Acoustic matrix microseeding: improving protein crystal growth with minimal chemical bias.
A crystal seeding technique is introduced that uses acoustic waves to deliver nanolitre volumes of seed suspension into protein drops. The reduction in delivery volume enables enhanced crystal growth in matrix-seeding experiments without concern for bias from chemical components in the seed-carrying buffer suspension. Using this technique, it was found that while buffer components alone without seed can marginally promote crystal growth in some cases, crystal seeding is far more effective in boosting the number of sparse-matrix conditions that yield protein crystals.
Villaseñor
Armando G
AG
Department of Discovery Technologies, Roche Palo Alto LLC, 3431 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA. armando.villasenor@ymail.com
Wong
April
A
Shao
Ada
A
Garg
Ankur
A
Kuglstatter
Andreas
A
Harris
Seth F
SF
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
D011506:Proteins