A human cell looks completely different from the pictures in a school textbook
Scientists have created one of the most detailed 3D reconstructions of the cell yet. It's like assembling a giant puzzle from images taken with different "cameras." Each technology reveals its own piece of the picture, and together they allow us to see almost the entire cell.
It turns out that there are no empty spaces filled with liquid "water" inside the cell. The cytoplasm is more reminiscent of a dense, dense forest or a bustling metropolis.
The entire intracellular space is critically crowded with proteins, cytoskeletal filaments, enzymes, and ribosomes. They move, constantly interact with each other, and create highly complex molecular mechanisms.
Scientists achieve such incredibly realistic 3D models not with a single instrument, but by combining data from several technologies:
- Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) allows for the capture of images of frozen biomolecules with atomic resolution.
- X-ray crystallography reveals the precise 3D spatial structure of individual proteins.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) reveals how proteins move and interact within their cells.
This allows scientists not only to see individual organelles but also to study in real time how viruses penetrate cells or how new drugs are developed.
