Isotropic reconstruction for electron tomography with deep learning.

Cryogenic electron tomography (cryoET) allows visualization of cellular structures in situ. However, anisotropic resolution arising from the intrinsic "missing-wedge" problem has presented major challenges in visualization and interpretation of tomograms. Here, we have developed IsoNet, a deep learning-based software package that iteratively reconstructs the missing-wedge information and increases signal-to-noise ratio, using the knowledge learned from raw tomograms. Without the need for sub-tomogram averaging, IsoNet generates tomograms with significantly reduced resolution anisotropy. Applications of IsoNet to three representative types of cryoET data demonstrate greatly improved structural interpretability: resolving lattice defects in immature HIV particles, establishing architecture of the paraflagellar rod in Eukaryotic flagella, and identifying heptagon-containing clathrin cages inside a neuronal synapse of cultured cells. Therefore, by overcoming two fundamental limitations of cryoET, IsoNet enables functional interpretation of cellular tomograms without sub-tomogram averaging. Its application to high-resolution cellular tomograms should also help identify differently oriented complexes of the same kind for sub-tomogram averaging.

Digitalizing neuronal synapses with cryo-electron tomography and correlative microscopy.

Synapses are the structural and functional joints of neuronal circuits, and brain function is fundamentally based on synaptic quantal transmission and plasticity. Precise mapping of key components within individual synapses in different states can reveal the principles governing synapse formation, transmission, and plasticity and improving understanding of the mechanisms of synapse-related diseases. Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and correlative microscopy are increasingly powerful tools that can dissect the molecular sociology of intact cells, including neuronal synapses. In this study, we discuss current progress made in cryo-ET studies assessing neuronal synapses, especially sample preparation, molecule identification, and correlative approaches for synaptic dynamics and functions.

Mesophasic organization of GABAA receptors in hippocampal inhibitory synapses.

Information processing in the brain depends on specialized organization of neurotransmitter receptors and scaffolding proteins within the postsynaptic density. However, how these molecules are organized in situ remains largely unknown. In this study, template-free classification of oversampled sub-tomograms was used to analyze cryo-electron tomograms of hippocampal synapses. We identified type-A GABA receptors (GABAARs) in inhibitory synapses and determined their in situ structure at 19-Å resolution. These receptors are organized hierarchically: from GABAAR super-complexes with a preferred inter-receptor distance of 11 nm but variable relative angles, through semi-ordered, two-dimensional receptor networks with reduced Voronoi entropy, to mesophasic assembly with a sharp phase boundary. These assemblies likely form via interactions among postsynaptic scaffolding proteins and receptors and align with putative presynaptic vesicle release sites. Such mesophasic self-organization might allow synapses to achieve a 'Goldilocks' state, striking a balance between stability and flexibility and enabling plasticity in information processing.

Structure and plasticity of silent synapses in developing hippocampal neurons visualized by super-resolution imaging.

Excitatory synapses in the mammalian brain exhibit diverse functional properties in transmission and plasticity. Directly visualizing the structural correlates of such functional heterogeneity is often hindered by the diffraction-limited resolution of conventional optical imaging techniques. Here, we used super-resolution stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) to resolve structurally distinct excitatory synapses formed on dendritic shafts and spines. The majority of these shaft synapses contained N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) but not α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs), suggesting that they were functionally silent. During development, as more spine synapses formed with increasing sizes and expression of AMPARs and NMDARs, shaft synapses exhibited moderate reduction in density with largely unchanged sizes and receptor expression. Furthermore, upon glycine stimulation to induce chemical long-term potentiation (cLTP), the previously silent shaft synapses became functional shaft synapses by recruiting more AMPARs than did spine synapses. Thus, silent shaft synapse may represent a synaptic state in developing neurons with enhanced capacity of activity-dependent potentiation.

Biphasic exocytosis of herpesvirus from hippocampal neurons and mechanistic implication to membrane fusion.

Exocytosis is a crucial cellular process involved in the release of neural transmitters or signaling hormones, and disposal of waste or toxic materials. The relationship between structural transition and temporal progression of this process is poorly understood, partly due to lack of adequate tools to resolve such dynamic structures at sufficient resolution in 3D. Exocytosis can be hijacked by some viruses, exemplified by the widely used model α-herpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PRV), which relies on exocytosis for trans-synaptic spread across neurons. Here, we have used cryo electron tomography (cryoET) to capture 199 events of PRV exocytosis from cultured hippocampal neurons. We established cumulative frequency analysis to estimate the relative duration of an exocytosis stage based on the frequency of observed viral particles at that stage. This analysis revealed that PRV exocytosis is biphasic, including a fast, "release phase" driven by fusion proteins and fused membranes, and a slow, "recovery phase" driven by flattening of curved membranes. The biphasic property of exocytosis discovered here appears to be conserved for membrane fusion during viral entry, and our approach of cumulative frequency analysis should have general utility for characterizing other membrane fusion events.

Postsynaptic protein organization revealed by electron microscopy.

Neuronal synapses are key devices for transmitting and processing information in the nervous system. Synaptic plasticity, generally regarded as the cellular basis of learning and memory, involves changes of subcellular structures that take place at the nanoscale. High-resolution imaging methods, especially electron microscopy (EM), have allowed for quantitative analysis of such nanoscale structures in different types of synapses. In particular, the semi-ordered organization of neurotransmitter receptors and their interacting scaffolds in the postsynaptic density have been characterized for both excitatory and inhibitory synapses by studies using various EM techniques such as immuno-EM, electron tomography of high-pressure freezing and freeze-substituted samples, and cryo electron tomography. These techniques, in combination with new correlative approaches, will further facilitate our understanding of the molecular organization underlying diverse functions of neuronal synapses.

Different functional states of fusion protein gB revealed on human cytomegalovirus by cryo electron tomography with Volta phase plate.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) enters host by glycoprotein B (gB)-mediated membrane fusion upon receptor-binding to gH/gL-related complexes, causing devastating diseases such as birth defects. Although an X-ray crystal structure of the recombinant gB ectodomain at postfusion conformation is available, the structures of prefusion gB and its complex with gH/gL on the viral envelope remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate the utility of cryo electron tomography (cryoET) with energy filtering and the cutting-edge technologies of Volta phase plate (VPP) and direct electron-counting detection to capture metastable prefusion viral fusion proteins and report the structures of glycoproteins in the native environment of HCMV virions. We established the validity of our approach by obtaining cryoET in situ structures of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) glycoprotein G trimer (171 kD) in prefusion and postfusion conformations, which agree with the known crystal structures of purified G trimers in both conformations. The excellent contrast afforded by these technologies has enabled us to identify gB trimers (303kD) in two distinct conformations in HCMV tomograms and obtain their in situ structures at up to 21 Å resolution through subtomographic averaging. The predominant conformation (79%), which we designate as gB prefusion conformation, fashions a globular endodomain and a Christmas tree-shaped ectodomain, while the minority conformation (21%) has a columnar tree-shaped ectodomain that matches the crystal structure of the "postfusion" gB ectodomain. We also observed prefusion gB in complex with an "L"-shaped density attributed to the gH/gL complex. Integration of these structures of HCMV glycoproteins in multiple functional states and oligomeric forms with existing biochemical data and domain organization of other class III viral fusion proteins suggests that gH/gL receptor-binding triggers conformational changes of gB endodomain, which in turn triggers two essential steps to actuate virus-cell membrane fusion: exposure of gB fusion loops and unfurling of gB ectodomain.

Accumulation of Dense Core Vesicles in Hippocampal Synapses Following Chronic Inactivity.

The morphology and function of neuronal synapses are regulated by neural activity, as manifested in activity-dependent synapse maturation and various forms of synaptic plasticity. Here we employed cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to visualize synaptic ultrastructure in cultured hippocampal neurons and investigated changes in subcellular features in response to chronic inactivity, a paradigm often used for the induction of homeostatic synaptic plasticity. We observed a more than 2-fold increase in the mean number of dense core vesicles (DCVs) in the presynaptic compartment of excitatory synapses and an almost 20-fold increase in the number of DCVs in the presynaptic compartment of inhibitory synapses after 2 days treatment with the voltage-gated sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX). Short-term treatment with TTX and the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (AP5) caused a 3-fold increase in the number of DCVs within 100 nm of the active zone area in excitatory synapses but had no significant effects on the overall number of DCVs. In contrast, there were very few DCVs in the postsynaptic compartments of both synapse types under all conditions. These results are consistent with a role for presynaptic DCVs in activity-dependent synapse maturation. We speculate that these accumulated DCVs can be released upon reactivation and may contribute to homeostatic metaplasticity.

Differentiation and Characterization of Excitatory and Inhibitory Synapses by Cryo-electron Tomography and Correlative Microscopy.

As key functional units in neural circuits, different types of neuronal synapses play distinct roles in brain information processing, learning, and memory. Synaptic abnormalities are believed to underlie various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Here, by combining cryo-electron tomography and cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy, we distinguished intact excitatory and inhibitory synapses of cultured hippocampal neurons, and visualized the in situ 3D organization of synaptic organelles and macromolecules in their native state. Quantitative analyses of >100 synaptic tomograms reveal that excitatory synapses contain a mesh-like postsynaptic density (PSD) with thickness ranging from 20 to 50 nm. In contrast, the PSD in inhibitory synapses assumes a thin sheet-like structure ∼12 nm from the postsynaptic membrane. On the presynaptic side, spherical synaptic vesicles (SVs) of 25-60 nm diameter and discus-shaped ellipsoidal SVs of various sizes coexist in both synaptic types, with more ellipsoidal ones in inhibitory synapses. High-resolution tomograms obtained using a Volta phase plate and electron filtering and counting reveal glutamate receptor-like and GABAA receptor-like structures that interact with putative scaffolding and adhesion molecules, reflecting details of receptor anchoring and PSD organization. These results provide an updated view of the ultrastructure of excitatory and inhibitory synapses, and demonstrate the potential of our approach to gain insight into the organizational principles of cellular architecture underlying distinct synaptic functions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To understand functional properties of neuronal synapses, it is desirable to analyze their structure at molecular resolution. We have developed an integrative approach combining cryo-electron tomography and correlative fluorescence microscopy to visualize 3D ultrastructural features of intact excitatory and inhibitory synapses in their native state. Our approach shows that inhibitory synapses contain uniform thin sheet-like postsynaptic densities (PSDs), while excitatory synapses contain previously known mesh-like PSDs. We discovered "discus-shaped" ellipsoidal synaptic vesicles, and their distributions along with regular spherical vesicles in synaptic types are characterized. High-resolution tomograms further allowed identification of putative neurotransmitter receptors and their heterogeneous interaction with synaptic scaffolding proteins. The specificity and resolution of our approach enables precise in situ analysis of ultrastructural organization underlying distinct synaptic functions.