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Title: Capture and X-ray diffraction studies of protein microcrystals in a microfluidic trap array

Journal Article · · Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]; ;  [1]; ; ;  [3]; ;  [4]
  1. Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
  2. University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

A microfluidic platform has been developed for the capture and X-ray analysis of protein microcrystals, affording a means to improve the efficiency of XFEL and synchrotron experiments. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) promise to enable the collection of interpretable diffraction data from samples that are refractory to data collection at synchrotron sources. At present, however, more efficient sample-delivery methods that minimize the consumption of microcrystalline material are needed to allow the application of XFEL sources to a wide range of challenging structural targets of biological importance. Here, a microfluidic chip is presented in which microcrystals can be captured at fixed, addressable points in a trap array from a small volume (<10 µl) of a pre-existing slurry grown off-chip. The device can be mounted on a standard goniostat for conducting diffraction experiments at room temperature without the need for flash-cooling. Proof-of-principle tests with a model system (hen egg-white lysozyme) demonstrated the high efficiency of the microfluidic approach for crystal harvesting, permitting the collection of sufficient data from only 265 single-crystal still images to permit determination and refinement of the structure of the protein. This work shows that microfluidic capture devices can be readily used to facilitate data collection from protein microcrystals grown in traditional laboratory formats, enabling analysis when cryopreservation is problematic or when only small numbers of crystals are available. Such microfluidic capture devices may also be useful for data collection at synchrotron sources.

OSTI ID:
22347702
Journal Information:
Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography, Vol. 71, Issue Pt 4; Other Information: PMCID: PMC4388268; PMID: 25849403; PUBLISHER-ID: wa5087; OAI: oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4388268; Copyright (c) Lyubimov et al. 2015; This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are cited.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0907-4449
Country of Publication:
Denmark
Language:
English

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Linac Coherent Light Source: The first five years journal March 2016
A high-transparency, micro-patternable chip for X-ray diffraction analysis of microcrystals under native growth conditions journal September 2015
Direct protein crystallization on ultrathin membranes for diffraction measurements at X-ray free-electron lasers journal June 2017
3D printed droplet generation devices for serial femtosecond crystallography enabled by surface coating journal August 2019
A modular and compact portable mini-endstation for high-precision, high-speed fixed target serial crystallography at FEL and synchrotron sources journal October 2015
The microfluidic laboratory at Synchrotron SOLEIL journal January 2020
XFELs for structure and dynamics in biology journal May 2017
Lifetimes and spatio-temporal response of protein crystals in intense X-ray microbeams journal October 2017
High-density grids for efficient data collection from multiple crystals journal January 2016
Fixed target combined with spectral mapping: approaching 100% hit rates for serial crystallography journal July 2016
Using sound pulses to solve the crystal-harvesting bottleneck journal October 2018
Sample delivery for serial crystallography at free-electron lasers and synchrotrons journal January 2019
Strategies for sample delivery for femtosecond crystallography journal February 2019
A Graphene-Based Microfluidic Platform for Electrocrystallization and In Situ X-ray Diffraction journal February 2018
Advances in X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) diffraction data processing applied to the crystal structure of the synaptotagmin-1 / SNARE complex journal October 2016
Strategies for sample delivery for femtosecond crystallography text January 2019

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