To find conditions for obtaining diffraction-quality crystals of a hammerhead Biology, Hills Road RNA rapidly and reproducibly, we employed a ''double screening'' procedure in which we screened six different RNA synthetic constructs Cambridge, CB2 2QH England against 48 crystallization conditions using a newly devised sparse matrix. We obtained crystals immediately and diffraction-quality crystals of the sixth RNA construct within six months of initiating the screening of additional RNA sequences. The best crystals diffract to 2.9 Å resolution when flashcooled at synchrotron X-ray sources. Solid-support chemical synthesis combined with sparse matrix screening should allow rapid production of diffraction-quality crystals of a variety of small RNAs, reducing the time commitment for initiating such crystallography projects from several years to several months. The synthetic approach also makes introduction of modified bases to prevent self-cleavage and to generate isomorphous heavy-atom derivative crystals a rapid and straightforward process.
In human deoxyhemoglobin a salt bridge links the alpha carboxyl of Arg-141 of each alpha chain to the epsilon-amino group of Lys-127 of the opposite alpha chain. These salt bridges are believed to contribute to the constraints in the quaternary deoxy (T) structure that lower its oxygen affinity. We have tested this hypothesis by incubating hemoglobin with 2 M hydrazine and trypsin which catalyzes specifically the reversible hydrazinolysis of the alpha carboxyl of Arg-141alpha. X-ray analysis shows the major structural difference between native deoxyhemoglobin and hydrazide deoxyhemoglobin to be the loss of the Arg-141alpha1-Lys-127alpha2 salt bridge and its Arg-141alpha2-Lys-127alpha1 counterpart. Accurate oxygen equilibrium curves of hydrazide hemoglobin show that blocking of the salt bridge has raised the oxygen affinity of the T structure while leaving that of the quaternary oxy (R) structure unchanged.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.