The many faces of radiation-induced changes

Dominika Borek, Stephan L. Ginell, Marcin Cymborowski, Wladek Minor, Zbyszek Otwinowski

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

During diffraction experiments even cryo-cooled protein crystals can be significantly damaged due to chemical and physical changes induced by absorbed X-ray photons. The character and scale of the observed effects depend strongly on the temperature and the composition of crystals. The absorption of radiation energy results in incremental regular changes to the crystal structure, making its impact on the process of solving the structure strongly correlated with other experimental variables. An understanding of all the dependencies is still limited and does not allow for a precise prediction of the outcome of a particular diffraction experiment. Results are presented of diffraction experiments performed under different experimental conditions. The influence of temperature and crystal composition on different characteristics of radiation damage is analyzed. The observed effects are discussed in terms of their impact on data processing and phasing procedures.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)24-33
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Synchrotron Radiation
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2007

Keywords

  • Data collection strategy
  • Phasing
  • Radiation damage
  • Radiation decay
  • Radiation-induced changes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiation
  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Instrumentation

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