AI Article Synopsis

  • Serial femtosecond crystallography relies on efficient delivery of fresh crystals to an X-ray free-electron laser during experiments.
  • A new double-flow focusing nozzle has been developed that reduces sample consumption and enhances jet stability compared to earlier models.
  • This nozzle successfully determined the first room-temperature structure of RNA polymerase II and was tested on other protein samples, including an extradiol ring-cleaving dioxygenase.

Article Abstract

Serial femtosecond crystallography requires reliable and efficient delivery of fresh crystals across the beam of an X-ray free-electron laser over the course of an experiment. We introduce a double-flow focusing nozzle to meet this challenge, with significantly reduced sample consumption, while improving jet stability over previous generations of nozzles. We demonstrate its use to determine the first room-temperature structure of RNA polymerase II at high resolution, revealing new structural details. Moreover, the double-flow focusing nozzles were successfully tested with three other protein samples and the first room temperature structure of an extradiol ring-cleaving dioxygenase was solved by utilizing the improved operation and characteristics of these devices [corrected].

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5353652PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep44628DOI Listing

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