The Advance of Cryo Neutron Crystallography

The use of boiled-off liquid nitrogen to maintain protein crystals at 100 K during X-ray data collection has become almost universal. Applying this to neutron protein crystallography offers the opportunity to significantly broaden the scope of biochemical problems that can be addressed, although care must be taken in assuming that direct extrapolation to room temperature is always valid. Here we review the history to date of neutron protein cryo crystallography and the particular problems and solutions associated with the mounting and cryocooling of the larger crystals needed for neutron crystallography. Finally, we discuss the outlook for further cryogenic neutron studies using existing and future neutron instrumentation.