Abstract

In the search for increasingly accurate protein structures, technological advances are opening up new possibilities. In the last few years the wide accessibility of intense synchrotron sources, the availability of efficient 2D-detectors, and the routine use of cryo-crystallography techniques have yielded a significant number of atomic resolution protein structures. Here we review the most interesting results achieved in this field with a particular emphasis to the biological implications and to the correlation between protein geometry and conformation.

Keywords: synchroton sources, 2-D detectors, cryo-crystallography, atomic resolution, protein geometry, protein conformation, protein crystals, physio-chemical parameter, 3D-structures