Evolving methods for macromolecular crystallography, 11. Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry – Volume 245, edited by Randy J. Read and Joel Sussman
The series of crystallography conferences, hosted at Erice, have become somewhat of an institution within the crystallography community. Started in 1974 they have, this year, reached a milestone of 40 conferences. The meetings have spanned most areas of knowledge in crystallography, many of which have been of relevance to the field macromolecular crystallography. Although advertised as summer schools they have been more than this and provide an up-to-date summary of a particular area of crystallographic research. The book is a summary of the proceedings on ‘Evolving Methods for Macromolecular Crystallography’ held in 2005. The summer school covers most of the techniques employed by the macromolecular crystallographer and an inevitable weakness is that a single speaker has been chosen to represent a particular area. A novice reading this book would do well to remember that there are several approaches and most researchers usually explore alternatives to find the best solution. If the reader wishes to find out about alternative methods then references can be found in the book which point in the right direction. Despite this quibble it is a welcome addition to the crystallographer’s bookshelf with contributions by a number of experts in their field. Some of the methods are well established while others are relatively new and have difficult problems to overcome before they become established techniques. The preface, by the editors Randy Read and Joel Sussman, sets out the theme of the book and gives a short summary of each chapter and finishes with acknowledgments to the organizations that provided financial support. The book begins with a chapter on crystal seeding which remains an art as much as it is a science. Bergfors shows there are sufficient data accumulated on crystallization and seeding to provide a list of pitfalls to avoid. Although it often seems to be a last resort, brought about by desperation, it is always worth a try. As the number of membrane protein structures solved increases the number of laboratories prepared to undertake this daunting task is also increasing, making the chapter by Byrne on crystallization of membrane proteins topical. The description is clear and provides a good starting point for anyone wishing to work in this area and includes most of the methods which have worked well in recent years. Although it is stated that endogenous membrane proteins are found at low levels which necessitates the use of recombinant systems for expression, it should be pointed out that even then the yield can be 1mgL 1 or less. Under these circumstances, large-scale fermentation is required to make protein for crystallization trials. Another omission is the cubic lipid phase or mesophase crystallization methods where crystals are grown from a lipid/aqueous mixture. The technique has had some success and may gain more popularity as commercial screens become available. It is an obvious fact that the quality of a structure is only as good as the X-ray data, and chapters on cryo-freezing (Garman) and data processing (Leslie) are an important read proving an essential foundation for all future stages of