Cryo bio-crystallography is the application of

crystallography Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wor ...

to biological macromolecules at

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

temperatures.

Basic principles

Cryo crystallography enables

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

data collection at cryogenic temperatures, typically 100K. *Crystals are transferred from the solution they have grown in (called mother liquor) to a solution with a cryo-protectant to prevent ice formation. *Crystals are mounted in a glass fiber (as opposed to a capillary.) *Crystals are cooled by dipping directly into liquid nitrogen and then placed in a cryo cold stream. *Cryo cooled macromolecular crystals show reduced radiation damage by more than 70 times that at room temperature.

Advantages

*Significant improvement of resolution in data collection *Reduced or eliminated radiation damage in crystals

Usefulness and applications

Crystallography of large biological macromolecules can be achieved while maintaining their solution state. The best known example is the

ribosome Ribosomes ( ) are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (mRNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules to ...

References

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Basic principles

Advantages

Usefulness and applications

References

See also