PMID: 26249358

Authors:

Gelin M, Delfosse V, Allemand F, Hoh F, Sallaz-Damaz Y, Pirocchi M, Bourguet W, Ferrer JL, Labesse G, Guichou JF

Title:

Combining `dry' co-crystallization and in situ diffraction to facilitate ligand screening by X-ray crystallography.

Journal:

Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. 2015 Aug 1;71(Pt 8):1777-87. doi:, 10.1107/S1399004715010342. Epub 2015 Jul 31.

Abstract:

X-ray crystallography is an established technique for ligand screening in fragment-based drug-design projects, but the required manual handling steps - soaking crystals with ligand and the subsequent harvesting - are tedious and limit the throughput of the process. Here, an alternative approach is reported: crystallization plates are pre-coated with potential binders prior to protein crystallization and X-ray diffraction is performed directly `in situ' (or in-plate). Its performance is demonstrated on distinct and relevant therapeutic targets currently being studied for ligand screening by X-ray crystallography using either a bending-magnet beamline or a rotating-anode generator. The possibility of using DMSO stock solutions of the ligands to be coated opens up a route to screening most chemical libraries.