short communications
Sitting-drop protein crystallization is not used as commonly as the hanging-drop method for crystal optimization owing to the limitations of commercially available sitting-drop bridges, particularly when they are used in conjunction with 24-well crystallization plates. The commercially available sitting-drop bridge, containing space for only a single drop, restricts their wider use. Proteins that preferentially crystallize under sitting-drop conditions therefore require more work, time and resources for their optimization. In response to these limitations, and using 3D printing, a new sitting-drop bridge has been designed and developed, where five crystallization drops can be placed simultaneously in each well of a 24-well crystallization plate. This significantly simplifies the process and increases the potential of sitting drops in crystal optimization, reducing costs and hence overcoming the limitations of current approaches.
Keywords: protein crystallization; sitting-drop crystallization; hanging-drop crystallization; vapour-diffusion crystallization; microbridges; 3D printing.
Supporting information
Portable Document Format (PDF) file https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576718017545/ei5036sup1.pdf | |
Zip compressed file https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576718017545/ei5036sup2.zip |