Explanation for the supersaturation dependence of the morphology of lysozyme crystals

• Published in: Journal of crystal growth Vol. 207; no. 1; pp. 112 - 121
• Main Authors: Grimbergen, R.F.P, Boek, E.S, Meekes, H, Bennema, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 1999; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Connected nets; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystal growth; Enzyme kinetics; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; In solution. Condensed state. Thin layers; Kinetics; Lysozyme; Materials science; Methods of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth; Molecular biophysics; Morphology; Physico-chemical properties of biomolecules; Physics; Supersaturation; Surface structure; Theory and models of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth, crystal morphology and orientation; Crystal growth; 68.35.Bs; Connected nets; 68.35.Md; 61.50.Cj; Morphology; Supersaturation; Kinetics; Lysozyme; Surface structure; Enzyme; Theoretical study; Crystal face; Biological macromolecule; Protein; Supersaturated solution; Glycosidases; Growth mechanism; Hydrolases; Crystal growth from solutions; Models; Crystal morphology; O-Glycosidases
• ISSN: 0022-0248; 1873-5002
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-0248(99)00352-8

In this paper the growth morphology of crystals of the protein lysozyme and its experimentally observed dependence on the supersaturation is explained by the presence of multiple connected nets or surface configurations. The F-forms found by a connected net analysis are
{1
1
0}
,
{1
0
1}
and
{1
1
1}
. From the connected nets, besides the attachment energies, also the step energies are estimated. The results of the morphological analysis are compared with recently published Monte Carlo simulation data on lysozyme and related crystal structures. The results show that the presence of multiple connected nets has major implications for the growth morphology and explains the different growth rates as a function of supersaturation of the crystal faces.