Lipidic phase membrane protein serial femtosecond crystallography

Abstract
Lipidic sponge phase crystallization yields membrane protein microcrystals that can be injected into an X-ray free electron laser beam, yielding diffraction patterns that can be processed to recover the crystal structure. X-ray free electron laser (X-FEL)-based serial femtosecond crystallography is an emerging method with potential to rapidly advance the challenging field of membrane protein structural biology. Here we recorded interpretable diffraction data from micrometer-sized lipidic sponge phase crystals of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction center delivered into an X-FEL beam using a sponge phase micro-jet.