Heterogeneous nucleation of protein crystals on fluorinated layered silicate

Here, we describe an improved system for protein crystallization based on heterogeneous nucleation using fluorinated layered silicate. In addition, we also investigated the mechanism of nucleation on the silicate surface. Crystallization of lysozyme using silicates with different chemical compositio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2011-07, Vol.6 (7), p.e22582-e22582
Main Authors: Ino, Keita, Udagawa, Itsumi, Iwabata, Kazuki, Takakusagi, Yoichi, Kubota, Munehiro, Kurosaka, Keiichi, Arai, Kazuhito, Seki, Yasutaka, Nogawa, Masaya, Tsunoda, Tatsuo, Mizukami, Fujio, Taguchi, Hayao, Sakaguchi, Kengo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Aluminum Silicates - chemistry
Animals
Atomic structure
Biology
Cattle
Chemical Precipitation
Chickens
Clay
Crystallization
Crystals
Dehydrogenases
Fluorides
Fluorination
Fluorine
Fluorine content
Fluorosilicates
Halogenation
Humans
Hydrophobic surfaces
Hydroxides
Hydroxyl groups
Kinetics
Lamellae
Lamellar structure
Lysozyme
Models, Chemical
Muramidase - chemistry
Nucleation
Nuclei
Proteins
Proteins - chemistry
Saponite
Science
Silica
Silicas
Silicates
Silicates - chemistry
Silicon
Time Factors
Zeolites
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Summary:Here, we describe an improved system for protein crystallization based on heterogeneous nucleation using fluorinated layered silicate. In addition, we also investigated the mechanism of nucleation on the silicate surface. Crystallization of lysozyme using silicates with different chemical compositions indicated that fluorosilicates promoted nucleation whereas the silicates without fluorine did not. The use of synthesized saponites for lysozyme crystallization confirmed that the substitution of hydroxyl groups contained in the lamellae structure for fluorine atoms is responsible for the nucleation-inducing property of the nucleant. Crystallization of twelve proteins with a wide range of pI values revealed that the nucleation promoting effect of the saponites tended to increase with increased substitution rate. Furthermore, the saponite with the highest fluorine content promoted nucleation in all the test proteins regardless of their overall net charge. Adsorption experiments of proteins on the saponites confirmed that the density of adsorbed molecules increased according to the substitution rate, thereby explaining the heterogeneous nucleation on the silicate surface.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0022582