title: X-ray radiation damage to biological macromolecules: further insights.
abstract: Despite significant progress made over more than 15 years of research, structural biologists are still grappling with the issue of radiation damage suffered by macromolecular crystals which is induced by the resultant radiation chemistry occurring during X-ray diffraction experiments. Further insights into these effects and the possible mitigation strategies for use in both diffraction and SAXS experiments are given in eight papers in this volume. In particular, damage during experimental phasing is addressed, scavengers for SAXS experiments are investigated, microcrystals are imaged, data collection strategies are optimized, specific damage to tyrosine residues is reexamined, and room temperature conformational heterogeneity as a function of dose is explored. The brief summary below puts these papers into perspective relative to other ongoing radiation damage research on macromolecules.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK.
authors.forename: Elspeth F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Garman
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Structurale, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, F-38044 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weik
mesh_terms: D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances
keywords: SAXS; X-ray radiation damage; dose; imaging; macromolecular crystallography; scavengers