W0227: Does Warming a Lysozyme Solution Cook Ones Data?

Chicken egg white lysozyme has a well characterized thermally driven phase transition. Between pH 4.0 and 5.2, the transition temperature, as defined by the point where the tetragonal and orthorhombic solubility are equal, is a function of the pH, salt (precipitant) type and concentration, and most likely of the buffer concentration as well^1,2. This phase transition can be carried out with protein solution alone, prior to the initiation of the crystallization process. We have now measured the kinetics of this process and investigated its reversibility. An aliquot of a stock protein solution is held at a given temperature, and at periodic intervals used to set up batch crystallization experiments. The batch solutions were incubated at 20(C until macroscopic crystals were obtained, at which point the number of crystals in each well were counted. The transition effects increased with temperature, slowly falling off at 30(C with a half time (time to ~1/2 the t = 0 number of crystals) of ~ 5 hours, and an estimated half time of ~ 0.5 hours at 43(C. Further, the process was not reversible by simple cooling. After holding a lysozyme solution at 37(C (prior to addition of precipitant) for 16 hours, then cooling and holding it at 4(C, no return to the pre-warmed nucleation kinetics are observed after at least 4 weeks. Thus every thermal excursion above the phase transition point results in a further decrease in the nucleation rate of that solution, the extent being a function of the time and temperature. Orthorhombic lysozyme crystals apparently do not undergo the flow-induced growth cessation of tetragonal lysozyme crystals. We have previously shown that putting the protein in the orthorhombic form does not affect the averaged face growth kinetics, only nucleation, for tetragonal crystals³. We may be able to use this differential behavior to elucidate how flow affects the lysozyme crystal growth process.