research communications Improving diffraction resolution using a new dehydration method ISSN 2053-230X
Qingqiu Huang* and Doletha M. E. Szebenyi MacCHESS, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. *Correspondence e-mail: [email protected]
Received 17 November 2015 Accepted 6 January 2016 Edited by J. Newman, Bio21 Collaborative Crystallisation Centre, Australia Keywords: protein crystal; dehydration; diffraction resolution; Cas5a; LptA.
The production of high-quality crystals is one of the major obstacles in determining the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules by X-ray crystallography. It is fairly common that a visually well formed crystal diffracts poorly to a resolution that is too low to be suitable for structure determination. Dehydration has proven to be an effective post-crystallization treatment for improving crystal diffraction quality. Several dehydration methods have been developed, but no single one of them is suitable for all crystals. Here, a new convenient and effective dehydration method is reported that makes use of a dehydrating solution that will not dry out in air for several hours. Using this dehydration method, the resolution of Archaeoglobus fulgidus Cas5a crystals ˚ and the resolution of Escherichia coli has been increased from 3.2 to 1.95 A ˚. LptA crystals has been increased from
Qingqiu Huang* and Doletha M. E. Szebenyi MacCHESS, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. *Correspondence e-mail: [email protected]
Received 17 November 2015 Accepted 6 January 2016 Edited by J. Newman, Bio21 Collaborative Crystallisation Centre, Australia Keywords: protein crystal; dehydration; diffraction resolution; Cas5a; LptA.
The production of high-quality crystals is one of the major obstacles in determining the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules by X-ray crystallography. It is fairly common that a visually well formed crystal diffracts poorly to a resolution that is too low to be suitable for structure determination. Dehydration has proven to be an effective post-crystallization treatment for improving crystal diffraction quality. Several dehydration methods have been developed, but no single one of them is suitable for all crystals. Here, a new convenient and effective dehydration method is reported that makes use of a dehydrating solution that will not dry out in air for several hours. Using this dehydration method, the resolution of Archaeoglobus fulgidus Cas5a crystals ˚ and the resolution of Escherichia coli has been increased from 3.2 to 1.95 A ˚. LptA crystals has been increased from
