Visualizing an unseen enemy; mobilizing structural biology to counter COVID-19

Crystallography in its broadest sense has a crucial role to play in addressing the current COVID-19 pandemic. An outpouring of structural information on key viral proteins has resulted and importantly these data have immediately been shared with researchers round the world to speed the discovery of effective therapeutic agents.

Industrial cryo-EM facility setup and management

The setup and operation of an industrial cryo-EM laboratory is described.

Ion permeation in potassium ion channels

Key structural biology experiments that have sought to elucidate how potassium ions permeate and pass through the selectivity filter of potassium ion channels are reviewed.

Confidence maps: statistical inference of cryo-EM maps

The concept of statistical signal detection by controlling the false-discovery rate (FDR) to aid the atomic model interpretation of cryo-EM density maps is reviewed. The recommended usage of the FDR software tool is presented together with its successful integration into the CCP-EM suite.

Sample deposition onto cryo-EM grids: from sprays to jets and back

Sample preparation within single-particle cryo-electron microscopy can still be a significant bottleneck, with issues in reproducibility, ice quality and sample loss. New approaches have recently been reported that use spraying or pin printing instead of the traditional blotting approach. Here, experience in the use of different nozzle designs and spraying regimes is reported together with their influence on the resulting spray and grid quality.

Development of basic building blocks for cryo-EM: the emcore and emvis software libraries

This article presents an overview of the development of two basic software libraries for image manipulation and data visualization in cryo-EM: emcore and emvis.

Solution structure and assembly of β-amylase 2 from Arabidopsis thaliana

Solution structure of β-amylase 2 from Arabidopsis thaliana shows the role of the conserved N-terminus in enzyme tetramer formation.

Exploring the complex map of insulin polymorphism: a novel crystalline form in the presence of m-cresol

A novel monoclinic phase of human insulin co-crystallized with m-cresol was structurally characterized by means of powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

The crystal structure of the heme d₁ biosynthesis-associated small c-type cytochrome NirC reveals mixed oligomeric states in crystallo

The crystal structure of the c-type cytochrome NirC from Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been determined and reveals the simultaneous presence of monomers and 3D domain-swapped dimers in the same asymmetric unit.

Scaling diffraction data in the DIALS software package: algorithms and new approaches for multi-crystal scaling

A new scaling program is presented with new features to support multi-sweep workflows and analysis within the DIALS software package.