title: A new view on crystal harvesting.
abstract: X-ray crystallography typically requires the mounting of crystals, which can make the sample difficult to manipulate when it is small and the microscope objective is close to the crystallization plate. By simply moving the objective to the bottom of a clear crystallization plate (inverting the normal view), crystals were able to be manipulated and harvested from wells having a 0.9 mm diameter and 5.0 mm depth. The mounting system enabled the structural solution of the 187 amino acid N-terminal domain ofSaccharomyces cerevisiaeglutaminyl-tRNA synthetase from crystals that appeared during high-throughput screening but proved recalcitrant to scale-up and optimization. While not a general mounting solution, the simple expedient of removing the objective lens from the area where manipulation and harvesting occur greatly facilitates the manual, or even automated, process.
authors.affiliation: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Luft
authors.affiliation: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wolfley
authors.affiliation: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA ; Department of Structural Biology, SUNY Buffalo, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
authors.forename: Edward H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Snell
keywords: crystal imaging; crystal mounting; high throughput