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Abstract

Since the recognition of viruses as the causative agents of disease in the last decades of the nineteenth century, scientists have striven to elucidate their structure. This presentation will give a review on the versatility of electron microscopy as a universal means of virus detection, and its development from descriptive tool to the most powerful technique available to virologists today. All kind of aspects in electron microscopy were extracted from literature and will be compiled in a figure with important milestones, beginning from 1886 up to date. Biological and chemical as well as physical aspects are considered equally. A decision tree for routine virus diagnosis using transmission electron microscopy will be established. An overview on the exploration of the virosphere by electron microscopy reveals the rapid and very important development of technologies. Several techniques play a key role in virus diagnostics: 1. Studying the biology of viruses and the etiology of virus disease is crucial to the prevention of viral disease, efficient and reliable virus diagnosis, and virus control. 2. Using the most up-to-date electron cryomicroscopy methods, such investigations are now close to atomic resolution specific inhibitors of driver genes of carcinogenesis (e.g. oncogenes). 3. In combination with bioinformatics, the transition from 2D imaging to 3D remodeling allows structural and functional analyses that extend and augment our knowledge of the astonishing diversity in virus structure and lifestyle. 4. In combination with confocal laser scanning microscopy, electron microscopy enables live imaging of cells and tissues with high-resolution analysis. Electron microscopy plays a pivotal role in the study of viruses, from structural analysis to the biological relevance of the viral metagenome (virome).