UC Berkeley researchers, James Berger and Nathan Thomsen, used the SIBYLS beamline to solve the structure of a hexameric helicase, the Rho transcription termination factor (from E. coli), bound to both ATP mimics and an RNA substrate. The results showed that Rho functions like a rotary engine: as the motor spins, it pulls RNA strands…
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Science magazine has selected plant [ABA receptors](http://www.sciencemag.org/btoy2009/ru_links.html#ru3links) as one of the runners-up for the 2009 Breakthrough of the Year award. MX and SAXS data collected at the SIBYLS beamline were integral to the research article published in the Dec 4th issue of Science. This work was recognized as contributing to the fundamental breakthrough in the…
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SAXS capabilities of the SIBYLS beamline are demonstrated quite nicely in recent papers published in September and October. Datta AB, Hura GL, Wolberger C. “The structure and conformation of Lys63-linked tetraubiquitin.” J Mol Biol. 2009 Oct 9;392(5):1117-24. Epub 2009 Aug 4. Jain R, Hammel M, Johnson RE, Prakash L, Prakash S, Aggarwal AK. “Structural Insights…
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A paper has been published in The October 2 issue of Cell by Scott Williams *et al.* that sheds light on a previously missing piece of the double-strand break repair complex MRN (aka Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1). The paper entitled “Nbs1 Flexibly Tethers Ctp1 and Mre11-Rad50 to Coordinate DNA Double-Strand Break Processing and Repair” presents a compelling model…
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Wen Zhang and Jack Dunkle in the Cate lab have a nice report out in the August 21, 2009 issue of Science describing their latest crystal structures of the E. coli ribosome with and without tRNA mimcs. These new structure shed light on the rachet-like action of the intact ribosome as it interacts with tRNA…
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Cover Illustration from the September 2009 issue of RNA: Crystal structure of the lysine riboswitch bound to lysine (Protein Data Bank code: 3d0u) Image details show RNA: ribbon; lysine: space-filling representation, red; iridium hexamine ions: space-filling representation, blue. Abstract: Riboswitches are metabolite-sensitive elements found in mRNAs that control gene expression through a regulatory secondary structural…
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In this paper, published in Nucleic Acid Research, the authors used small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) combined with advanced computational approaches to characterize the conformational variability and DNA-binding properties of PNK. Extensive use of the SAXS capabilities of the SIBYLS beamline allowed the authors to visualize a flexible attachment of the FHA domain to the catalytic…
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In this paper, published online today in Nature Methods, the high-throughput SAXS capabilities of the SIBYLS beamline are demonstrated quite nicely. We present an efficient pipeline enabling high-throughput analysis of protein structure in solution with small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Our SAXS pipeline combines automated sample handling of microliter volumes, temperature and anaerobic control, rapid data…
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