W0019

Succeeding with Seeding. Terese Bergfors, Dept. of Cell and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Center Box 596, Uppsala University, 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.

A frequent question in the protein crystallization laboratory is: "I have some crystals now, what can I do to improve them?" One powerful optimization technique is seeding (1). In this method, previously nucleated crystals are used as seeds and introduced into new drops equilibrated at lower levels of supersaturation. This talk will present three examples (2) of proteins from our laboratory where seeding was critical in obtaining the diffraction quality crystals for solving the structures. Practical pointers will be given on how, what, and when to seed for optimal success with the method.

References:

(1) Stura, E. Seeding (1999) in Protein Crystallization: Techniques, Strategies, and Tips, Ed. T. Bergfors, International University Line, La Jolla, California, p. 141-153.

(2) Bergfors, T. (2003) Seeds to Crystals. J. Struc. Biol. In press.