Riboswitch (IMAGE)
Caption
In a landmark experiment at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists used an X-ray laser to capture the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules in real time and at an atomic level. It involves 'riboswitches' from bacterial RNA -- shown here as synchronized swimmers -- and a small molecule called adenine (red balls). When the two interact, riboswitches flip into a dramatically different shape, and this in turn changes the shape of the crystals they're embedded in. Studies like these, which can only be done at X-ray free-electron lasers, open a path to understanding how RNA and other complex biomolecules function, and ultimately to developing treatments for disease.
Credit
Joseph Meyer/Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
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