Analysis of XFEL serial diffraction data from individual crystalline fibrils

• Published in: IUCrJ Vol. 4; no. Pt 6; pp. 795 - 811
• Main Authors: Wojtas, David H, Ayyer, Kartik, Liang, Mengning, Mossou, Estelle, Romoli, Filippo, Seuring, Carolin, Beyerlein, Kenneth R, Bean, Richard J, Morgan, Andrew J, Oberthuer, Dominik, Fleckenstein, Holger, Heymann, Michael, Gati, Cornelius, Yefanov, Oleksandr, Barthelmess, Miriam, Ornithopoulou, Eirini, Galli, Lorenzo, Xavier, P Lourdu, Ling, Wai Li, Frank, Matthias, Yoon, Chun Hong, White, Thomas A, Bajt, Saša, Mitraki, Anna, Boutet, Sebastien, Aquila, Andrew, Barty, Anton, Forsyth, V Trevor, Chapman, Henry N, Millane, Rick P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England International Union of Crystallography 01-11-2017; International Union of Crystallography (IUCr)
• Subjects: amyloid; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Coherent light; coherent X-ray diffractive imaging (CXDI); Crystal structure; crystalline fibrils; Diffraction; Diffraction patterns; Life Sciences; Light diffraction; MATERIALS SCIENCE; molecular orientation determination; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Research Papers; serial crystallography; single particles; Structural Biology; Type 2 diabetes; molecular orientation determination; single particles; coherent X-ray diffractive imaging (CXDI); crystalline fibrils; serial crystallography; amyloid
• ISSN: 2052-2525; 2052-2525
• DOI: 10.1107/s2052252517014324

Serial diffraction data collected at the Linac Coherent Light Source from crystalline amyloid fibrils delivered in a liquid jet show that the fibrils are well oriented in the jet. At low fibril concentrations, diffraction patterns are recorded from single fibrils; these patterns are weak and contain only a few reflections. Methods are developed for determining the orientation of patterns in reciprocal space and merging them in three dimensions. This allows the individual structure amplitudes to be calculated, thus overcoming the limitations of orientation and cylindrical averaging in conventional fibre diffraction analysis. The advantages of this technique should allow structural studies of fibrous systems in biology that are inaccessible using existing techniques.