Common lines ab-initio reconstruction of $D_2$-symmetric molecules
This work provides a method for low-resolution ab-initio reconstruction of D2-symmetric molecules, filling a gap where no such algorithm existed.
The authors developed a common lines algorithm for reconstructing 3D models of molecules with D2 symmetry from cryo-EM images, demonstrating its applicability on experimental data.
Cryo-electron microscopy is a state-of-the-art method for determining high-resolution three-dimensional models of molecules, from their two-dimensional projection images taken by an electron microscope. A crucial step in this method is to determine a low-resolution model of the molecule using only the given projection images, without using any three-dimensional information, such as an assumed reference model. For molecules without symmetry, this is often done by exploiting common lines between pairs of images. Common lines algorithms have been recently devised for molecules with cyclic symmetry, but no such algorithms exist for molecules with dihedral symmetry. In this work, we present a common lines algorithm for determining the structure of molecules with $D_{2}$ symmetry. The algorithm exploits the common lines between all pairs of images simultaneously, as well as common lines within each image. We demonstrate the applicability of our algorithm using experimental cryo-electron microscopy data.