New era of molecular structure and dynamics from solution scattering experiments
- JHU
Six contributions in this special issue of Biopolymers are devoted to the application of small angle scattering (SAS) to biological macromolecules. Biological applications of SAS have undergone a resurgence in the last 15 years. Although SAS cannot compete with the atomic level information provided by crystallographic and NMR-based methods, nonetheless SAS has advantages that make it an extremely useful component in the structural biologist's tool box. An obvious reason for the renewed popularity of scattering experiments is the increased access to SAS beamlines at synchrotron X-ray sources. These high intensity sources greatly reduce the sample requirements and accelerate data acquisition. However, improved access only partially explains the resurgence of SAS. As highlighted in the six papers in this special issue, creative applications of SAS are opening up new avenues for studying biological macromolecules which are not readily investigated using other structural methods. SAS excels at characterizing the global dimensions and shape of individual molecules, molecular complexes and even disordered states, particularly as a function of solvent condition and time, and can do so in a high throughput manner. In addition, SAS can provide information about the dynamics of molecular complexes in solution. These capabilities are highlighted in this special issue which illustrates how SAS is both a versatile technique in its own right and, when combined with other methods, capable of producing a more complete description of the conformational changes and dynamics of complicated biological processes.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI ID:
- 1028010
- Journal Information:
- Biopolymers, Vol. 95, Issue 8; ISSN 0006-3525
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
Similar Records
Neutron scattering at the high-flux isotope reactor
PS2013 Satellite Workshop on Photosynthetic Light-Harvesting Systems