Use of the Bruker AXS SMART BREEZE™ System for Macromolecular X-ray Data Collection

The Bruker AXS SMART BREEZETM system is a single-crystal X-ray diffractometer designed to collect data from crystals of small organic or inorganic compounds. It is typically equipped with a Molybdenum-anode sealed tube to facilitate data collection from small unit cells. We recently acquired this system, but chose to have it installed with a copper-anode sealed tube with the hope of using it to collect data from larger unit cells such as those found in crystals of proteins or other macromolecules. This is the first and only BREEZETM system installed by Bruker AXS with a copper-anode to date. Here we show that this system is capable of efficiently collecting quality X-ray diffraction data from crystals of the enzymes lysozyme and xylanase. This capability to collect diffraction data from both macromolecular and small-molecule crystals greatly expands the scope of undergraduate research projects that can be addressed using this instrument.