What is electron crystallography?
Q: What is electron crystallography?
A: Electron crystallography is a method to determine the arrangement of atoms in solids using a transmission electron microscope (TEM).
Q: How does electron crystallography compare to X-ray crystallography?
A: Electron crystallography works in cases where X-ray crystallography does not. X-ray crystallography needs large 3-D crystals to work, while electron crystallography can be used with 2-dimensional crystals (sheets or helices), polyhedrons such as viral capsids, or dispersed proteins.
Q: Why can electrons be used in situations where X-rays cannot?
A: Electrons interact more strongly with atoms than X-rays do, which allows them to be used in situations where X-rays cannot.
Q: Who invented electron crystallography?
A: Aaron Klug invented electron crystallography.
Q: What did Aaron Klug win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for?
A: Aaron Klug won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his invention of electron crystallography, as well as his studies on virus structures and transfer RNA.
Q: What was the first electron crystallographic protein structure to be solved?
A: The first electron crystallographic protein structure to be solved was bacteriorhodopsin in 1990.
Q: What are some other high-resolution structures that have been solved by electron crystallography?
A: Other high-resolution structures that have been solved by electron crystallography include the light-harvesting complex and the bacterial flagellum.
