中性子結晶解析の進展が明らかにする酵素反応機構.

Neutron crystallography enables direct observation of hydrogen atoms which play crucial roles in the physiological functions of enzymes, including molecular recognition through hydrogen bonding and catalytic reactions involving proton-coupled electron transfer. Now neutron crystallography is a limited method for protein structure determination, but steadily catholicizes with an operation of diffractometers for bio-macromolecules at neutron facilities and accumulated techniques for sample preparation. In this article, we give a commentary on the current status of neutron crystallography for bio-macromolecules in the world, and illustrate our recent results, neutron structural analyses of copper amine oxidase and copper-containing nitrite reductase, which provide in-depth understandings of the enzymatic reaction mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]