Macromolecular crystallography at the Philipps University Marburg (MarBAG)

The MarBAG, based at Philipps-University Marburg and the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany, employs X-ray crystallography to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms underlying the synthesis, assembly, and function of macromolecular machines and cellular structures. This research encompasses critical biological processes, including CO2 fixation pathways, flagellar biosynthesis, CRISPR-Cas systems, and phage-bacteria interactions. Additionally, our investigations extend to plant-pathogen interactions and the role of nucleotide-derived signaling molecules in cellular stress physiology and organization of bacteria and higher organisms. To enhance our structural characterization of macromolecular complexes that are challenging to crystallize, we have recently installed a 200 keV cryo-electron microscope at UMR. This advanced instrumentation enables routine screening and quality assessment of samples for cryoelectron microscopy.坐落于德国马尔堡的马尔堡菲利普斯大学（Philipps-University Marburg）与马克斯·普朗克陆地微生物研究所（Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology）下属的MarBAG研究团队，采用X射线晶体学（X-ray crystallography）阐明大分子机器与细胞结构的合成、组装及功能背后的核心机制。本研究涵盖多项关键生物学过程，包括二氧化碳固定途径、鞭毛生物合成、CRISPR-Cas系统以及噬菌体-细菌相互作用。此外，我们的研究范畴还延伸至植物-病原体相互作用，以及核苷酸衍生的信号分子在细胞应激生理学、细菌与高等生物的组织调控中的作用。 为优化对难以结晶的大分子复合物的结构表征，我们近期在UMR安装了一台200千电子伏特（keV）冷冻电子显微镜（cryo-electron microscope）。这套先进仪器可实现冷冻电子显微术样品的常规筛选与质量评估。