Looking behind the Beamstop: X-Ray Solution Scattering Studies of Structure and Conformational Changes of Biological Macromolecules

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates the use of solution-scattering methods to solve problems related to the crystal structures of biological macromolecules. As a consequence, important applications that have no explicit link with crystallography, such as those related to (un)folding of proteins and nucleic acids, are hardly mentioned. Advances in X-ray crystallography have made it much easier to determine high-resolution structures of biological macromolecules, even those of large macromolecular assemblies. The perception of small-angle X-ray scattering by solutions of biological macromolecules has undergone a deep change as large facilities and increasingly powerful data analysis and modeling software have become accessible to a larger community. The value of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and the unique links it provides between high-and low-resolution structure determination methods and among structural, hydrodynamic, and other scattering methods has been amply demonstrated in many applications. A growing number of crystallographers show interest in using SAXS as a complement to crystal studies. A new generation of SAXS instruments using undulator beams has become available at several facilities.