School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
Protein Sci. 2010 Apr;19(4):642-57. doi: 10.1002/pro.351.
The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the use of small-angle scattering for the study of biological macromolecules in solution. The drive for more complete structural characterization of proteins and their interactions, coupled with the increasing availability of instrumentation and easy-to-use software for data analysis and interpretation, is expanding the utility of the technique beyond the domain of the biophysicist and into the realm of the protein scientist. However, the absence of publication standards and the ease with which 3D models can be calculated against the inherently 1D scattering data means that an understanding of sample quality, data quality, and modeling assumptions is essential to have confidence in the results. This review is intended to provide a road map through the small-angle scattering experiment, while also providing a set of guidelines for the critical evaluation of scattering data. Examples of current best practice are given that also demonstrate the power of the technique to advance our understanding of protein structure and function.
过去十年中，小角散射技术在研究溶液中的生物大分子方面得到了广泛应用。人们越来越需要对蛋白质及其相互作用进行更完整的结构表征，同时仪器设备也越来越普及，数据分析和解释的软件也易于使用，这使得该技术的应用范围不仅限于生物物理学家，还扩展到了蛋白质科学家领域。然而，由于缺乏出版标准，以及可以根据固有一维散射数据轻松计算三维模型，因此，为了对结果有信心，必须了解样品质量、数据质量和建模假设。本文旨在为小角散射实验提供一个路线图，同时为散射数据的关键评估提供一套准则。本文还给出了当前最佳实践的示例，这些示例也展示了该技术在推进我们对蛋白质结构和功能的理解方面的强大功能。
