The role of oil in macromolecular crystallization
The role of oil in macromolecular crystallization
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DOI：
10.1016/s0969-2126(97)00279-7
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发表时间：
1997-10-15
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Chayen, NE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chayen, NE
蛋白质的晶体生长是一个复杂的过程，受多种因素的影响。这一交流突出了油作为蛋白质结晶的主要参数的独特贡献。利用油进行蛋白质结晶最初是为了使用微批法来分配和孵化非常小的结晶样品，在这种方法中，晶体生长在1-2μL滴中的蛋白质和结晶剂的混合物中。油的主要作用是充当惰性密封剂，以防止小容量试验的蒸发。实验证据表明，石油本身可以在结晶实验的结果中发挥重要作用，它通过影响结晶过程的整个成核和生长阶段，并通过提高所产生的晶体的稳定性。提出了一系列利用石油的存在来帮助蛋白质晶体生长的实验。这里的重点是蛋白质晶体，尽管所描述的方法也适用于其他生物大分子。
The crystal growth of proteins is a complicated process which is dependent on numerous factors. This communication highlights the unique contribution of oil as a major parameter in protein crystallization.The utilization of oil for protein crystallization was originally initiated to enable the dispensing and incubation of very small crystallization samples using the microbatch method, in which crystals are grown in 1–2 μl drops of a mixture of a protein and crystallizing agents. The primary role of the oil was to act as an inert sealant to prevent evaporation of the small-volume trials. Experimental evidence has revealed that the oil itself can play an important part in the outcome of a crystallization experiment by affecting the crystallization process throughout its stages of nucleation and growth, and by enhancing the stability of the resulting crystals. A wide range of experiments that exploit the presence of oil to aid protein crystal growth are presented. The focus here is on protein crystals, although the methods described also apply to other biological macromolecules.