title: Automation of macromolecular crystallography beamlines.
abstract: The production of three-dimensional crystallographic structural information of macromolecules can now be thought of as a pipeline which is being streamlined at every stage from protein cloning, expression and purification, through crystallisation to data collection and structure solution. Synchrotron X-ray beamlines are a key section of this pipeline as it is at these that the X-ray diffraction data that ultimately leads to the elucidation of macromolecular structures are collected. The burgeoning number of macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines available worldwide may be enhanced significantly with the automation of both their operation and of the experiments carried out on them. This paper reviews the current situation and provides a glimpse of how a MX beamline may look in the not too distant future.
authors.affiliation: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, Zip 38000, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Steffi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arzt
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beteva
authors.forename: Florent
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cipriani
authors.forename: Solange
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delageniere
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Felisaz
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Förstner
authors.forename: Elspeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Launer
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lavault
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mairs
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McSweeney
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nurizzo
authors.forename: Raimond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ravelli
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rey
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shepard
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spruce
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Theveneau
mesh_terms: D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D012984:Software; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D017356:Synchrotrons / Q000295:instrumentation
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins