title: Utilisation of adsorption and desorption for simultaneously improving protein crystallisation success rate and crystal quality.
abstract: High-quality protein crystals of suitable size are an important prerequisite for applying X-ray crystallography to determine the 3-dimensional structure of proteins. However, it is often difficult to obtain protein crystals of appropriate size and quality because nucleation and growth processes can be unsuccessful. Here, we show that by adsorbing proteins onto porous polystyrene-divinylbenzene microspheres (SDB) floating on the surface of the crystallisation solution, a localised high supersaturation region at the surface of the microspheres and a low supersaturation region below the microspheres can coexist in a single solution. The crystals will easily nucleate in the region of high supersaturation, but when they grow to a certain size, they will sediment to the region of low supersaturation and continue to grow. In this way, the probability of crystallisation and crystal quality can be simultaneously increased in a single solution without changing other crystallisation parameters.
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China [2] Chang'an University, Middle Section of Nan Erhuan Road, Xi'an City, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Yun-Zhu
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 239 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201204, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: 1] University of Hamburg, Laboratory for Structural Biology of Infection &Inflammation, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany [2] Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oberthuer
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Chen-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Jian-Yu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information Technology, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Lei
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Di
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Applied Physics and Chemistry in Space of Ministry of Education, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Bao-Liang
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Yong-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 239 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201204, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information Technology, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Huan-Huan
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China [2] University of Hamburg, Laboratory for Structural Biology of Infection &Inflammation, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: University of Hamburg, Laboratory for Structural Biology of Infection &Inflammation, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan-Mirco
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Applied Physics and Chemistry in Space of Ministry of Education, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Qiu-Yu
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information Technology, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Jian-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: University of Hamburg, Laboratory for Structural Biology of Infection &Inflammation, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Betzel
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 239 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201204, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jian-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience &Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Da-Chuan
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Yin