Drop-on-demand sample delivery for studying biocatalysts in action at X-ray free-electron lasers.

ABSTRACT: X-ray crystallography at X-ray free-electron laser sources is a powerful method for studying macromolecules at biologically relevant temperatures. Moreover, when combined with complementary techniques like X-ray emission spectroscopy, both global structures and chemical properties of metalloenzymes can be obtained concurrently, providing insights into the interplay between the protein structure and dynamics and the chemistry at an active site. The implementation of such a multimodal approach can be compromised by conflicting requirements to optimize each individual method. In particular, the method used for sample delivery greatly affects the data quality. We present here a robust way of delivering controlled sample amounts on demand using acoustic droplet ejection coupled with a conveyor

SUBMITTER: Fuller FD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5376230 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature