Niimura N, Arai S, Kurihara K, Chatake T, Tanaka I, Bau R
Institute of Applied Beam Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ibaraki University, 4-12-1 Naka-Narusawa, Hitachi, Ibaraki 316-8511, Japan.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2006 Feb;63(3):285-300. doi: 10.1007/s00018-005-5418-3.
Neutron diffraction provides an experimental method of directly locating hydrogen atoms in proteins, a technique complimentary to ultra-high-resolution [1, 2] X-ray diffraction. Three different types of neutron diffractometers for biological macromolecules have been constructed in Japan, France and the United States, and they have been used to determine the crystal structures of proteins up to resolution limits of 1.5-2.5 A. Results relating to hydrogen positions and hydration patterns in proteins have been obtained from these studies. Examples include the geometrical details of hydrogen bonds, H/D exchange in proteins and oligonucleotides, the role of hydrogen atoms in enzymatic activity and thermostability, and the dynamical behavior of hydration structures, all of which have been extracted from these structural results and reviewed. Other techniques, such as the growth of large single crystals, the preparation of fully deuterated proteins, the use of cryogenic techniques, and a data base of hydrogen and hydration in proteins, will be described.
中子衍射提供了一种直接在蛋白质中定位氢原子的实验方法，这是一种与超高分辨率[1,2]X射线衍射互补的技术。日本、法国和美国已经建造了三种不同类型的用于生物大分子的中子衍射仪，并且它们已被用于确定分辨率高达1.5 - 2.5埃的蛋白质晶体结构。从这些研究中获得了与蛋白质中氢位置和水合模式相关的结果。实例包括氢键的几何细节、蛋白质和寡核苷酸中的氢/氘交换、氢原子在酶活性和热稳定性中的作用以及水合结构的动力学行为，所有这些都是从这些结构结果中提取并进行了综述。还将描述其他技术，例如大单晶的生长、完全氘代蛋白质的制备、低温技术的使用以及蛋白质中氢和水合的数据库。
