Protein crystal growth of Ribonuclease A and Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor aboard the MASER 3 rocket

The growth of bovine Ribonuclease A (RNase A) and bovine Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor crystals has been studied simultaneously aboard MASER 3, a sounding rocket, and in a ground reference unit. For crystallization to take place within the 7 min and 15 s of microgravity during the flight, both macro-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of crystal growth 1991-03, Vol.110 (1), p.322-332
Main Authors: Sjölin, Lennart, Wlodawer, Alexander, Bergqvist, G., Holm, P., Loth, K., Malmström, H., Zaar, J., Svensson, L.Anders, Gilliland, Gary L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Intermolecular phenomena
Miscellaneous
Molecular biophysics
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Summary:The growth of bovine Ribonuclease A (RNase A) and bovine Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor crystals has been studied simultaneously aboard MASER 3, a sounding rocket, and in a ground reference unit. For crystallization to take place within the 7 min and 15 s of microgravity during the flight, both macro- and macro-seed techniques of supersaturated protein solutions were employed. It was found that the convection-free environment of the MASER 3 protein crystal growth apparatus produced more and larger crystals than the ground reference unit. The RNase A crystals grown in microgravity diffracted X-rays to 1.06 Å resolution, approximately 0.2 Å higher resolution than previously observed in terrestrially grown RNase A crystals. The refined structure based on these data contains new features not seen in the lower resolution structures.
ISSN:0022-0248
1873-5002
DOI:10.1016/0022-0248(91)90902-H