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Advanced Methods of Protein Crystallization

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Protein Crystallography

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1607))

Abstract

This chapter provides a review of different advanced methods that help to increase the success rate of a crystallization project, by producing larger and higher quality single crystals for determination of macromolecular structures by crystallographic methods. For this purpose, the chapter is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the fundamentals for understanding the crystallization process through different strategies based on physical and chemical approaches. The second part presents new approaches involved in more sophisticated methods not only for growing protein crystals but also for controlling the size and orientation of crystals through utilization of electromagnetic fields and other advanced techniques. The last section deals with three different aspects: the importance of microgravity, the use of ligands to stabilize proteins, and the use of microfluidics to obtain protein crystals. All these advanced methods will allow the readers to obtain suitable crystalline samples for high-resolution X-ray and neutron crystallography.

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Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the support from the DGAPA-UNAM Project PAPIIT No. IT200215. The author also appreciates the free use of the NMR facility of LURMN-IQ-UNAM for growing crystals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Av. Universidad 3000, Cd.Mx., Mexico City, 04510, Mexico

    Abel Moreno

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  1. Abel Moreno
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Correspondence to Abel Moreno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, USA

    Alexander Wlodawer

  2. Synchrotron Radiation Research Section, MCL, National Cancer Institute, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA

    Zbigniew Dauter

  3. Department of Crystallography, Faculty of Chemistry, A. Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland

    Mariusz Jaskolski

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Moreno, A. (2017). Advanced Methods of Protein Crystallization. In: Wlodawer, A., Dauter, Z., Jaskolski, M. (eds) Protein Crystallography. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1607. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7000-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7000-1_3

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