Neutron and X-ray single-crystal diffraction from protein microcrystals via magnetically oriented microcrystal arrays in gels.
Tsukui, S., Kimura, F., Kusaka, K., Baba, S., Mizuno, N., Kimura, T.(2016) Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 72: 823-829
- PubMed: 27377379 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S2059798316007415
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
5HNC, 5HNL - PubMed Abstract: 
Protein microcrystals magnetically aligned in D2O hydrogels were subjected to neutron diffraction measurements, and reflections were observed for the first time to a resolution of 3.4 Å from lysozyme microcrystals (∼10 × 10 × 50 µm). This result demonstrated the possibility that magnetically oriented microcrystals consolidated in D2O gels may provide a promising means to obtain single-crystal neutron diffraction from proteins that do not crystallize at the sizes required for neutron diffraction structure determination. In addition, lysozyme microcrystals aligned in H2O hydrogels allowed structure determination at a resolution of 1.76 Å at room temperature by X-ray diffraction. The use of gels has advantages since the microcrystals are measured under hydrated conditions.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Division of Forest and Biomaterials Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.