HRP cDNA expression: a label for modern electron microscopy on neuroscience

描述(由研究人员提供)：大分子结构的组织是 在我们对蛋白质的性质和生物功能的理解中缺失了一环。有必要找到 因此，生物功能和大分子结构之间的详细关系是毋庸置疑的 几乎在生物学的所有领域。绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)的引入使其成为可能 在细胞水平上研究结构-功能关系，开启了细胞生物学的革命。 然而，只有电子显微镜(EM)才能提供足够的分辨率来研究 大分子结构，以及EM报告基因的缺乏阻碍了遗传方法的研究 几十年来在精细的结构研究中。最近，我们引入了辣根过氧化物酶(Hrp)cdna。 作为一种遗传标记，可以在不破坏精细结构的情况下标记整个神经元。这个记号笔， 与现代电磁方法(例如高分辨率电子断层扫描)相结合，具有巨大的潜力 通过扩大我们对神经科学和细胞生物学所有领域的了解，推动神经科学领域的发展 大分子组织。

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): The organization of macromolecular structures is the missing link in our understanding of the properties of proteins and biological function. The need to find the detailed relationship between biological function and macromolecular structure is, thus, undisputed in almost all areas of biology. The introduction of green fluorescent protein (GFP) has made it possible to study structure-function relationships at the cellular level and started a revolution in cell biology. However, only electron microscopy (EM) provides sufficient resolution to study the organization of macromolecular structures, and the lack of a reporter gene for EM has hampered genetic approaches in fine structural research for decades. Recently, we introduced horseradish peroxidase (HRP) cDNA as a genetic marker that can label entire neurons without destroying the fine structure. This marker, together with modern EM approaches (e.g., high resolution electron tomography), has a great potential to advance the field of neuroscience and all areas of cell biology by expanding our knowledge of macromolecular organization.