A Rotating Anode X-ray Generator for Biological Macromolecular Crystallography

要求拨款购买旋转阳极x射线发生器，以便测量生物大分子晶体的衍射数据。该仪器将为我们现有的成像板探测器系统提供急需的x射线源，并将直接支持3名主要研究人员的研究以及蛋白质晶体学的指导。利用这种x射线源的项目包括DNA甲基化；博莱霉素水解酶及其配合物；转录复合体;和RNA剪接因子，所有这些晶体目前都是可用的。在这些项目过程中阐明的晶体结构将提供结构框架，以及生物化学和遗传学研究，以解释这些不同范围的生物化学和生物医学上重要的大分子的功能和分子特性。此外，该设备是冷泉港实验室每年秋季开设的大分子晶体学高级课程的教学所必需的，也是培养我们自己的研究生和博士后的必要设备。大分子晶体学的高级课程对结构生物学领域有着广泛的影响，因此，除了它对这里描述的特定晶体学研究的重要性之外，正常运行的x射线设备对大分子晶体学领域的价值将是巨大的。

Funds are requested to purchase a rotating anode X-ray generator in order to measure diffraction data from biological macromolecular crystals. This instrument will provide a source of X-rays urgently needed for our existing imaging plate detector system and will directly support the research of 3 major investigators as well as instruction in protein crystallography. Projects that will utilize this X-ray source include DNA methylation; the bleomycin hydrolases and their complexes; transcription complexes; and RNA splicing factors, for all of which crystals are currently available. The crystal structures elucidated in the course of these projects will provide structural frameworks, along with the biochemical and genetic studies, for interpreting the functional and molecular properties of this diverse range of biochemically and biomedically significant macromolecules. In addition, the equipment is necessary for teaching an advanced course in macromolecular crystallography offered in the fall of every year at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as well as training our own graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The advanced course in macromolecular crystallography has a wide impact on the field of structural biology and thus in addition to its importance for the specific crystallographic studies described here, the value of a properly operating X-ray facility to the field of macromolecular crystallography in general would be substantial.