1993 Volume 113 Issue 2 Pages 245-250
The three-dimensional molecular structure of the F1-ATPase from a thermophilic bacterium PS3 (TF1) at 3 nm resolution was reconstructed from a series of tilted, negatively stained electron microscopic images of two-dimensional crystals which were formed on a clean surface of mercury. It was shown that six ellipsoidal columns, each γ7 nm in length and -3 nm in diameter, corresponding to the a and β subunits, surrounded a central hollow cavity of _??_2.8 nm in diameter. The cavity, however, did not penetrate the molecule, and a mass, most likely the γ subunit, existed in the cavity at a depth of γ3.4 nm from the top.
