Time-of-Flight Laue Fiber Diffraction Studies of Perdeuterated DNA

Abstract

The diffractometer SXD at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ISIS pulsed neutron source has been used to record high resolution time-of-flight Laue fiber diffraction data from DNA. These experiments, which are the first of their kind, were undertaken using fibers of DNA in the A conformation and prepared using deuterated DNA in order to minimise incoherent background scattering. These studies complement previous experiments on instrument D19 at the Institut Laue Langevin using monochromatic neutrons. Sample preparation involved drawing large numbers of these deuterated DNA fibers and mounting them in a parallel array. The strategy of data collection is discussed in terms of camera design, sample environment and data collection. The methods used to correct the recorded time-of-flight data and map it into the final reciprocal space fiber diffraction dataset are also discussed. Difference Fourier maps showing the distribution of water around A-DNA calculated on the basis of these data are compared with results obtained using data recorded from hydrogenated A-DNA on D19. Since the methods used for sample preparation, data collection and data processing are fundamentally different for the monochromatic and Laue techniques, the results of these experiments also afford a valuable opportunity to independently test the data reduction and analysis techniques used in the two methods.