title: Approach for growth of high-quality and large protein crystals.
abstract: Three crystallization methods for growing large high-quality protein crystals, i.e. crystallization in the presence of a semi-solid agarose gel, top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) and a large-scale hanging-drop method, have previously been presented. In this study the effectiveness of crystallization in the presence of a semi-solid agarose gel has been further evaluated by crystallizing additional proteins in the presence of 2.0% (w/v) agarose gel, resulting in complete gelification with high mechanical strength. In TSSG the seed crystals are hung by a seed holder protruding from the top of the growth vessel to prevent polycrystallization. In the large-scale hanging-drop method, a cut pipette tip was used to maintain large-scale droplets consisting of protein-precipitant solution. Here a novel crystallization method that combines TSSG and the large-scale hanging-drop method is reported. A large and single crystal of lysozyme was obtained by this method.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. matsumura@chem.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kakinouchi
authors.forename: Mihoko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Murai
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Kazufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012685:Sepharose / Q000737:chemistry; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D011506:Proteins; D012996:Solutions; D012685:Sepharose; D009113:Muramidase