Relation between the phase separation and the crystallization in protein solutions

Abstract

Liquid-liquid phase separation and crystallization (or solid-liquid phase separation) both occur in protein solutions. By adopting egg-white lysozyme for a model system, we compared two types of diagrams, a phase diagram of the liquid-liquid phase separation and a morphological diagram of protein crystals. By superimposing these diagrams, we distinguished two types of white precipitates, urchinlike spherulites arising from the crystallization and protein-rich droplets from the liquid-liquid phase separation. Furthermore, we observed a transformation from the protein-rich droplets to the spherulites, and simultaneously an unusual pattern evolution of the protein-rich phase unlike the conventional phase separation of typical binary mixtures. This is understood in terms of the competition between the crystallization and the liquid-liquid phase separation.