What is it about?
X-ray crystallography is a powerful tool to understand the tree-dimensional structure of molecules. To extend the method to measure dynamics of enzyme structures - enzymes are molecules that aid chemical reactions to enable life, a serial approach is needed to follow irreversible reactions. These measurements typically need long time to collect the necessary data. With the advent of X-ray lasers with high repetition rates, these times can be vastly reduced. We present a necessary technique to make use of these new X-ray lasers. Here,we are using a very fast stream of sample suspension to deliver the sample crystals to the X-ray beam at a sufficient rate.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Our experiments are the first experiments that demonstrate a delivery method capable of replenishing the sample fast enough for the novel X-ray lasers. These new facilities can produce X-ray pulses at MHz rates (one million pulses per second). We have successfully collected crystal diffraction data from X-ray pulses at that rate using the FLASH X-ray laser in Hamburg.
Perspectives
The European XFEL in Hamburg will be able to deliver 27,000 pulses per second, in burst with very high repetition rates. Using these pulse bursts will decrease the data collection time 200-fold compared to previous X-ray lasers. This allows the collection of the data for a 3D molecular model in less than one minute and whole reaction movies in about one hour. With this new technique, the mechanism of important reactions in life can be fully understood.
Max O Wiedorn
Universitat Hamburg
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Rapid sample delivery for megahertz serial crystallography at X-ray FELs, IUCrJ, July 2018, International Union of Crystallography,
DOI: 10.1107/s2052252518008369.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
