Structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre determined by serial femtosecond crystallography

Serial femtosecond crystallography is an X-ray free-electron-laser-based method with considerable potential to have an impact on challenging problems in structural biology. Here we present X-ray diffraction data recorded from microcrystals of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction centre to 2.8 angstrom resolution and determine its serial femtosecond crystallography structure to 3.5 angstrom resolution. Although every microcrystal is exposed to a dose of 33MGy, no signs of X-ray-induced radiation damage are visible in this integral membrane protein structure.