A New Method for the Determination of Biological Quarternary Structure by Neutron Scattering

Abstract

Determination of quaternary structure by neutron scattering is proposed. The method gives the identity and relative spatial position of each component of a complex, provided that the complex can be obtained in deuterated form and can be reconstituted from its separated parts. If two components are rich in hydrogen and if the rest of the complex is deuterated, the contrast in scattering power permits the measurement of the separation of the pair from an interference cross term. The structure is obtained by triangulation from a set of measured pair separations.