Tracing transport of protein aggregates in microgravity versus unit gravity crystallization

Arayik Martirosyan, Sven Falke, Deborah McCombs, Martin Cox, Christopher D. Radka, Jan Knop, Christian Betzel, Lawrence J. DeLucas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Microgravity conditions have been used to improve protein crystallization from the early 1980s using advanced crystallization apparatuses and methods. Early microgravity crystallization experiments confirmed that minimal convection and a sedimentation-free environment is beneficial for growth of crystals with higher internal order and in some cases, larger volume. It was however realized that crystal growth in microgravity requires additional time due to slower growth rates. The progress in space research via the International Space Station (ISS) provides a laboratory-like environment to perform convection-free crystallization experiments for an extended time. To obtain detailed insights in macromolecular transport phenomena under microgravity and the assumed reduction of unfavorable impurity incorporation in growing crystals, microgravity and unit gravity control experiments for three different proteins were designed. To determine the quantity of impurity incorporated into crystals, fluorescence-tagged aggregates of the proteins (acting as impurities) were prepared. The recorded fluorescence intensities of the respective crystals reveal reduction in the incorporation of aggregates under microgravity for different aggregate quantities. The experiments and data obtained, provide insights about macromolecular transport in relation to molecular weight of the target proteins, as well as information about associated diffusion behavior and crystal lattice formation. Results suggest one explanation why microgravity-grown protein crystals often exhibit higher quality. Furthermore, results from these experiments can be used to predict which proteins may benefit more from microgravity crystallization.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4
Journalnpj Microgravity
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Materials Science (miscellaneous)
  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
  • Space and Planetary Science

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