Marin E, Kovalev K, Poelman T, Veenstra R, Borshchevskiy V, Guskov A. Custom Design of a Humidifier Chamber for
InMeso Crystallization.
CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN 2024;
24:325-330. [PMID:
38188264 PMCID:
PMC10767699 DOI:
10.1021/acs.cgd.3c01034]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Membrane proteins are indispensable for every living organism, yet their structural organization remains underexplored. Despite the recent advancements in single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy and cryogenic electron tomography, which have significantly increased the structural coverage of membrane proteins across various kingdoms, certain scientific methods, such as time-resolved crystallography, still mostly rely on crystallization techniques, such as lipidic cubic phase (LCP) or in meso crystallization. In this study, we present an open-access blueprint for a humidity control chamber designed for LCP/in meso crystallization experiments using a Gryphon crystallization robot. Using this chamber, we have obtained crystals of a transmembrane aspartate transporter GltTk from Thermococcus kodakarensis in a lipidic environment using in meso crystallization. The data collected from these crystals allowed us to perform an analysis of lipids bound to the transporter. With this publication of our open-access design of a humidity chamber, we aim to improve the accessibility of in meso protein crystallization for the scientific community.
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