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PubMed · 11541739

Improved diffraction of antithrombin crystals grown in microgravity.

M R Wardell·R Skinner·D C Carter·P D Twigg·J P Abrahams
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Abstract

Crystals of antithrombin were grown both on earth and in microgravity aboard US Space Shuttle Flight STS-67. The quality of crystals grown in both environments was highly variable and many could not be indexed. The microgravity crystals, however, generally diffracted better, as demonstrated by a novel procedure that estimates the resolution of the Bragg scatter from single diffraction images, without requiring knowledge of the cell dimensions of the crystal. Whereas the best earth-grown crystals never diffracted beyond 3 angstroms resolution, the best microgravity crystal diffracted to 2.6 angstroms. The improvement, demonstrated here by a comparison of 23 microgravity and 12 earth-grown crystals, is attributed to better ordered crystal growth in microgravity, although other factors may have contributed also.

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Antithrombin IIICrystallizationCrystallography, X-RayHumansResearch DesignSpace FlightWeightlessnessComparative StudyJournal Article

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M R Wardell, R Skinner, D C Carter, P D Twigg, J P Abrahams. 1997-09-01. Improved diffraction of antithrombin crystals grown in microgravity.. https://doi.org/10.1107/s0907444997003302

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