Rapid and efficient room-temperature serial synchrotron crystallography using the CFEL TapeDrive

IUCrJ. 2022 Oct 31;9(Pt 6):778-791. doi: 10.1107/S2052252522010193. eCollection 2022 Nov 1.

Abstract

Serial crystallography at conventional synchrotron light sources (SSX) offers the possibility to routinely collect data at room temperature using micrometre-sized crystals of biological macromolecules. However, SSX data collection is not yet as routine and currently takes significantly longer than the standard rotation series cryo-crystallography. Thus, its use for high-throughput approaches, such as fragment-based drug screening, where the possibility to measure at physio-logical temperatures would be a great benefit, is impaired. On the way to high-throughput SSX using a conveyor belt based sample delivery system - the CFEL TapeDrive - with three different proteins of biological relevance (Klebsiella pneumoniae CTX-M-14 β-lactamase, Nectria haematococca xylanase GH11 and Aspergillus flavus urate oxidase), it is shown here that complete datasets can be collected in less than a minute and only minimal amounts of sample are required.

Keywords: A. flavus urate oxidase; CFEL TapeDrive; K. pneumoniae CTX-M-14; N. haematococca GH11 xylanase; partial reflections; protein structures; room temperature; sample delivery; serial crystallography.