Physics Department, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Science. 2014 Dec 5;346(6214):1242-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1259357.
Serial femtosecond crystallography using ultrashort pulses from x-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) enables studies of the light-triggered dynamics of biomolecules. We used microcrystals of photoactive yellow protein (a bacterial blue light photoreceptor) as a model system and obtained high-resolution, time-resolved difference electron density maps of excellent quality with strong features; these allowed the determination of structures of reaction intermediates to a resolution of 1.6 angstroms. Our results open the way to the study of reversible and nonreversible biological reactions on time scales as short as femtoseconds under conditions that maximize the extent of reaction initiation throughout the crystal.
利用 X 射线自由电子激光（XFEL）产生的超短脉冲进行连续的飞秒晶体学实验，使得对生物分子的光触发动力学的研究成为可能。我们使用光激活黄色蛋白（一种细菌蓝光光感受器）的微晶体作为模型系统，并获得了具有强特征的高质量、高分辨率、时分辨的差分电子密度图谱；这些图谱允许我们将反应中间体的结构确定到 1.6 埃的分辨率。我们的结果为在整个晶体中最大限度地引发反应的条件下，在飞秒时间尺度内研究可逆和不可逆生物反应铺平了道路。
