SAXS, SANS and X-ray crystallography as complementary methods in the study of biological form and function

X-ray crystallography is the single most powerful method for the determination of accurate and precise macromolecular structures. The study of macromolecular motions, however, is, despite some successes with time-resolved crystallography not within the realms of the method. Further, the study of large macromolecular complexes sometimes poses tremendous problems of various kinds for x-ray crystallography and many laboratories approach large structures by solving individual domains. We herein present two examples employing small-angle x-ray and/or neutron scattering (SAXS, SANS) to study (i) conformational changes, and (ii) protein-lipid complexes complementing information from x-ray crystallography. The structural changes of creatine kinase upon substrate binding were investigated as an example of conformational changes not comprehensible from crystallography in the absence of crystal structures of the substrate-ligated enzyme. We also present studies of apolipoprotein E, reconstituted with lipid, in which a combined approach using SAXS/SANS, x-ray crystallography and other techniques yields a model of the complex not accessible by either of the methods alone.