Filling the missing cone in protein electron crystallography
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Updated: Oct 19, 2026

Fully Autonomous Characterization and Data Collection from Crystals of Biological Macromolecules
Published on: March 22, 2019
1Electron Diffraction Department, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Inc., Buffalo, New York 14203-1196, USA. dorset@hwi.buffalo.edu
Abstract:
The hyper-resolution property of the Sayre equation is explored for extrapolating amplitudes and phases into the missing cone of data left after tilting a representative protein (rubredoxin) to restricted limits in the electron microscope. At 0.6 nm resolution, a reasonable prediction of crystallographic phases can be made to reconstruct the lost information. Best results are obtained if the goniometer tilt value is greater than approximately +/-60 degrees, but some missing information can be restored if the tilt is restricted to +/-45 degrees.
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