Scientists have used the powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules – one that flips an RNA “switch” that regulates production of proteins, the workhorse molecules of life.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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At LCLS, crystallized ribosomes travel through a capillary into the interaction region, where they are zapped with a beam of X-rays.
At LCLS, crystallized ribosomes travel through a capillary into the interaction region, where they are zapped with a beam of X-rays.
Identifying each tiny chemical step in photosynthesis could aid the development of renewable energy technology.
Stanford’s Roger Kornberg received the 2006 chemistry Nobel for work on RNA transcriptase, shown on screens.
This illustration shows arrestin, an important type of signaling protein, while docked with rhodopsin, a G protein-coupled receptor.
