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RELION (for REgularised LIkelihood OptimisatioN) is a stand-alone computer program for Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) refinement of (multiple) 3D reconstructions or 2D class averages in electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM). It is developed in the group of Sjors Scheres at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Briefly, the ill-posed problem of 3D-reconstruction is regularised by incorporating prior knowledge: the fact that macromolecular structures are smooth, i.e. they have limited power in the Fourier domain. In the corresponding Bayesian framework, many parameters of a statistical model are learned from the data, which leads to objective and high-quality results without the need for user expertise. The underlying theory of MAP refinement is given in Scheres (2012) JMB. A more detailed description of its implementation is given in Scheres (2012) JSB. If RELION is useful in your work, please cite at least one of these papers.

These pages currently reflect RELION version 1.1. Version 1.2, which will do processing of movies from fast cameras, is being prepared. Please write to us if you want to participate in beta-testing version 1.2.

Please note that there is a known issue with the 1.1 release.

Getting started

• Download & install
• Conventions & File formats
• Running RELION
• FAQs (read this for useful tricks and in case of trouble)

How To

• Prepare input files
• Calculate 2D class averages
• Classify 3D structural heterogeneity
• Refine a single 3D structure to high-resolution
• Analyse results
• Minimise computational costs