Direct phase selection of initial phases from single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) for the improvement of electron density and ab initio structure determination

A novel direct phase-selection method to select optimized phases from the ambiguous phases of a subset of reflections to replace the corresponding initial SAD phases has been developed. With the improved phases, the completeness of built residues of protein molecules is enhanced for efficient structure determination.

Structures of trehalose synthase from Deinococcus radiodurans reveal that a closed conformation is involved in catalysis of the intramolecular isomerization

Crystal structures of the wild type and the N253A mutant of trehalose synthase from D. radiodurans in complex with the inhibitor Tris have been determined at 2.7 and 2.21 Å resolution, respectively, and they display a closed conformation for catalysis of the intramolecular isomerization.