issue contents
July 2016 issue
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Cover illustration: Neutron and X-ray single-crystal diffraction from protein microcrystals via magnetically oriented microcrystal arrays in gels (Tsukui et al., p. 823). Schematic view of a non-uniform rotating magnetic field applied to a HEWL microcrystal suspension. A HEWL microcrystal suspension was rotated at speeds slow and
fast (>
slow) in a static magnetic field B. Magnetically oriented microcrystals consolidated in D2O gels may provide a promising means to obtain single-crystal neutron diffraction from proteins that do not crystallize at the sizes required for neutron diffraction structure determination.
research papers
Single-crystal neutron and X-ray diffraction from lysozyme microcrystals magnetically aligned in gels are reported. Neutron diffraction spots were observed to a resolution of 3.4 Å and the crystal structure was solved at a resolution of 1.76 Å using X-rays at room temperature.
Open
access
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A two-step process of phase determination in the X-ray structural analysis of the coat protein of a betanodavirus is described. A new indicator, the free fraction, for molecular averaging in real space is introduced to effectively evaluate the phasing power in order to enhance the success of determining new structures.
Open
access
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Structures of human Gcn5L2 bound to propionyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA show how the active site accommodates different acyl modifications and explain why butyryl-CoA acts as a competitive inhibitor.
Second harmonic generation correlation spectroscopy was developed as a tool for the characterization of diffusing protein nanocrystals.
Open
access
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Cel3A from the thermophilic fungus R. emersonii has proven to be more efficient in the hydrolysis of β-glycosidic linkages than Cel3A from H. jecorina.
PDB reference: Cel3A from Rasamsonia emersonii, 4d0j
An angular-split/temporal-delay approach offers a solution to crystallographic observations of ultrafast structural dynamics in biological macromolecules.
The allosteric regulation of S. mutans 2′-deoxycytidylate deaminase by dCTP/dTTP is based on a concentration-dependent competition mechanism. This is the first pair of dTTP/dCTP-bound crystal structures of deoxycytidylate deaminase from the same species to be reported.
PDB reference: dTTP-bound SmdCD, 5c2o
Open
access
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The determination of the positions of H/D atoms in equine cyanomethemoglobin by neutron diffraction is described.
PDB reference: neutron structure of equine cyanomethemoglobin, 5c6e