Advantages of neutron scattering for biological structure analysis

The advantages and disadvantages of neutron scattering for protein crystallography, scattering from oriented systems, and solution scattering are summarized. Techniques for minimizing the disadvantages are indicated. (JSR

Dichloromethane as an antisickling agent in sickle cell hemoglobin

Observations are reported that show that dichloromethane (DCM) does have a significant effect on the oxygen binding properties of hemoglobin. At DCM pressures high enough to prevent or reverse sickling, DCM would lower the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin, therefore reducing oxygen transport at low oxygen pressure. This decrease in oxygen affinity might, however, increase the oxygen availability to tissue as long as a sufficiently large lung P/sub O/sub 2// is maintained. Crystallographic studies show that site D4 has a much lower affinity for DCM than site D3 while sites D1 and D2 show a higher affinity

Molecular dynamics simulation of hydration in myoglobin

This study was carried out to evaluate the stability of the 89 bound water molecules that were observed in the neutron diffraction study of CO myoglobin. The myoglobin structure derived from the neutron analysis was used as the starting point in the molecular dynamics simulation using the software package CHARMM. After salvation of the protein, energy minimization and equilibration of the system, 50 pico seconds of Newtonian dynamics was performed. This data showed that only 4 water molecules are continously bound during the length of this simulation while the other solvent molecules exhibit considerable mobility and are breaking and reforming hydrogen bonds with the protein. At any instant during the simulation, 73 of the hydration sites observed in the neutron structure are occupied by water

Structure of bound water and refinement of acid metmyoglobin

The structure of myoglobin has been determined by x-ray diffraction for the acidmet, deoxy, and the oxy forms. Neutron diffraction work, done in this laboratory, has demonstrated that hydrogen and deuterium positions can be located. In addition to the localization of H and D, neutron diffraction provides a unique method for studying the water structure because of the strong scattering ability of D/sub 2/O. The scattering factor of deuterium is nearly twice as large as that of hydrogen, and it increases the visibility of water molecules in Fourier maps, so that in a neutron map a water molecule appears about three times as strong as in an equivalent electron-density map. (DT

New neutron small-angle diffraction instrument at the Brookhaven High Flux Beam Reactor

The new instrument utilizes cold neutrons emerging from a series of straight neutron guides. A multilayered monochromator is used in combination with a short collimator to obtain a monochromatized beam with a wavelength between 4 and 10 A and a wavelength spread of about 10%. The flux at 5 A exceeds 10/sup 6/ ns/sup -1/ cm/sup -2/ in a typical beam of 6-mm diameter at the sample. The spectrometer itself incorporates provisions for computer-controlled positioning of samples and a two-dimensional detector. At a sample-detector distance between 50 and 200 cm the detector can be centered at scattering angles of up to 45/sup 0/. The beam-defining components, the monochromator, the collimator, and various slits, are easily accessible and exchangeable for alternative devices. These features make the instrument modular and give it flexibility approaching that of standard x-ray equipment

Neutronic simulations for source-instrument matching at the Lujan Center

The neutronics design of pulsed spallation neutron sources can be difficult when considering the fact that multiple instruments view the same moderator. Typically, the moderator design is a compromise between the required resolution for one instrument and the maximum intensity desires of another instrument. At the Manuel Lujan, Jr., Neutron Scattering Center (MLNSC), a recent target redesign has offered the opportunity to design a moderator for a Laue diffractometer with few other requirements. Detailed time and energy spectra were calculated for a variety of moderator decoupling options. The purpose of this summary is to document the neutronics calculations required for this source-instrument matching process

Formation of oriented membrane multilayers of Na/K-ATPase

The isolated membrane-bound enzyme retains its ouabain-sensitive ATP hydrolysis activity, and produces ATP-dependent Na/sup +/ and K/sup +/ fluxes when incorporated into phospholipid vesicles. The ultimate goal of this work is to determine its low resolution structure using both X-ray and neutron diffraction. A number of methods were used to impart lamellar stacking order to highly purified pig Na/K-ATPase membranes. Upon partial dehydration, x-ray diffraction from Na/K-ATPase membrane multilayers at 98% relative humidity yielded discrete reflections of 118 A periodicity, diffracting to 1/14.8 A/sup -1/, additionally, continuous diffraction to 1/10 A/sup -1/ was obtained. Subjecting the membrane multilayers to high magnetic fields improved the quality of the lamellar diffraction dramatically. Neutron diffraction studies of the partially dehydrated Na/K-ATPase membrane multilayers detected a mosaic spread of 2/sup 0/ when the samples were subjected to a magnetic field of 5 Tesla perpendicular to the membrane surface; the reflections were narrower than the camera line width; hence, the lattice disorder has also decreased significantly, although only four orders were measured