Dear ccp4

I have been performing trials on a protein DNA complex for a while now and have not seen any crystals form. Today I checked an old plate (over a month old) and I see 4 large crystals. *excitement* Three of them look tetragonal in shape (like a pyramid) and one of them looks hexagonal. I do not know if they are salt or protein. There is calcium chloride in the buffer. They feel quite soft to touch. They do not cause much birefringence. One of them does not seem to absorb much izit. It did go a bit blue but not entirely.

How can I tell if this crystal is protein or not? Do you think its worth trying to see how it diffracts?

Also, does Izit affect diffraction/ protein structures at all? Could I use a crystal with Izit in a diffraction experiment and ultimately to get the structure?

Best

Careina