Muscle diffraction at the Life Science X-ray Scattering beamline.

We report on recent methodological advances at the Life Science X-ray Scattering (LiX) beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) to support small-angle X-ray scattering experiments on striated muscles. These experiments measure sarcomeric protein organization in healthy and diseased muscle and provide direct molecular evidence for these proteins' functional roles and dynamics. Many recent advances in sarcomeric protein research have relied on diffraction data; for example, structural and functional roles of cMyBP-C and titin, and conformational/energetic states of actomyosin cross-bridges. LiX operations are optimized for high-throughput muscle diffraction with rapid turnover and semi-automated data processing. These operations have been tested on skeletal and cardiac tissues sourced from both humans and animal models including pig, rat, mouse and zebrafish. LiX's new capacity for muscle experimentation and support for new beamline users will accelerate the investigation of sarcomeric protein structure and function, muscle biomechanics and skeletal and cardiac myopathies.