Microgravity and Macromolecular Crystallography

Abstract

Macromolecular crystal growth is seen as an ideal experiment to make use of the reduced acceleration environment provided by an orbiting spacecraft. The experiments are small, are simply operated, and have a high potential scientific and economic impact. In this review we examine the theoretical reasons why microgravity is a beneficial environment for crystal growth and survey the history of experiments on the Space Shuttle Orbiter, on unmanned spacecraft, and on the Mir space station. The results of microgravity crystal growth are considerable when one realizes that the comparisons are always between few microgravity-based experiments and a large number of earth-based experiments. Finally, we outline the direction for optimizing the future use of orbiting platforms.

Investigating the Effect of Impurities on Macromolecule Crystal Growth in Microgravity

“…1 The experiments are small, have low mass, can be remotely operated, and potentially have a high scientific and commercial payback. To date, growth of macromolecular crystals in microgravity has had mixed results, with enhancement in some studies [2][3][4][5] and no positive or even detrimental effects in others.…”

Microfluidics: From crystallization to serial time-resolved crystallography

“…49,50 B. Capillary-based counter-diffusion methods Much of the motivation and inspiration for early microfluidic efforts in protein crystallization were connected with experiments performed in microgravity. [51][52][53] The excitement regarding these experiments was fueled by the production of higher quality diffraction for nearly 35% of the targets investigated in space, as compared to ground-based methods. The advantage conferred by microgravity was a tremendous reduction in buoyancy-driven convection and sedimentation effects and the subsequent dominance of diffusive mixing.…”

Effect of spaceship orbital transfer on solution convection during protein crystal growth under microgravity

“…However, past experience has also shown that the microgravity environment on the Space Shuttle can sometimes yield unpredictable results in PCG. The data collected from past shuttle missions have all indicated that about only 35% of crystal grown in space better than the best earth grown samples (Kundrot et al, 2001). In fact, microgravity is not zero gravity.…”