Single-particle imaging.

The current status of single-particle X-ray imaging - or "X-ray crystallography without need for a crystal" - is reviewed, with particular emphasis on the Stony Brook/Cornell/Berkeley single yeast cell imaging project. Two-dimensional (2D) images of a quick-frozen yeast cell have been obtained with a resolution which, if carried out in three-dimensional (3D), would allow observation of the positions of the large molecular assemblies in an entire almost-living-state cell. The projected shift from 2D to 3D imaging is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]