| 1. |
- Echelmeier, A., et al.
(författare)
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Segmented flow generator for serial crystallography at the European X-ray free electron laser
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Research. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) with X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) allows structure determination of membrane proteins and time-resolved crystallography. Common liquid sample delivery continuously jets the protein crystal suspension into the path of the XFEL, wasting a vast amount of sample due to the pulsed nature of all current XFEL sources. The European XFEL (EuXFEL) delivers femtosecond (fs) X-ray pulses in trains spaced 100 ms apart whereas pulses within trains are currently separated by 889 ns. Therefore, continuous sample delivery via fast jets wastes >99% of sample. Here, we introduce a microfluidic device delivering crystal laden droplets segmented with an immiscible oil reducing sample waste and demonstrate droplet injection at the EuXFEL compatible with high pressure liquid delivery of an SFX experiment. While achieving ~60% reduction in sample waste, we determine the structure of the enzyme 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate-8-phosphate synthase from microcrystals delivered in droplets revealing distinct structural features not previously reported.
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| 2. |
- Boutet, S., et al.
(författare)
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High-Resolution Protein Structure Determination by Serial Femtosecond Crystallography
- 2012
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 337:6092, s. 362-364
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Structure determination of proteins and other macromolecules has historically required the growth of high-quality crystals sufficiently large to diffract x-rays efficiently while withstanding radiation damage. We applied serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) to obtain high-resolution structural information from microcrystals (less than 1 micrometer by 1 micrometer by 3 micrometers) of the well-characterized model protein lysozyme. The agreement with synchrotron data demonstrates the immediate relevance of SFX for analyzing the structure of the large group of difficult-to-crystallize molecules.
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| 3. |
- Pedersoli, E., et al.
(författare)
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Mesoscale morphology of airborne core-shell nanoparticle clusters : x-ray laser coherent diffraction imaging
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics B. - : IOP Publishing. - 0953-4075 .- 1361-6455. ; 46:16 SI, s. 164033-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Unraveling the complex morphology of functional materials like core-shell nanoparticles and its evolution in different environments is still a challenge. Only recently has the single-particle coherent diffraction imaging (CDI), enabled by the ultrabright femtosecond free-electron laser pulses, provided breakthroughs in understanding mesoscopic morphology of nanoparticulate matter. Here, we report the first CDI results for Co@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles randomly clustered in large airborne aggregates, obtained using the x-ray free-electron laser at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Our experimental results compare favourably with simulated diffraction patterns for clustered Co@SiO2 nanoparticles with similar to 10 nm core diameter and similar to 30 nm shell outer diameter, which confirms the ability to resolve the mesoscale morphology of complex metastable structures. The findings in this first morphological study of core-shell nanomaterials are a solid base for future time-resolved studies of dynamic phenomena in complex nanoparticulate matter using x-ray lasers.
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| 4. |
- Arnlund, David, et al.
(författare)
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Visualizing a protein quake with time-resolved X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Methods. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1548-7091 .- 1548-7105. ; 11:9, s. 923-926
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe a method to measure ultrafast protein structural changes using time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering at an X-ray free-electron laser. We demonstrated this approach using multiphoton excitation of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction center, observing an ultrafast global conformational change that arises within picoseconds and precedes the propagation of heat through the protein. This provides direct structural evidence for a 'protein quake': the hypothesis that proteins rapidly dissipate energy through quake-like structural motions.
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| 5. |
- Barty, A., et al.
(författare)
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Self-terminating diffraction gates femtosecond X-ray nanocrystallography measurements
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature Photonics. - 1749-4885 .- 1749-4893. ; 6:1, s. 35-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers have enabled new approaches to the structural determination of protein crystals that are too small or radiation-sensitive for conventional analysis1. For sufficiently short pulses, diffraction is collected before significant changes occur to the sample, and it has been predicted that pulses as short as 10 fs may be required to acquire atomic-resolution structural information1, 2, 3, 4. Here, we describe a mechanism unique to ultrafast, ultra-intense X-ray experiments that allows structural information to be collected from crystalline samples using high radiation doses without the requirement for the pulse to terminate before the onset of sample damage. Instead, the diffracted X-rays are gated by a rapid loss of crystalline periodicity, producing apparent pulse lengths significantly shorter than the duration of the incident pulse. The shortest apparent pulse lengths occur at the highest resolution, and our measurements indicate that current X-ray free-electron laser technology5 should enable structural determination from submicrometre protein crystals with atomic resolution.
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| 6. |
- Duane Loh, N., et al.
(författare)
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Profiling structured beams using injected aerosols
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE. - : SPIE. - 9780819492210 ; , s. 850403-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Profiling structured beams produced by X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) is crucial to both maximizing signal intensity for weakly scattering targets and interpreting their scattering patterns. Earlier ablative imprint studies describe how to infer the X-ray beam profile from the damage that an attenuated beam inflicts on a substrate. However, the beams in-situ profile is not directly accessible with imprint studies because the damage profile could be different from the actual beam profile. On the other hand, although a Shack-Hartmann sensor is capable of in-situ profiling, its lenses may be quickly damaged at the intense focus of hard X-ray FEL beams. We describe a new approach that probes the in-situ morphology of the intense FEL focus. By studying the translations in diffraction patterns from an ensemble of randomly injected sub-micron latex spheres, we were able to determine the non-Gaussian nature of the intense FEL beam at the Linac Coherent Light Source (SLAC National Laboratory) near the FEL focus. We discuss an experimental application of such a beam-profiling technique, and the limitations we need to overcome before it can be widely applied.
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| 7. |
- Loh, N. D., et al.
(författare)
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Fractal morphology, imaging and mass spectrometry of single aerosol particles in flight
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 486:7404, s. 513-517
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The morphology of micrometre-size particulate matter is of critical importance in fields ranging from toxicology(1) to climate science(2), yet these properties are surprisingly difficult to measure in the particles' native environment. Electron microscopy requires collection of particles on a substrate(3); visible light scattering provides insufficient resolution(4); and X-ray synchrotron studies have been limited to ensembles of particles(5). Here we demonstrate an in situ method for imaging individual sub-micrometre particles to nanometre resolution in their native environment, using intense, coherent X-ray pulses from the Linac Coherent Light Source(6) free-electron laser. We introduced individual aerosol particles into the pulsed X-ray beam, which is sufficiently intense that diffraction from individual particles can be measured for morphological analysis. At the same time, ion fragments ejected from the beam were analysed using mass spectrometry, to determine the composition of single aerosol particles. Our results show the extent of internal dilation symmetry of individual soot particles subject to non-equilibrium aggregation, and the surprisingly large variability in their fractal dimensions. More broadly, our methods can be extended to resolve both static and dynamic morphology of general ensembles of disordered particles. Such general morphology has implications in topics such as solvent accessibilities in proteins(7), vibrational energy transfer by the hydrodynamic interaction of amino acids(8), and large-scale production of nanoscale structures by flame synthesis(9).
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| 8. |
- Martin, A. V., et al.
(författare)
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Femtosecond dark-field imaging with an X-ray free electron laser
- 2012
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 20:12, s. 13501-13512
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The emergence of femtosecond diffractive imaging with X-ray lasers has enabled pioneering structural studies of isolated particles, such as viruses, at nanometer length scales. However, the issue of missing low frequency data significantly limits the potential of X-ray lasers to reveal sub-nanometer details of micrometer-sized samples. We have developed a new technique of dark-field coherent diffractive imaging to simultaneously overcome the missing data issue and enable us to harness the unique contrast mechanisms available in dark-field microscopy. Images of airborne particulate matter (soot) up to two microns in length were obtained using single-shot diffraction patterns obtained at the Linac Coherent Light Source, four times the size of objects previously imaged in similar experiments. This technique opens the door to femtosecond diffractive imaging of a wide range of micrometer-sized materials that exhibit irreproducible complexity down to the nanoscale, including airborne particulate matter, small cells, bacteria and gold-labeled biological samples.
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| 9. |
- Martin, A. V., et al.
(författare)
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Noise-robust coherent diffractive imaging with a single diffraction pattern
- 2012
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 20:15, s. 16650-16661
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The resolution of single-shot coherent diffractive imaging at X-ray free-electron laser facilities is limited by the low signal-to-noise level of diffraction data at high scattering angles. The iterative reconstruction methods, which phase a continuous diffraction pattern to produce an image, must be able to extract information from these weak signals to obtain the best quality images. Here we show how to modify iterative reconstruction methods to improve tolerance to noise. The method is demonstrated with the hybrid input-output method on both simulated data and single-shot diffraction patterns taken at the Linac Coherent Light Source. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America
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| 10. |
- Wiedorn, Max O., et al.
(författare)
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Megahertz serial crystallography
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The new European X-ray Free-Electron Laser is the first X-ray free-electron laser capable of delivering X-ray pulses with a megahertz inter-pulse spacing, more than four orders of magnitude higher than previously possible. However, to date, it has been unclear whether it would indeed be possible to measure high-quality diffraction data at megahertz pulse repetition rates. Here, we show that high-quality structures can indeed be obtained using currently available operating conditions at the European XFEL. We present two complete data sets, one from the well-known model system lysozyme and the other from a so far unknown complex of a beta-lactamase from K. pneumoniae involved in antibiotic resistance. This result opens up megahertz serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) as a tool for reliable structure determination, substrate screening and the efficient measurement of the evolution and dynamics of molecular structures using megahertz repetition rate pulses available at this new class of X-ray laser source.
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