Structures of furanosides : geometrical analysis of low-temperature X-ray and neutron crystal structures of five crystalline methyl pentofuranosides

Crystal structures of all five crystalline methyl D-pentofuranosides, methyl alpha -D-arabinofuranoside (1), methyl beta -D-arabinofuranoside (2), methyl alpha -D-lyxofuranoside (3), methyl beta -D-ribofuranoside (4) and methyl alpha -D-xylofuranoside (5) have been determined by means of cryogenic X-ray and neutron crystallography. The neutron diffraction experiments provide accurate. unbiased H-atom positions which are especially important because of the critical role of hydrogen bonding in these systems. This paper summarizes the geometrical and conformational parameters of the structures of all five crystalline methyl pentofuranosides, several of them reported here for the first time. The methyl pentofuranoside structures are compared with the structures of the five crystalline methyl hexopyranosides for which accurate X-ray and neutron structures have been determined. Unlike the methyl hexopyranosides, which crystallize exclusively in the C-1 chair conformation, the five crystalline methyl pentofuranosides represent a very wide range of ring conformations

Crystallography of ribosomal particles

Several forms of three-dimensional crystals and two-dimensional sheets of intact ribosomes and their subunits have been obtained as a result of: (a) an extensive systematic investigation of the parameters involved in crystallization, (b) a development of an experimental procedure for controlling the volumes of the crystallization droplets, (c) a study of the nucleation process, and (d) introducing a delicate seeding procedure coupled with variations in the ratios of mono- and divalent ions in the crystallization medium. In all cases only biologically active particles could be crystallized, and the crystalline material retains its integrity and activity. Crystallographic data have been collected from crystals of 50S ribosomal subunits, using synchrotron radiation at temperatures between + 19 and - 180°C. Although at 4°C the higher resolution reflections decay within minutes in the synchrotron beam, at cryo-temperature there was hardly any radiation damage, and a complete set of data to about 6Åresolution could be collected from a single crystal. Heavy-atom clusters were used for soaking as well as for specific binding to the surface of the ribosomal subunits prior to crystallization. The 50S ribosomal subunits from a mutant of B. stearothermophilus which lacks the ribosomal protein BL11 crystallize isomorphously with in the native ones. Models, aimed to be used for low resolution phasing, have been reconstructed from two-dimensional sheets of 70S ribosomes and 50S subunits at 47 and 30Å, respectively. These models show the overall structure of these particles, the contact areas between the large and small subunits, the space where protein synthesis might take place and a tunnel which may provide the path for the nascent protein chain