Femtosecond X-ray coherent diffraction of aligned amyloid fibrils on low background graphene
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· Nature Communications
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- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg (Germany)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
- Univ. of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland)
- Univ. of Basel, Basel (Switzerland)
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch (New Zealand)
- Dept. of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Gothenburg (Sweden)
- Univ. de Bordeaux, Pessac (France)
- Univ. of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Denmark)
- ETH Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland)
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Oxford, Oxfordshire (United Kingdom); Diamond Light Source, Oxfordshire (United Kingdom)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg (Germany); Univ. of Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
Here we present a new approach to diffraction imaging of amyloid fibrils, combining a free-standing graphene support and single nanofocused X-ray pulses of femtosecond duration from an X-ray free-electron laser. Due to the very low background scattering from the graphene support and mutual alignment of filaments, diffraction from tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) filaments and amyloid protofibrils is obtained to 2.7 Å and 2.4 Å resolution in single diffraction patterns, respectively. Some TMV diffraction patterns exhibit asymmetry that indicates the presence of a limited number of axial rotations in the XFEL focus. Signal-to-noise levels from individual diffraction patterns are enhanced using computational alignment and merging, giving patterns that are superior to those obtainable from synchrotron radiation sources. In conclusion, we anticipate that our approach will be a starting point for further investigations into unsolved structures of filaments and other weakly scattering objects.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- European Research Council (ERC); Lundbeck Foundation; National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515; AC52-07NA27344
- OSTI ID:
- 1458736
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1774215
OSTI ID: 1999731
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL--748306; LLNL-JRNL--845321; PII: 4116
- Journal Information:
- Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 9; ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English