Determination of Physical Structure and Modeling

Abstract

Much of our understanding of the way cells and tissues behave reflects to a first approximation the behavior of isolated single macromolecules. For example, the resistance of tendon to deformation reflects the high axial ratio of the collagen molecule and the packing of these molecules into parallel arrays in collagen fibrils and fibers. Although much information is gained from studying molecular structure by X-ray diffraction, from which the average atomic coordinates of molecules in a crystal can be determined, other information is needed to get an exact picture of the molecular structure.