SPECTRA: A program for processing electron images of crystals

Abstract

Electron crystallography is an emerging field for structure determination as evidenced by a number of membrane proteins that have been solved to near-atomic resolution. Advances in specimen preparation and in data acquisition with a 400kV microscope by computer controlled spot scanning mean that our ability to record electron image data will outstrip our capacity to analyze it. The computed fourier transform of these images must be processed in order to provide a direct measurement of amplitudes and phases needed for 3-D reconstruction.In anticipation of this processing bottleneck, we have written a program that incorporates a menu-and mouse-driven procedure for auto-indexing and refining the reciprocal lattice parameters in the computed transform from an image of a crystal. It is linked to subsequent steps of image processing by a system of data bases and spawned child processes; data transfer between different program modules no longer requires manual data entry. The progress of the reciprocal lattice refinement is monitored visually and quantitatively. If desired, the processing is carried through the lattice distortion correction (unbending) steps automatically.