The use of trimethylamine N-oxide as a primary precipitating agent and related methylamine osmolytes as cryoprotective agents for macromolecular crystallography

The stabilizing osmolyte trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is shown to be an efficient primary precipitant for protein crystal growth. In addition to TMAO, two other methylamine osmolytes, sarcosine and betaine, are shown to be effective cryoprotective agents for protein crystal cooling.