Mamontov Eugene
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Second Target Station Project, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
Life (Basel). 2022 Aug 11;12(8):1219. doi: 10.3390/life12081219.
The wavelengths of neutrons available at neutron scattering facilities are comparable with intra- and inter-molecular distances, while their energies are comparable with molecular vibrational energies, making such neutrons highly suitable for studies of molecular-level dynamics. The unmistakable trend in neutron spectroscopy has been towards measurements of systems of greater complexity. Several decades of studies of dynamics using neutron scattering have witnessed a progression from measurements of solids to liquids to protein complexes and biomembranes, which may exhibit properties characteristic of both solids and liquids. Over the last two decades, the frontier of complexity amenable to neutron spectroscopy studies has reached the level of cells. Considering this a baseline for neutron spectroscopy of systems of the utmost biological complexity, we briefly review what has been learned to date from neutron scattering studies at the cellular level and then discuss in more detail the recent strides into neutron spectroscopy of tissues and whole multicellular organisms.
中子散射设施中可用中子的波长与分子内和分子间距离相当，而它们的能量与分子振动能量相当，这使得此类中子非常适合用于研究分子水平的动力学。中子光谱学的一个明显趋势是朝着测量更复杂系统的方向发展。几十年来，利用中子散射进行的动力学研究经历了从测量固体到液体，再到蛋白质复合物和生物膜的过程，而生物膜可能展现出固体和液体的特性。在过去二十年中，适合中子光谱学研究的复杂性前沿已经达到了细胞水平。将此视为对具有最大生物学复杂性的系统进行中子光谱学研究的基线，我们简要回顾迄今从细胞水平的中子散射研究中学到的知识，然后更详细地讨论近期在组织和整个多细胞生物体的中子光谱学方面取得的进展。
