An automated data processing and analysis pipeline for transmembrane proteins in detergent solutions

D. Molodenskiy; H. Mertens; D. Svergun

Recently, MPs have become increasingly popular objects for small angle scattering investigations (16) (17) (18) (19) thanks to the availability of improved online size-exclusion chromatography (SEC-SAXS) set-ups at dedicated SAXS synchrotron beamlines. Integrated HPLC facilitates simultaneous sample purification and X-ray data acquisition, separating the scattering signal from protein, detergent and protein-detergent complexes (PDCs) that appear in the elution profile. Direct measurement of the mobile phase (ie. buffer) and elution peaks corresponding to the macromolecule(s) of interest enable a rapid and robust sample characterization following a well-defined sequence of data reduction procedures (20) . These procedures are amenable to automation and can be further coupled to advanced analysis and modeling approaches for MP systems, such as those detailed below.