Peanut lectin crystallography and macromolecular structural studies in India

In India, as in the rest of the world, biological macromolecular crystallography is now considered as an integral part of modern biology. This has happened only comparatively recently. The widespread practice of macromolecular crystallography is also a comparatively recent phenomenon in India. The development of the area in the country resulted from a substantially concerted effort. The structure solution of peanut lectin was a landmark event in this effort. The crystallography of peanut lectin, and that of lectins in general, also hold some lessons in terms of interdisciplinary collaboration, synergy with technological advances and perseverance with a worthwhile problem. I shall attempt here to recount the story of peanut lectin crystallography in the overall historical context of the development of macromolecular crystallography in India. I start with an outline of X-ray crystallography and a brief description of biological macromolecular crystallography, in order to make the rest of the account easily intelligible to non-specialist readers. What is presented here is a personalized account based on the relevant events, as they unravelled, from my perspective.