Anomalous Scattering in Membrane Studies

Abstract

Resonant (or anomalous) X-ray scattering is a nondestructive labelling technique of increasing usefulness in molecular structural analysis. Its use in macromolecular crystallography has been restricted to elements that show a reasonably strong contribution of resonant scattering at wavelengths below 2.5 Å. The experimental technique is governed by the symmetry of the diffraction pattern; i.e. by the presence or absence of anti-centrosymmetric diffraction features in the pattern. Any disorder (formation of twins or random orientation) may lead to centrosymmetrical scattering patterns.