Serial X-ray Crystallography

Serial crystallography (SX) is an emerging technique to determine macromolecules at room temperature. SX with a pump-probe experiment provides the time-resolved dynamics of target molecules. SX has developed rapidly over the past decade as a technique that not only provides room-temperature structures with biomolecules, but also has the ability to time-resolve their molecular dynamics. The serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) technique using an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) has now been extended to serial synchrotron crystallography (SSX) using synchrotron X-rays. The development of a variety of sample delivery techniques and data processing programs is currently accelerating SX research, thereby increasing the research scope. In this editorial, I briefly review some of the experimental techniques that have contributed to advances in the field of SX research and recent major research achievements. This Special Issue will contribute to the field of SX research.

Automated summary

Serial crystallography (SX) is an emerging technique to determine macromolecules at room temperature. It provides time-resolved dynamics of target molecules through pump-probe experiments. SX has rapidly developed as a technique for studying room-temperature structures and molecular dynamics of biomolecules. The development of sample delivery techniques and data processing programs is accelerating SX research.