The Use of Electron Tomography for Structural Analysis of Disordered Protein Arrays

A method based on Fourier transforms is described for obtaining a 3-D reconstruction from a paracrystalline object with static disorder. The method is derived from the standard methods used in 3-D reconstruction of 2-D crystals except that all of the Fourier coefficients are used and not just the sampled data from the periodic lattice. Thus, not only is the spatially ordered part of the structure visualized in 3-D, but also the spatially disordered part. Application of the method to 3-D reconstructions of insect flight muscle is described as well as prospects for extension of the method to radiation-sensitive specimens.