Fiber diffraction

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Fiber diffraction is a scattering technique in which molecular structure is determined from scattering data (usually of X-rays or electrons) from filaments composed of a regular array of molecules distinguished by a single direction (the fiber axis). The resulting diffraction patterns show layer lines, each with Bessel function intensities.

[edit] Historical role

Fiber diffraction data led to several important advances in the development of structural biology, e.g., the original models of the α-helix and the Watson-Crick model of double-stranded DNA.

[edit] References

Cochran W, Crick FHC and Vand V. (1952) "The Structure of Synthetic Polypeptides. I. The Transform of Atoms on a Helix", Acta Cryst., 5, 581-586.

Protein structure determination methods
High resolution:	X-ray crystallography | NMR | Electron crystallography
Medium resolution:	Cryo-electron microscopy | Fiber diffraction | Mass spectrometry
Spectroscopic:	NMR | Circular dichroism | Absorbance | Fluorescence | Fluorescence anisotropy
Translational Diffusion:	Analytical ultracentrifugation | Size exclusion chromatography | Light scattering | NMR
Rotational Diffusion:	Fluorescence anisotropy | Flow birefringence | Dielectric relaxation | NMR
Chemical:	Hydrogen-deuterium exchange | Site-directed mutagenesis | Chemical modification
Thermodynamic:	Equilibrium unfolding
Computational:	Protein structure prediction | Molecular docking
←Tertiary structure		Quaternary structure→