Computational methods for structural studies with cryogenic electron tomography.

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) plays a critical role in imaging microorganisms in terms of further analyzing the working mechanisms of viruses and drug exploitation, among others. A data processing workflow for cryo-ET has been developed to reconstruct three-dimensional density maps and further build atomic models from a tilt series of two-dimensional projections. Low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and missing wedge are two major factors that make the reconstruction procedure challenging.