Print

Print


Mitegen makes a nice little product that is a plastic tube that will slide
over one of their magnetic cap/loops. If you put some well solution in the
tube and seal the base with apiezon, you can collect quite a bit of data on
the loop mounted crystal before it dries out.

Cheers,

_______________________________________
Roger S. Rowlett
Gordon & Dorothy Kline Professor
Department of Chemistry
Colgate University
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, NY 13346

tel: (315)-228-7245
ofc: (315)-228-7395
fax: (315)-228-7935
email: [log in to unmask]






On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 2:14 PM, Yi-Liang Liu <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Herman and other CCP3BBers,
>
> Thanks for your suggestions. I didn't see any cracks in the crystal drops
> initially. I will certainly try to shot crystals under room temperature and
> see what happens. Does the plastic loops fit into the cryo stands Molecular
> Dimension sells?
>
> LUcas
> On Aug 2, 2012, at 2:24 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > Hi Lucas,
> >
> > The funky diffraction pattern is most likely due to a cracked crystal,
> > resulting in a mixture of slightly differently aligned diffraction
> > patterns. Were the cracks there before you added the cryprotectant? If
> > not, the cryoprotectant is definitively to blame. As has mentioned
> > before, you have to take a shot at room temperature without any
> > cryoprotectant added, to make sure the bad quality is not due to the
> > cryoprotectant. Mitegen sells plastic capillaries, which you can slide
> > over your loop to prevent the crystal from drying out.
> >
> > Good luck!
> > Herman
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> > Yi-Liang Liu
> > Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 4:15 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Enhancing Crystal Quality
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Thanks for the kindly answers from everyone. I actually haven't tried
> > different cryoprotectants. I might will give a try next time. I usually
> > only use mother liquor+30% PEG400. It is noticeable that it has some
> > "patterns (cracks (?))" on the crystal. However, it didn't form icy
> > rings or etc. The diffraction pattern looks funky too. It looks like it
> > is twin and the diffraction spot has tails. Does this indicate the
> > cryoprotectant problem?
> >
> > Lucas
> > On Aug 1, 2012, at 2:11 PM, Antony Oliver wrote:
> >
> >> Have you tried different cryoprotectants? Can make a huge difference.
> > Also, have you shot an xtal at room temp - to see what the intrinsic
> > diffraction limit is? Additive screens? If all else fails you may well
> > need to explore a different expression construct.
> >>
> >> Tony.
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPhone
> >>
> >> On 1 Aug 2012, at 19:52, "Yi-Liang Liu" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi CCP4BBers,
> >>>
> >>> I have a protein crystallized with 0.2mM Mg acetate and PEG 8000 or
> > 0.1mM cacodylate, pH 6.5, 0.2 Mg acetate, PEG 3350. Both of the
> > conditions gave triangle pyramid like crystals. I brought the crystals
> > to synchrotron using 30% PEG 400 as cryoprotactant, the resolution was
> > only be able to reach 4A or worse. I have tried changing pH and
> > concentrations of PEG, PEG types. I found out this crystal only grew
> > between pH 6.5~7.5 and PEG types did not change the result of
> > diffraction dramatically. I have also tried the seeding (break it down
> > and reseed in the same condition. Maybe I did it wrong?). It gave me the
> > similar results, not improving. Is there any simple way of improving it
> > before jumping into reengineering the protein.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>>
> >>> Lucas
>