Bizien Thomas, Durand Dominique, Roblina Pierre, Thureau Aurélien, Vachette Patrice, Pérez Javier
Beamline SWING, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France.
Protein Pept Lett. 2016;23(3):217-31. doi: 10.2174/0929866523666160106153655.
In the field of structural biology, Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) has undergone a tremendous evolution in the last two decades. From a craft reserved to a few experts in the late 80's, it has now turned into a high-throughput technique, following the same trend as macromolecular crystallography. Synchrotron radiation has played a key role in this evolution, by providing intense X-ray beams of high optical quality that made possible the recording of statistically meaningful data from weakly scattering biological solutions in a reasonable time. This, in turn, prompted the development of powerful and specific software for data analysis and modeling. In this mini-review, mainly addressed towards a broad readership, representing as many potential users, we try to summarize the latest aspects of evolution of BioSAXS, both conceptually and from the point of view of instrumentation. We emphasize the need for complementary experimental or computational techniques used in combination with SAXS. The great potential of these multi-pronged approaches is illustrated by a series of very recent studies covering the various ways and means of using BioSAXS.
在结构生物学领域，小角X射线散射（SAXS）在过去二十年中经历了巨大的发展。从80年代末只有少数专家掌握的一门技术，如今它已发展成为一种高通量技术，与大分子晶体学的发展趋势相同。同步辐射在这一发展过程中发挥了关键作用，它提供了具有高光学质量的强X射线束，使得在合理的时间内从弱散射生物溶液中记录具有统计学意义的数据成为可能。这反过来又促使了强大而特定的数据分析和建模软件的开发。在这篇主要面向广大读者（代表尽可能多的潜在用户）的小型综述中，我们试图从概念和仪器设备的角度总结生物小角X射线散射（BioSAXS）发展的最新情况。我们强调了与SAXS结合使用的互补实验或计算技术的必要性。一系列涵盖使用BioSAXS的各种方式和方法的最新研究说明了这些多管齐下方法的巨大潜力。
