Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review Article
  • Published:

From rare to routine

Abstract

The growing importance of synchrotron radiation for structural biology can be charted from the construction and use of an X-ray beam line at DESY in Hamburg, Germany in 1970, to the completion of the three third generation synchrotrons in France, the USA and Japan in the 1990s.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: a, The first X-ray diffraction pattern taken with synchrotron radiation; the sample was of insect flight muscle and the picture shows the 220 Å equatorial Bragg reflection.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Reedy, M.K., Holmes, K.C. & Tregear, R.T. Induced changes in the orientation of the cross-bridges of glycerinated insect flight muscle. Nature 207, 1276–1280 (1965).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Huxley, H.E. The mechanism of muscular contraction. Science 164, 1356–1366 (1969).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Huxley, H.E. & Brown, W. The low angle X-ray diagram of vertebrate striated muscle and its behaviour during contraction and rigor. J. Mol. Biol. 30, 383–434 (1967).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cauchois, Y., Bonnelle, C. & Missoni, G. Rayonnement électromagnétique — Premiers spectres X du rayonnement d'orbite du synchrotron de Frascati. Compte-rendu hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci. Paris 257, 409–412 (1963).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Schwinger, J. On the classical radiation of accelerated electrons. Phys. Rev. 12, 1912–1925 ( 1949).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rosenbaum, G., Holmes, K.C. & Witz, J. Synchrotron radiation as a source for X-ray diffraction. Nature 230, 434–437 (1971).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Barrington Leigh, J. & Rosenbaum, G. A report on the application of synchroton radiaton to low-angle scattering. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 7, 117–121 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Barrington Leigh, J. & Rosenbaum, G. Synchrotron X-ray sources: a new tool in biological structural and kinetic analysis. Annu. Rev. Biophys. Bioeng. 5, 239– 270 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Huxley, H.E. et al. Millisecond time-resolved changes in X-ray reflections from contracting muscle during rapid mechanical transients, recorded using synchrotron radiation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78, 2297–2301 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Harmsen, A., Leberman, R. & Schulz, G.E. Comparison of protein crystal diffraction patterns and absolute intensities from synchrotron and conventional X-ray sources. J. Mol. Biol. 104, 311–314 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Phillips, J.C., Wlodawer, A., Yevitz, M.M. & Hodgson, K.O. Applications of synchrotron radiation to protein crystallography: preliminary results. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 128–132 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Garman, E., F. & Scheider, T.R. Macromolecular crystallography. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 30, 211–237 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Teng, T.Y. Mounting of crystals for macromolecular crystallography in a free-standing thin film. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 23, 387–391 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hendrickson, W. Determination of macromolecular structures from anomalous diffraction of synchrotron radiation. Science 254, 51– 58 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth C. Holmes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Holmes, K. From rare to routine. Nat Struct Mol Biol 5 (Suppl 8), 618–619 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/1312

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1312

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing