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Title: Current advances in synchrotron radiation instrumentation for MX experiments

Journal Article · · Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]
  1. Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot (United Kingdom)
  2. Alba Sychrotron, Cerdanyola (Spain)
  3. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II

Following pioneering work 40 years ago, synchrotron beamlines dedicated to macromolecular crystallography (MX) have improved in almost every aspect as instrumentation has evolved. Beam sizes and crystal dimensions are now on the single micron scale while data can be collected from proteins with molecular weights over 10 MDa and from crystals with unit cell dimensions over 1000 Å. Moreover, it is possible to collect a complete data set in seconds, and obtain the resulting structure in minutes. The impact of MX synchrotron beamlines and their evolution is reflected in their scientific output, and MX is now the method of choice for a variety of aims from ligand binding to structure determination of membrane proteins, viruses and ribosomes, resulting in a much deeper understanding of the machinery of life. One main driving force of beamline evolution have been advances in almost every aspect of the instrumentation comprising a synchrotron beamline. In this review we aim to provide an overview of the current status of instrumentation at modern MX experiments. Furthermore, we discuss the most critical optical components, aspects of endstation design, sample delivery, visualisation and positioning, the sample environment, beam shaping, detectors and data acquisition and processing.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704
OSTI ID:
1349554
Report Number(s):
BNL-112616-2016-JA
Journal Information:
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Vol. 602, Issue C; ISSN 0003-9861
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 42 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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