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Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography at the European XFEL.

Suraj PandeyRichard BeanTokushi SatoIshwor PoudyalJohan BieleckiJorvani Cruz VillarrealOleksandr YefanovValerio MarianiThomas A WhiteChristopher KupitzMark HunterMohamed H AbdellatifSasa BajtValerii BondarAustin EchelmeierDiandra DopplerMoritz EmonsMatthias FrankRaimund FrommeYaroslav GevorkovGabriele GiovanettiMan JiangDaihyun KimYoonhee KimHenry J KirkwoodAnna KlimovskaiaJuraj KnoskaFaisal H M KouaRomain LetrunStella LisovaLuis MaiaVictoria MazalovaDomingo MezaThomas MichelatAbbas OurmazdGuido PalmerMarco RamilliRobin SchubertPeter SchwanderAlessandro SilenziJolanta Sztuk-DambietzAlexandra TolstikovaHenry N ChapmanAlexandra RosAnton BartyPetra FrommeAdrian P MancusoMarius Schmidt
Published in: Nature methods (2019)
The European XFEL (EuXFEL) is a 3.4-km long X-ray source, which produces femtosecond, ultrabrilliant and spatially coherent X-ray pulses at megahertz (MHz) repetition rates. This X-ray source has been designed to enable the observation of ultrafast processes with near-atomic spatial resolution. Time-resolved crystallographic investigations on biological macromolecules belong to an important class of experiments that explore fundamental and functional structural displacements in these molecules. Due to the unusual MHz X-ray pulse structure at the EuXFEL, these experiments are challenging. Here, we demonstrate how a biological reaction can be followed on ultrafast timescales at the EuXFEL. We investigate the picosecond time range in the photocycle of photoactive yellow protein (PYP) with MHz X-ray pulse rates. We show that difference electron density maps of excellent quality can be obtained. The results connect the previously explored femtosecond PYP dynamics to timescales accessible at synchrotrons. This opens the door to a wide range of time-resolved studies at the EuXFEL.
Keyphrases
  • high resolution
  • dual energy
  • electron microscopy
  • blood pressure
  • computed tomography
  • magnetic resonance imaging
  • mass spectrometry
  • electron transfer
  • small molecule
  • binding protein
  • contrast enhanced