The volume covers the preparation and analysis of model systems for biological electron microscopy. The volume has chapters about prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic systems that are used as so-called model organisms in modern cell biology. These systems include the most popular systems, such as budding and fission yeast, the roundworm C. elegans, the fly Drosophila, zebrafish, mouse, and Arabidopsis, but also organisms that are less frequently used in cell biology, such as Chlamydomonas, Dictyostelium, Trypanosoma, faltworms, Axolotl and others. In addition, tissues and tissue culture systems are also covered. These systems are used for very diverse areas of cell biology, such as cell division, abscission, intracellular transport, cytoskeletal organization, tissue regeneration and others. Moreover, this issue presents the currently most important methods for the preparation of biological specimens. This volume, however, is not a classic EM methods book. The methods are not the main focus of this issue. The main goal here is to cover the methods in the context of the specific requirements of specimen preparation for each model organism or systems. This will be the first compendium covering the various aspects of sample preparation of very diverse biological systems.

Table of Contents:
Preface/Acknowledgements Thomas Müller-Reichert 1. Electron microscopy of viruses Michael Laue 2. Bacterial TEM: New insights from cryo-microscopy Martin Pilhofer, Mark S. Ladinsky, Alasdair W. McDowall, and Grant Jensen* 3. Analysis of the ultrastructure of archaea by electron microscopy Reinhard Rachel* , Carolin Meyer, Andreas Klingl, Sonja Gürster, Nadine Wasserburger, Ulf Küper, Annett Bellack, Simone Schopf, Reinhard Wirth, Harald Huber, and Gerhard Wanner 4. Chlamydomonas: Cryopreparation methods for the 3-D analysis of cellular organelles Eileen T. O’Toole 5. Ultrastructure of the asexual blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum Eric Hanssen* , Kenneth N Goldie, and Leann Tilley 6. Electron tomography and immunolabeling of Tetrahymena thermophila basal bodies Thomas H. Giddings* Jr., Janet B. Meehl, Chad G. Pearson, and Mark Winey 7. Electron microscopy of Paramecium Klaus Hausmann* and Richard D. Allen 8. Ultrastructural investigation methods for Trypanosoma brucei Johanna L. Höög* , Eva Gluenz, Sue Vaughan, and Keith Gull 9. Dictyostelium discoideum: A model system for ultrastructural analyses of cell motility and development Michael P. Koonce* and Ralpf Gräf 10. Towards sub-second correlative live-cell light and electron microscopy of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Christopher Buser 11. Fission yeast: A cellular model well suited for electron microscopic investigations Hélio D. Roque and Claude Antony* 12. High-pressure freezing and electron microscopy of Arabidopsis Byung-Ho Kang 13. Standard and cryo-preparation of Hydra for transmission electron microscopy Thomas W. Holstein* , Michael W. Hess, and Willi Salvenmoser 14. Electron microscopy of flatworms: Standard and cryopreparation methods Willi Salvenmoser* , Bernhard Egger, Johannes G. Achatz, Peter Ladurner, and Michael W. Hess* 15. Three-dimensional reconstruction methods for C. elegans ultrastructure Thomas Müller-Reichert* , Joel Mancuso, Ben Lich, and Kent McDonald* 16. Insects as model systems in cell biology Thomas A. Keil* and R. Alexander Steinbrecht 17. Electron microscopy of amphibian model systems (Xenopus laevis and Ambystoma mexicanum) Thomas Kurth* , Jürgen Berger, Michaela Wilsch-Bräuninger, Robert Cerny, Heinz Schwarz, Jan Löfberg, Thomas Piendl, and Hans Epperlein 18. Modern approaches for ultrastructural analysis of the zebrafish embryo Nicole L. Schieber, Susan J. Nixon, Richard I. Webb* , and Robert G. Parton* 19. Transmission electron microscopy of cartilage and bone Douglas R. Keene* , and Sara F. Tufa 20. Electron microscopy of the mouse central nervous system Wiebke Möbius* , Frédérique Varoqueaux, Benjamin H. Cooper, Cordelia Imig, Torben Ruhwedel, Aiman S. Saab, and Walter Kaufmann 21. Rapidly excised and cryofixed rat tissue Dimitri Vanhecke, Werner Graber, and Daniel Studer* 22. The actin cytoskeleton in whole mounts and sections Guenter P. Resch* , Edit Urban, and Sonja Jacob 23. Three-dimensional cryo-electron microscopy on intermediate filaments: A critical comparison to other structural methods Robert Kirmse, Cédric Bouchet-Marquis, Cynthia Page, and Andreas Hoenger* 24. Correlative time-lapse imaging and electron microscopy to study abscission in HeLa cells Julien Guizetti, Jana Mäntler, Thomas Müller-Reichert* , and Daniel W. Gerlich* 25. Viral infection of cells in culture: Approaches for electron microscopy Paul Walther* , Li Wang, Sandra Ließem, and Giada Frascaroli 26. Intracellular membrane traffic at high resolution Jan R. T. van Weering, Edward Brown, Thomas H. Sharp, Judith Mantell, Peter J. Cullen, and Paul Verkade* 27. 3D versus 2D cell culture: Implications for electron microscopy Michael W. Hess* , Kristian Pfaller, Hannes L. Ebner, Beate Beer, Daniel Hekl, and Thomas Seppi 28. ‘Tips and tricks’ for high-pressure freezing of model systems Kent McDonald* , Heinz Schwarz, Thomas Müller-Reichert, Rick Webb, Christopher Buser, and Mary Morphew