Chapter 4

Introduction To Physical Techniques for Determination of Structure of Biopolymers

Nene Takio, Meera Yadav* and SonamTashi Khom

Abstract

Biopolymers perform important cellular processes, which are isolated, purified and studied with the help of a wide range of biophysical, electrochemical and molecular biology techniques such as NMR, X-ray Crystallography, Electron Microscopy, and Electron Tomography. X-ray Crystallography helps us to establish 3D structures of small and large molecules at atomic resolution via the X-ray diffraction method, whereas NMR determines the content and purity of a sample. Electron microscopy obtains high-resolution images of biological and non-biological specimens and electron tomography provides three-dimensional density maps of the pleomorphic organism from macromolecular complexes to cells. <p> All these techniques, discussed in this unit, provide us a greater insight to unravel the mystery of complex organisms and to understand the structure and functional properties of the biomolecules.

Total Pages: 90-117 (28)

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