Open AccessThe many faces of radiation‐induced changes
Author(s) -
Borek Dominika,
Ginell Stephan L.,
Cymborowski Marcin,
Minor Wladek,
Otwinowski Zbyszek
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of synchrotron radiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.172
H-Index - 99
ISSN - 1600-5775
DOI - 10.1107/s0909049506046589
Subject(s) - diffraction , radiation damage , radiation , absorption (acoustics) , crystal (programming language) , photon , materials science , phaser , x ray crystallography , chemical physics , optics , chemistry , physics , computer science , programming language
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.