Quantifying the local resolution of cryo-EM density maps

Abstract

A method and software tool, ResMap, for quantifying the local resolution across 3D electron cryo-microscopy density maps is reported. We propose a definition of local resolution for three-dimensional electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) density maps that uses local sinusoidal features. Our algorithm has no free parameters and is applicable to other imaging modalities, including tomography. By evaluating the local resolution of single-particle reconstructions and subtomogram averages for four example data sets, we report variable resolution across a 4- to 40-Å range.