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X-ray scattering combined with coordinate-based analyses for applications in natural and artificial photosynthesis

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Abstract

Advances in X-ray light sources and detectors have created opportunities for advancing our understanding of structure and structural dynamics for supramolecular assemblies in solution by combining X-ray scattering measurement with coordinate-based modeling methods. In this review the foundations for X-ray scattering are discussed and illustrated with selected examples demonstrating the ability to correlate solution X-ray scattering measurements to molecular structure, conformation, and dynamics. These approaches are anticipated to have a broad range of applications in natural and artificial photosynthesis by offering possibilities for structure resolution for dynamic supramolecular assemblies in solution that can not be fully addressed with crystallographic techniques, and for resolving fundamental mechanisms for solar energy conversion by mapping out structure in light-excited reaction states.

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Abbreviations

DNA:

Deoxyribonucleic acid

PDF:

Pair distribution function

MD:

Molecular dynamics

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

SAXS:

Small angle X-ray scattering

WAXS:

Wide angle X-ray scattering

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, U. S. Department of Energy under contract numbers DE-AC02-06CH11357 (D.M.T. and work at APS Sector 12), National Science Foundation IL-LSAMP grant HRD-0413000, and National Institutes of Health Grant 1SC2GM083717 (K.L.M.). The software program, solX, used for coordinated based X-ray scattering calculations is available by request to D.M.T. or X.Z.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA

    David M. Tiede

  2. Department of Chemistry and Physics, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL, 60628, USA

    Kristy L. Mardis

  3. Protein Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Structural Biophysics Laboratory, NCI-Frederick, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA

    Xiaobing Zuo

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  1. David M. Tiede
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  3. Xiaobing Zuo
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Correspondence to David M. Tiede.

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Tiede, D.M., Mardis, K.L. & Zuo, X. X-ray scattering combined with coordinate-based analyses for applications in natural and artificial photosynthesis. Photosynth Res 102, 267–279 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-009-9475-6

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