Next: Introduction
Analysis of Diffuse Scattering from Yeast Initiator tRNA Crystals
Anand R. Kolatkar, James B. Clarage and George N. Phillips,
Jr.
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and
W.M. Keck Center for Computational Biology
Rice University
PO Box 1892, Houston, TX. 77251-1892
Abstract:
Yeast initiator tRNA crystals exhibit strong X-ray diffuse scattering.
This scattering can be used to extract information about
lattice-coupled and intramolecular motions in the crystals. The
amplitudes and correlation distances of these motions can be estimated
by calculating the diffuse scattering and comparing the results to the
observed scattering. Results indicate that both anisotropic,
lattice-coupled motions as well as short-range correlated local
disorder in the anti-codon arm contribute to the overall disorder in
the crystals. These types of motions can be correlated with aspects
of tRNA function. This additional information complements the results
from analysis of crystallographic data and provides a more detailed
picture of the structure and dynamics of the molecule.