Nucleation of protein crystals: critical nuclei, phase behavior, and control pathways

Abstract

We have studied the nucleation of crystals of the model protein lysozyme using a novel technique that allows direct determinations of homogeneous nucleation rates. At constant temperature of 12.6°C we varied the thermodynamic supersaturation by changing the concentrations of protein and precipitant. We found a broken dependence of the homogeneous nucleation rate on supersaturation that is beyond the predictions of the classical nucleation theory. The nucleation theorem allows us to relate this to discrete changes of the size of the crystal nuclei with increasing supersaturation as (10 or 11)→(4 or 5)→(1 or 2). Furthermore, we observe that the existence of a second liquid phase at high protein concentrations strongly affects crystal nucleation kinetics. We show that the rate of homogeneous nucleation of lysozyme crystals passes through a maximum in the vicinity of the liquid–liquid phase boundary hidden below the liquidus (solubility) line in the phase diagram of the protein solution. We found that glycerol and polyethylene glycol (PEG), which do not specifically bind to proteins, shift this phase boundary and significantly suppress or enhance the crystal nucleation rates, although no simple correlation exists between the action of PEG on the phase diagram and the nucleation kinetics. This provides for a control mechanism which does not require changes in the protein concentration, or the acidity and ionicity of the solution. The effects of the two additives on the phase diagram strongly depend on their concentration and this provides opportunities for further tuning of nucleation rates.