Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Comparing An Atomic Model Or Structure To A Corresponding Cryo-Electron Microscopy Image At The Central Axis Of A Helix, Stephanie Zeil, Julio Kovacs, Willy Wriggers, Jing He

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Three-dimensional density maps of biological specimens from cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) can be interpreted in the form of atomic models that are modeled into the density, or they can be compared to known atomic structures. When the central axis of a helix is detectable in a cryo-EM density map, it is possible to quantify the agreement between this central axis and a central axis calculated from the atomic model or structure. We propose a novel arc-length association method to compare the two axes reliably. This method was applied to 79 helices in simulated density maps and six case studies using cryo-EM …