The solvent component of macromolecular crystals
- European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC), Viale Druso 1, Bozen/Bolzano, I-39100 Südtirol/Alto Adige (Italy)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), 1 Cyclotron Road, Mail Stop 64R0121, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
- California State University, San Marcos, CA 92078 (United States)
- k.-k. Hofkristallamt, 991 Audrey Place, Vista, CA 92084 (United States)
On average, the mother liquor or solvent and its constituents occupy about 50% of a macromolecular crystal. Ordered as well as disordered solvent components need to be accurately accounted for in modelling and refinement, often with considerable complexity. The mother liquor from which a biomolecular crystal is grown will contain water, buffer molecules, native ligands and cofactors, crystallization precipitants and additives, various metal ions, and often small-molecule ligands or inhibitors. On average, about half the volume of a biomolecular crystal consists of this mother liquor, whose components form the disordered bulk solvent. Its scattering contributions can be exploited in initial phasing and must be included in crystal structure refinement as a bulk-solvent model. Concomitantly, distinct electron density originating from ordered solvent components must be correctly identified and represented as part of the atomic crystal structure model. Herein, are reviewed (i) probabilistic bulk-solvent content estimates, (ii) the use of bulk-solvent density modification in phase improvement, (iii) bulk-solvent models and refinement of bulk-solvent contributions and (iv) modelling and validation of ordered solvent constituents. A brief summary is provided of current tools for bulk-solvent analysis and refinement, as well as of modelling, refinement and analysis of ordered solvent components, including small-molecule ligands.
- OSTI ID:
- 22515189
- Journal Information:
- Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography, Vol. 71, Issue Pt 5; Other Information: PMCID: PMC4427195; PMID: 25945568; PUBLISHER-ID: jm5003; OAI: oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4427195; Copyright (c) International Union of Crystallography 2015; This is an open-access article distributed under the terms described at http://journals.iucr.org/services/termsofuse.html.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0907-4449
- Country of Publication:
- Denmark
- Language:
- English
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