Abstract

Homologous protein, which exists in protein solution, is an impurity during protein crystallization. We chose home-made fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) as model homologous lysozyme impurity. We studied the effect of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled hen egg white lysozyme (FITC-HEWL) on HEWL crystallization. We found that the existence of FITC-HEWL obviously delayed the appearance of HEWL crystals, which indicated that FITC-HEWL changed the nucleation process. At the same time, the amount of final formed HEWL crystals decreased as increase of FITC-HEWL concentration in HEWL crystal growth solution. Moreover, we found that the crystal {110} face growth rate decreased approximately 90% even if only 0.02mg/ml FITCHEWL existed in HEWL crystal growth solution.

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