Review x Ray crystallography

x Ray crystallography is currently the most favoured technique for structure determination of proteins and biological macromolecules. Increasingly, those in-terested in all branches of the biological sciences require structural information to shed light on previously unanswered ques-tions. Furthermore, the availability of a protein structure can provide a more detailed focus for future research. The extension of the technique to systems such as viruses, immune complexes, and protein–nucleic acid complexes serves only to widen the appeal of crystallogra-phy. Structure based drug design, site directed mutagenesis, elucidation of en-zyme mechanisms, and specificity of protein–ligand interactions are just a few of the areas in which x ray crystallography has provided clarification