Abstract
The electrochemically assisted crystallization of nonpurified (commercial purity) cytochrome c was successfully achieved inside of small cell of a dynamic light scattering (DLS) apparatus. The method combined batch crystallization conditions and an internal electrical field to favor the nucleation stage. This methodology crystallizes commercial cytochrome c without previous isoforms separation, decreasing costs and experimental time to obtain crystals. The effect of the electric field on the aggregation time and on the protein nucleation was observed in real time by means of DLS. The results showed a marked decrease of the crystallization time (from 45 days to 5 days) highly improving the previously reported method of crystallization. The HPLC analysis of redissolved crystals showed that the protein corresponds to the same isoform previously crystallized by microseeding. The excellent quality of the cytochrome c crystals obtained in the presence of electrical current was revealed by X-ray crystallography; the diffraction reached 1 Å of resolution.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 2493-2496 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Crystal Growth and Design |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |