Identifying and avoiding radiation damage in macromolecular crystallography

• Published in: Acta crystallographica. Section D, Biological crystallography. Vol. 80; no. 5; pp. 314 - 327
• Main Authors: Shelley, Kathryn L., Garman, Elspeth F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 5 Abbey Square, Chester, Cheshire CH1 2HU, England International Union of Crystallography 01-05-2024; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Biological effects; Bnet; Bnet‐percentile; Crystal structure; Crystallography; Crystallography, X-Ray - methods; global damage; Macromolecular Substances - chemistry; Macromolecules; Models, Molecular; Proteins - chemistry; Radiation damage; Radiation effects; specific damage; Bnet; specific damage; radiation damage; Bnet-percentile; global damage
• ISSN: 2059-7983; 0907-4449; 2059-7983; 1399-0047
• DOI: 10.1107/S2059798324003243

Radiation damage remains one of the major impediments to accurate structure solution in macromolecular crystallography. The artefacts of radiation damage can manifest as structural changes that result in incorrect biological interpretations being drawn from a model, they can reduce the resolution to which data can be collected and they can even prevent structure solution entirely. In this article, we discuss how to identify and mitigate against the effects of radiation damage at each stage in the macromolecular crystal structure‐solution pipeline.
This review covers the symptoms of radiation damage in macromolecular crystallography, how to avoid accruing radiation damage during data collection and how to identify and correct for radiation‐damage artefacts in a solved structure.