title: Preparation of cross-linked hen-egg white lysozyme crystals free of cracks.
abstract: Cross-linked protein crystals (CLPCs) are very useful materials in applications such as biosensors, catalysis, and X-ray crystallography. Hence, preparation of CLPCs is an important research direction. During the preparation of CLPCs, an often encountered problem is that cracks may appear in the crystals, which may finally lead to shattering of the crystals into small pieces and cause problem in practical applications. To avoid cross-link induced cracking, it is necessary to study the cracking phenomenon in the preparation process. In this paper, we present an investigation on how to avoid cracking during preparation of CLPCs. An orthogonal experiment was designed to study the phenomenon of cross-link induced cracking of hen-egg white lysozyme (HEWL) crystals against five parameters (temperature, solution pH, crystal growth time, glutaraldehyde concentration, and cross-linking time). The experimental results showed that, the solution pH and crystal growth time can significantly affect cross-link induced cracking. The possible mechanism was studied, and optimized conditions for obtaining crack-free CLPCs were obtained and experimentally verified.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Er-Kai
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qin-Qin
authors.initials: QQ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chen-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Da
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ren-Bin
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Da-Chuan
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization; D004529:Egg White / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; C421864:hen egg lysozyme; D009113:Muramidase