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Title: Effects of impurities on membrane-protein crystallization in different systems

Abstract

When starting a protein-crystallization project, scientists are faced with several unknowns. Amongst them are these questions: (i) is the purity of the starting material sufficient? and (ii) which type of crystallization experiment is the most promising to conduct? The difficulty in purifying active membrane-protein samples for crystallization trials and the high costs associated with producing such samples require an extremely pragmatic approach. Additionally, practical guidelines are needed to increase the efficiency of membrane protein crystallization. In order to address these conundrums, the effects of commonly encountered impurities on various membrane-protein crystallization regimes have been investigated and it was found that the lipidic cubic phase (LCP) based crystallization methodology is more robust than crystallization in detergent environments using vapor diffusion or microbatch approaches in its ability to tolerate contamination in the forms of protein, lipid or other general membrane components. LCP-based crystallizations produced crystals of the photosynthetic reaction center (RC) of Rhodobacter sphaeroides from samples with substantial levels of residual impurities. Crystals were obtained with protein contamination levels of up to 50% and the addition of lipid material and membrane fragments to pure samples of RC had little effect on the number or on the quality of crystals obtained in LCP-basedmore » crystallization screens. If generally applicable, this tolerance for impurities may avoid the need for samples of ultrahigh purity when undertaking initial crystallization screening trials to determine preliminary crystallization conditions that can be optimized for a given target protein.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [2]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Biosciences Division
  2. deCODE biostructures, Bainbridge Island, WA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Inst. for Biophysical Dynamics. Dept. of Chemistry
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
OSTI Identifier:
1625663
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 65; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0907-4449
Publisher:
International Union of Crystallography
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Biophysics; Crystallography

Citation Formats

Kors, Christopher A., Wallace, Ellen, Davies, Douglas R., Li, Liang, Laible, Philip D., and Nollert, Peter. Effects of impurities on membrane-protein crystallization in different systems. United States: N. p., 2009. Web. doi:10.1107/s0907444909029163.
Kors, Christopher A., Wallace, Ellen, Davies, Douglas R., Li, Liang, Laible, Philip D., & Nollert, Peter. Effects of impurities on membrane-protein crystallization in different systems. United States. https://doi.org/10.1107/s0907444909029163
Kors, Christopher A., Wallace, Ellen, Davies, Douglas R., Li, Liang, Laible, Philip D., and Nollert, Peter. Wed . "Effects of impurities on membrane-protein crystallization in different systems". United States. https://doi.org/10.1107/s0907444909029163. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1625663.
@article{osti_1625663,
title = {Effects of impurities on membrane-protein crystallization in different systems},
author = {Kors, Christopher A. and Wallace, Ellen and Davies, Douglas R. and Li, Liang and Laible, Philip D. and Nollert, Peter},
abstractNote = {When starting a protein-crystallization project, scientists are faced with several unknowns. Amongst them are these questions: (i) is the purity of the starting material sufficient? and (ii) which type of crystallization experiment is the most promising to conduct? The difficulty in purifying active membrane-protein samples for crystallization trials and the high costs associated with producing such samples require an extremely pragmatic approach. Additionally, practical guidelines are needed to increase the efficiency of membrane protein crystallization. In order to address these conundrums, the effects of commonly encountered impurities on various membrane-protein crystallization regimes have been investigated and it was found that the lipidic cubic phase (LCP) based crystallization methodology is more robust than crystallization in detergent environments using vapor diffusion or microbatch approaches in its ability to tolerate contamination in the forms of protein, lipid or other general membrane components. LCP-based crystallizations produced crystals of the photosynthetic reaction center (RC) of Rhodobacter sphaeroides from samples with substantial levels of residual impurities. Crystals were obtained with protein contamination levels of up to 50% and the addition of lipid material and membrane fragments to pure samples of RC had little effect on the number or on the quality of crystals obtained in LCP-based crystallization screens. If generally applicable, this tolerance for impurities may avoid the need for samples of ultrahigh purity when undertaking initial crystallization screening trials to determine preliminary crystallization conditions that can be optimized for a given target protein.},
doi = {10.1107/s0907444909029163},
journal = {Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography},
number = 10,
volume = 65,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2009},
month = {Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2009}
}

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