Acta Crystallographica Section D

Biological Crystallography

Volume 62, Part 5 (May 2006)

short communications

Acta Cryst. (2006). D62, 559-562 [ doi:10.1107/S0907444906006093 ]

A method for screening the temperature dependence of three-dimensional crystal formation

M. J. Landsberg, J. Bond, C. L. Gee, J. L. Martin and B. Hankamer

Abstract: Temperature is an important parameter controlling protein crystal growth. A new temperature-screening system (Thermo-screen) is described consisting of a gradient thermocycler fitted with a special crystallization-plate adapter onto which a 192-well sitting-drop crystallization plate can be mounted (temperature range 277-372 K; maximum temperature gradient 20 K; interval precision 0.3 K). The system allows 16 different conditions to be monitored simultaneously over a range of 12 temperatures and is well suited to conduct wide (20 K) and fine (3 K) temperature-optimization screens. It can potentially aid in the determination of temperature phase diagrams and run more complex temperature-cycling experiments for seeding and crystal growth.

Keywords: protein crystallization; temperature screening.