Microcrystal electron diffraction in macromolecular and pharmaceutical structure determination

Max T B Clabbers; Hongyi Xu

doi:10.1016/j.ddtec.2020.12.002

Microcrystal electron diffraction in macromolecular and pharmaceutical structure determination

Drug Discov Today Technol. 2020 Dec:37:93-105. doi: 10.1016/j.ddtec.2020.12.002. Epub 2020 Dec 31.

Authors

Max T B Clabbers¹, Hongyi Xu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: max.clabbers@mmk.su.se.
² Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: hongyi.xu@mmk.su.se.

PMID: 34895659
DOI: 10.1016/j.ddtec.2020.12.002

Abstract

Microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) has recently shown to be a promising technique for structure determination in structural biology and pharmaceutical chemistry. Here, we discuss the unique properties of electrons and motivate its use for diffraction experiments. We review the latest developments in MicroED, and illustrate its applications in macromolecular crystallography, fragment screening and structure guided drug discovery. We discuss the perspectives of MicroED in synthetic chemistry and pharmaceutical development. We anticipate that the rapid advances MicroED showcased here will promote further development of electron crystallography and open up new opportunities for drug discovery.

Keywords: 3DED; Electron crystallography; Electron diffraction; Fragment screening; Ligand binding; MicroED; Pharmaceuticals; Structural biology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Crystallography, X-Ray
Electrons*
Pharmaceutical Preparations*

Substances

Pharmaceutical Preparations