Day 5 - Macromolecular Crystallography (MX/PX)

Welcome to day 5 of the Diamond Industrial Liaison advent calendar. Today we are going to begin your whistle-stop tour through the scienctific research that takes place here at Diamond beginning with an introduction into life sciences and macromolecular crystallography.

MX macromolecular crystallography

Macromolecular Crystallography (MX, also referred to as Protein Crystallography or PX) is the most powerful method for determining the atomic three dimensional structures of large biological molecules. It is a vital tool for linking structure with function, for rational drug design, for investigating protein folding and for relating other structural information, such as evolutionary relationships, from biological molecules.

The MX beamlines here at Diamond allow structure determination by molecular replacement, where the structure of a related molecule is already known, by standard isomorphism replacement with heavy atoms and by Single wavelength Anomalous Dispersion (SAD) or Multiwavelength Anomalous Dispersion (MAD) measurements, in which the wavelength of the X-rays is tuned to be near or at the natural absorption wavelength of selected atoms in the macromolecule. This enables the detection of small differences in the diffraction pattern for reflections that are related as Friedel pairs and these differences allow phase determination to determine the structure through crystallographic methods.

Macromolecules tend to form small, imperfect and weakly diffracting crystals. The high brightness of the X-rays generated at Diamond makes the collection of precise measurements possible. In addition, the state of the art MX beamlines are fitted with advanced robotic systems and software for automated sample handling, crystal centring and data collection along with rapid data processing. Applications of MX include rational drug design, enzyme mechanisms, supramolecular structure, molecular recognition, nucleic acids, structural genomics and high throughput crystallography.

Crystallography experiments at Diamond have recently yielded a potential vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease and have helped scientists to study T-cells: a natural defence mechanism in the body which could provide an effective treatment against cancer.

Our state of the art MX beamlines are fitted with advanced robotic systems and software for automated sample handling, crystal centring and data collection. In addition, microfocus beamlines are perfectly suited for studying small or disordered crystals and facilities for containment level 3 samples are in place.

At Diamond, we have developed high performance automated processing pipelines for integration, scaling and phasing data in real time for immediate structure analysis directly at the beamline.

We follow a programme of continuous upgrades to maintain our world leading position for structural biology research. Beamline specifications are updated frequently as upgrades are introduced onto the beamlines, so check for our very latest specifications in the table below.

Complementary techniques for structural biology are also available at Diamond including protein small angle scattering (SAXS), circular dichroism and a fragment screening platform based on X-ray crystallography. 

We’re always happy to discuss any enquiries or talk about ways in which access to Diamond’s facilities may be beneficial to your business so please do give us a call on 01235 778797 or send us an e-mail. You can keep in touch with the latest development by following us on Twitter @DiamondILO or LinkedIn