Crystallization of the archaeal transcription termination factor NusA: a significant decrease in twinning under microgravity conditions

Abstract

The transcription termination factor NusA from Aeropyrum pernix was crystallized using a counter-diffusion technique in both terrestrial and microgravity environments. Crystallization under microgravity conditions significantly reduced the twinning content (1.0%) compared with terrestrially grown crystals (18.3%) and improved the maximum resolution from 3.0 to 2.29 Å , with similar unit-cell parameters. Based on a comparison of the crystal parameters, the effect of microgravity on protein crystallization is discussed.

High-Quality Protein Crystal Growth of Mouse Lipocalin-Type Prostaglandin D Synthase in Microgravity

“…The method of harvesting crystals from the capillaries has been reported previously. ( 20 ) Briefly, to harvest a crystal, the section of the capillary tube containing the desired crystal was cut out with a capillary cutting stone. Then a gentle flow of harvest solution from a micropipet was used to wash the crystal out of the capillary segment into harvest solution in a concave slide glass with a single depression well.…”

Improvement in the quality of hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase crystals in a microgravity environment

“…Diffraction data were collected from a single crystal at 100 K using an X-ray wavelength of 0.85 Å on the BL41XU beamline at SPring-8, Harima, Japan, with an ADSC315 detector system, or using an X-ray wavelength of 1.0 Å on the X06SA beamline at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen-PSI, Switzerland, with a MAR225 detector system. The methods of crystal extraction from capillaries and harvesting crystals were previously described (Tanaka et al, 2004a(Tanaka et al, , 2007.…”

Macromolecular crystal twinning, lattice disorders and multiple crystals1

“…This may have reduced the number of molecules in the twinning orientation if the positional potentials were different between the main fraction and the twinning fraction and if the slow crystal growth allowed the transition from a quasi-stable orientation to a more stable one. Tanaka et al (56) further stated that more examples of the detwinning of protein crystals under microgravity conditions would be necessary to examine the phenomenon in more detail. Indeed an earlier study was made by McPherson and colleagues (57) who remarked specifically: 'Crystals of canavalin grown in microgravity ultimately produced the highest resolution best quality diffraction data.…”