Macromolecular crystallography at cryogenic temperatures

Cryocrystallography of biological macromolecules is an underused technique for improving the quality of crystallographically determined structures. Although the technique may not be useful in all cases, a growing number of examples show that radiation damage, protein instability or thermal motion can be greatly reduced by collecting X-ray diffraction data at cryogenic temperatures. Most macromolecular crystals can be cooled rapidly and diffract at least as well as they do at room temperature, although showing increased mosaic character.