Electron Microscopy of Fission Yeast
- 1Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0347;
- 2Laboratory for 3D Electron Microscopy, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0347
Abstract
Electron microscopy (EM) can provide images of cells with a spatial resolution that significantly surpasses that available from light microscopy (LM), even with modern methods that give LM “super resolution.” However, EM resolution comes with costs in time spent with sample preparation, expense of instrumentation, and concerns regarding sample preparation artifacts. It is therefore important to know the limitations of EM as well as its strengths. Here we describe the most reliable methods for the preservation of fission yeast cells currently available. We describe the properties of images obtained by transmission EM (TEM) and contrast them with images from scanning EM (SEM). We also show how one can make three-dimensional TEM images and discuss several approaches to address the problem of localizing specific proteins within cells. We give references to work by others who have pursued similar goals with different methods, and we discuss briefly the complex subject of image interpretation.
Footnotes
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↵3 Correspondence: richard.mcintosh{at}colorado.edu
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From the Fission Yeast collection, edited by Iain M. Hagan, Antony M. Carr, Agnes Grallert, and Paul Nurse.
- © 2017 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
