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Determination of Protein Structures—A Series of Fortunate Events

Maksymilian Chruszcz ^*, Alexander Wlodawer  and Wladek Minor ^*

^* Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; and Protein Structure Section, Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, Maryland

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Wladek Minor, E-mail address: wladek{at}iwonka.med.virginia.edu.

Determination of a macromolecular structure using x-ray diffraction is a multistep process that involves a plethora of techniques involving molecular biology, bioinformatics, and physical sciences. Counterintuitively, the success of any or all individual steps does not guarantee the success of the overall process. This review examines the difficulties presented by each step on the path from a gene to the final publication, together with certain lucky (or unlucky) circumstances that can affect the velocity along that path.