particle classification and heterogeneous 3D reconstruction methods, focusing specifically on the relative merits of workflows that operate on reconstructed 3D subtomogram volumes compared to those using extracted 2D particle-images. We additionally highlight how these methods have provided specific biological insights into the organization, dynamics, and structural variability of cellular components. Finally, we advocate for the development of benchmarking datasets collected in vitro and in situ to enable a more objective comparison of existent and emerging methods for particle classification and heterogeneous 3D reconstruction.
title Resolving structural dynamics in situ through cryogenic electron tomography
topic Biomolecules
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.22719