The influence of an internal electric field upon protein crystallization using the gel-acupuncture method

Abstract

In this work, the influence of an internal electric field upon the crystallization of lysozyme and thaumatin is explored using a modified design of the gel-acupuncture setup. From a crystallographic point of view, the orientation of crystals that grow preferentially over different types of electrodes inside capillary tubes is also evaluated. Finally, the crystal quality and the three-dimensional structure of these proteins grown with and without the electric field influence are analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction methods.