Crystal growth to data collection made easy
Christin Reuter, Larissa Textor, Mathias Grün
Jena Bioscience GmbH, Löbstedter Str. 71, 07749 Jena, Germany
christin.reuter@jenabioscience.com
Growth of well-diffracting crystals is a major bottleneck in protein crystallography. The XP Screen solves this problem with the Anderson−Evans polyoxotungstate [TeW6O24]6− (TEW) - a universal and flexible additive for protein crystallization (Figure 1a). TEW has both planar structure and high negative charge, allowing it to act as a linker between protein molecules and ultimately stabilize fragile crystal lattices [1].
Once optimal growth conditions have been established, crystals must be harvested. Harvesting stresses the protein crystals and can lead to impairment and even complete loss of diffraction quality. To solve this problem, crystals can now be grown directly on the XtalTool (Figure 1b). This patent-pending sample holder allows trouble-free crystal growth, any necessary crystal soaking and X-ray data collection without the need of crystal manipulation or mounting.
Figure 1. a) XP Screen is based on TEW – molecular “glue” which holds together delicate protein crystals. Figure adapted from [1], used courtesy of Prof. Annette Rompel, University of Vienna, Austria. b) The XtalTool is used as both cover slide and sample holder for in-situ data collection.