Elucidation of Protein -Precipitant Phase Diagrams and Their Link to Crystal Quality
Talreja, Sameer
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/82410
Description
Title
Elucidation of Protein -Precipitant Phase Diagrams and Their Link to Crystal Quality
Author(s)
Talreja, Sameer
Issue Date
2008
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Kenis, Paul J.A.
Department of Study
Chemical Engineering
Discipline
Chemical Engineering
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Engineering, Chemical
Language
eng
Abstract
In sum, we report new evaporation- and dilution-based protocols that will enable structural biologist to rapidly determine the phase diagram (e.g. solubility boundary, metastable zone width) of proteins of unknown structure using a very small sample volume. The knowledge of phase diagram of a protein/precipitant system thus obtained will be useful in obtaining high quality crystals for X-ray diffraction studies. Moreover, we use theory to compare different protein molecules on a generalized phase diagram using the solubility data obtained from our experiments. The comparison of the solubility boundary and the metastable boundary on the same footing will provide a reasonable estimate of the metastable zone width, which will aid crystallographers in screening conditions conducive for protein crystallization. We also develop a kinetic model that describes the competition between the rates of supersaturation, crystal nucleation and crystal growth occurring in the regulated-evaporation crystallization process. The knowledge of these rates coupled with the knowledge of the phase diagram of a protein/precipitant system will enable crystallographers to predict a priori the outcome of an experiment performed in an evaporation-based crystallization platform.
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