Semiautomatic Segmentation of Plant Golgi Stacks in Electron Tomograms Using 3dmod

Electron tomography is a powerful tool for visualizing subcellular organelles. With the advances in cryo-fixation techniques, it is now possible to reconstruct complex structures in cells preserved close to their native states in three-dimension (3D) using electron tomography. In order to better visualize these objects, 3D models are made from outlines of organelles in individual tomographic slices, which can be used to display morphological features and quantify structural parameters. While outlines of simple organelles can be drawn by hand fairly quickly, it is possible to accelerate 3D modeling of more complex organelles by means of semiautomatic segmentation. In this chapter, we use the example of reconstructing Golgi cisternae of a plant cell into 3D models using the semiautomatic protocol.