Identifying, studying and making good use of macromolecular crystals

By Guillermo Calero1, Aina E. Cohen, Joseph Luft2, Janet Newman, Edward Snell3

1. University of Pittsburgh 2. Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute 3. Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute - SUNY Buffalo

See also

No results found.

Published on

Type

journal-article

Author

Guillermo Calero and Aina E. Cohen and Joseph R. Luft and Janet Newman and Edward H. Snell

Citation

Calero, G. et al., 2014. Identifying, studying and making good use of macromolecular crystals. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun, 70(8), pp.993–1008. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/s2053230x14016574.

Abstract

Structural biology has contributed tremendous knowledge to the understanding of life on the molecular scale. The Protein Data Bank, a depository of this structural knowledge, currently contains over 100 000 protein structures, with the majority stemming from X-ray crystallography. As the name might suggest, crystallography requires crystals. As detectors become more sensitive and X-ray sources more intense, the notion of a crystal is gradually changing from one large enough to embellish expensive jewellery to objects that have external dimensions of the order of the wavelength of visible light. Identifying these crystals is a prerequisite to their study. This paper discusses developments in identifying these crystals during crystallization screening and distinguishing them from other potential outcomes. The practical aspects of ensuring that once a crystal is identified it can then be positioned in the X-ray beam for data collection are also addressed.

DOI

Funding

NSF-STC Biology with X-ray Lasers (NSF-1231306)