Crystallization of biological macromolecules using agarose gel.
Gellified media prevent convection and crystal sedimentation, and provide an attractive growth environment for optimising biological crystals. Agarose gels are particularly easy to use and they are compatible with most of the common crystallization methods. They also offer new possibilities like counter-diffusion techniques. This paper gives a brief overview of their general properties and presents an application of a counter-diffusion setup combining agarose gel and capillaries to the crystallization of proteins and protein / nucleic acid complexes.
D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D019620:Desulfurococcaceae / Q000737:chemistry; D004058:Diffusion; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases / Q000737:chemistry; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D005782:Gels; D035001:Host Factor 1 Protein / Q000737:chemistry; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D017411:Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear / Q000737:chemistry; D012685:Sepharose
D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005782:Gels; C087373:Hfq protein, E coli; D035001:Host Factor 1 Protein; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011506:Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D017411:Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear; C426828:Sm1 protein, Archaeoglobus fulgidus; D012685:Sepharose; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases; C035571:endodeoxyribonuclease VII