Phasing the meridional diffraction pattern of type I collagen using isomorphous derivatives

J. P. Bradshaw, A. Miller, T. J. Wess

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The meridional X-ray diffraction pattern of wet rat tail tendon contains information about the one-dimensional structure, or axial projection of electron density distribution of the type I collagen fibril. Using synchrotron radiation we have determined the intensities of the first 50 meridional X-ray diffraction reflections. The approach of isomorphous addition with reagents, selected using criteria of chemical reactivity, which label at fewer sites than the stains used in previous studies was applied to phase these 50 reflections to produce a one-dimensional electron density distribution map of a single D-repeat of the collagen fibril. This method is not model-dependent and thus constitutes the first unambiguous determination of the meridional phases of type I collagen.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)685-694
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Molecular Biology
Volume205
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Feb 1989

Funding

We are grateful to Mr K. C. Duff for technical assistance with this project and to Dr R. J. Greenall, Dr C. Nave and Dr E. Towns of the SERC Daresbury laboratory for help with data collection. This project was completed under an SRS grant from the SERC. One of us (T.J.W.) is supported by an SERC studentship.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology

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