3-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE OF TUBULIN IN ZINC-INDUCED SHEETS, RECONSTRUCTED FROM ELECTRON-MICROGRAPHS

A three-dimensional image of zinc-induced brain tubulin sheets has been reconstructed by computer from digitized electron microscope images of negatively stained specimens. Different views of the sheets were obtained by tilting the specimens in the microscope and also by sectioning normal to the plane of the sheets. The overall resolution of the data is about 2 nm. The features of the resulting three-dimensional model suggest an explanation for the somewhat variable appearance of tubulin subunits in electron microscope images of negatively stained intact and opened-out microtubules. © 1979.