Shining a Light on the Structure of Biomolecules

A new technique, devised by scientists working at DESY (German electron synchrotron), could revolutionise crystallography. The research lead by Professor Henry Chapman should allow easier determination of the structures of biomolecules such as proteins and may also enable scientists to uncover the structures of many other biomolecules which are currently inaccessible with existing techniques.

X-ray crystallography is a technique used across the sciences to work out the structures of materials at the atomic scale. It works by shining intense X-ray radiation at a sample and interpreting the diffraction pattern that results. The current means of interpreting these diffraction patterns for biomolecules is inadequate as generally near-perfect crystals are required for samples and even once a good sample is developed it is extremely difficult to deduce the structure; Professor Chapman likens the challenge to “extreme Sudoku in three dimensions and a million boxes but with only half the necessary clues”.

Chapman’s research simplifies this challenge by looking to a rather overlooked aspect of the diffraction pattern to gain more information. Continuous scattering results when X-rays are transmitted through any sample, but generally this data is discarded by crystallographers. Chapman and his team have however shown that invaluable insights into the structures of large biomolecules may be hidden in the continuous scattering.

As continuous scattering occurs in disordered compounds the technique is a breakthrough in the field as perfect crystals of these biomolecules may not need to be developed in order to find their structure. Chapman claims the “discovery will allow us to directly view large protein complexes in atomic detail” which is exciting for the scientific community as this level of understanding could aid the synthesis of tailor-made drugs to specific diseases.

Photo: https://crystallography365.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/biology-on-the-edge-adaptor-protein-complex-2/