2021/04/02 by Valentina Baena, Ryan Conrad, Patrick Friday +7 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Cell Image Analysis Techniques #SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/v13040611
openalex publication_date 2021/04/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The visualization of cellular ultrastructure over a wide range of volumes is becoming possible by increasingly powerful techniques grouped under the rubric "volume electron microscopy" or volume EM (vEM). Focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) occupies a "Goldilocks zone" in vEM: iterative and automated cycles of milling and imaging allow the interrogation of microns-thick specimens in 3-D at resolutions of tens of nanometers or less. This bestows on FIB-SEM the unique ability to aid the accurate and precise study of architectures of virus-cell interactions. Here we give the virologist or cell biologist a primer on FIB-SEM imaging in the context of vEM and discuss practical aspects of a room temperature FIB-SEM experiment. In an in vitro study of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we show that accurate quantitation of viral densities and surface curvatures enabled by FIB-SEM imaging reveals SARS-CoV-2 viruses preferentially located at areas of plasma membrane that have positive mean curvatures.