PMID: 25478844

Authors:

Fisher SJ, Blakeley MP, Howard EI, Petit-Haertlein I, Haertlein M, Mitschler A, Cousido-Siah A, Salvay AG, Popov A, Muller-Dieckmann C, Petrova T, Podjarny A

Title:

Perdeuteration: improved visualization of solvent structure in neutron macromolecular crystallography.

Journal:

Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. 2014 Dec 1;70(Pt 12):3266-72. doi:, 10.1107/S1399004714021610. Epub 2014 Nov 28.

Abstract:

The 1.8 A resolution neutron structure of deuterated type III antifreeze protein in which the methyl groups of leucine and valine residues are selectively protonated is presented. Comparison between this and the 1.85 A resolution neutron structure of perdeuterated type III antifreeze protein indicates that perdeuteration improves the visibility of solvent molecules located in close vicinity to hydrophobic residues, as cancellation effects between H atoms of the methyl groups and nearby heavy-water molecules (D2O) are avoided.