X-Ray Microscopy in the Study of Biological Structure: A Prospective View

Abstract

As summarized in this volume, x-ray microscopy is making very rapid progress on many fronts. Thus, it would be foolhardy and perhaps counterproductive to attempt to predict the full impact of x-ray microscopy on the study of biological structure. Instead, this paper focuses upon a particular problem of great interest to biologists (the structure of the chromosome), for which present technologies such as electron microscopy and light microscopy are inadequate. The characteristics of this problem suggest that it may just be accessible to x-ray microscopy in the near future. The problem also serves to illustrate both the strengths of biological x-ray microscopy — for example, its ability to distinguish substances by elemental composition — and the weaknesses — for example, marginal resolution and lack of ability to acquire full three-dimensional information.