Brittleness of protein crystals

Nanev, Christo N.

doi:10.1002/crat.201200200

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The plastic characteristics for glucose isomerase (GI), ferritin, trypsin, and insulin crystals besides HEWL ones have been also investigated by indentation method [33] and pushing method with a glass filament [34,35]. The unique plastic behavior such as creep was observed for GI crystals [33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microindentation Hardness of Protein Crystals under Controlled Relative Humidity

et al. 2017

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Vickers microindentation hardness of protein crystals was investigated on the (110) habit plane of tetragonal hen egg-white lysozyme crystals containing intracrystalline water at controlled relative humidity. The time evolution of the hardness of the crystals exposed to air with different humidities exhibits three stages such as the incubation, transition, and saturation stages. The hardness in the incubation stage keeps a constant value of 16 MPa, which is independent of the humidity. The incubation hardness can correspond to the intrinsic one in the wet condition. The increase of the hardness in the transition and saturation stages is well fitted with the single exponential curve, and is correlated with the reduction of water content in the crystal by the evaporation. The saturated maximum hardness also strongly depends on the water content equilibrated with the humidity. The slip traces corresponding to the 110 [110] slip system around the indentation marks are observed in not only incubation but also saturation stages. It is suggested that the plastic deformation in protein crystals by the indentation can be attributed to dislocation multiplication and motion inducing the slip. The indentation hardness in protein crystals is discussed in light of dislocation mechanism with Peierls stress and intracrystalline water.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microindentation Hardness of Protein Crystals under Controlled Relative Humidity

et al. 2017

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“…As a result, the crystals exhibited significant solvent content of 65% [4]. Nanev reported that intra-crystalline water works as a "lattice glue" and helps to hold the crystal structure together [59]. This effect is based on the dynamic hydrogen bond chains that form between some intra-crystalline water molecules, which are likely to become elongated to connect the amino-acid residues of adjacent protein molecules in the crystal lattice [59].…”

Section: Anisotropic Behavior Of Native Hheg Crystalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nanev reported that intra-crystalline water works as a "lattice glue" and helps to hold the crystal structure together [59]. This effect is based on the dynamic hydrogen bond chains that form between some intra-crystalline water molecules, which are likely to become elongated to connect the amino-acid residues of adjacent protein molecules in the crystal lattice [59]. This effect is expected to be observed within very small channels and gaps where the molecules are at an appropriate distance to each other to be connected.…”

Section: Anisotropic Behavior Of Native Hheg Crystalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Depth-Dependent Mechanical Behavior of Anisotropic Native and Cross-Linked HheG Enzyme Crystals

et al. 2021

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Enzymes are able to catalyze various specific reactions under mild conditions and can, therefore, be applied in industrial processes. To ensure process profitability, the enzymes must be reusable while ensuring their enzymatic activity. To improve the processability and immobilization of the biocatalyst, the enzymes can be, e.g., crystallized, and the resulting crystals can be cross-linked. These mechanically stable and catalytically active particles are called CLECs (cross-linked enzyme crystals). In this study, the influence of cross-linking on the mechanical and catalytic properties of the halohydrin dehalogenase (HheG) crystals was investigated using the nanoindentation technique. Considering the viscoelastic behavior of protein crystals, a mechanical investigation was performed at different indentation rates. In addition to the hardness, for the first time, depth-dependent fractions of elastic and plastic deformation energies were determined for enzyme crystals. The results showed that the hardness of HheG enzyme crystals are indentation-rate-insensitive and decrease with increases in penetration depth. Our investigation of the fraction of plastic deformation energy indicated anisotropic crystal behavior and higher irreversible deformation for prismatic crystal faces. Due to cross-linking, the fraction of elastic energy of anisotropic crystal faces increased from 8% for basal faces to 68% for prismatic crystal faces. This study demonstrates that mechanically enhanced CLECs have good catalytic activity and are, therefore, suitable for industrial use.

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“…It has been known for a long time that the disordered solvent phase fills the void between molecules in the protein crystal lattice [16]. The role of water included in protein crystals acting like an 'additional glue' to hold protein molecules together has been considered elsewhere [17] and is not within the scope of this paper.…”

Section: Thermodynamic Basis Of Ebde and Definition Of Protein-to-watmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Insights into Protein Crystal Nucleation

Nanev

2018

Crystals

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Homogeneous nucleation of protein crystals in solution is tackled from both thermodynamic and energetic perspectives. The entropic contribution to the destructive action of water molecules which tend to tear up the crystals and to their bond energy is considered. It is argued that, in contrast to the crystals' bond energy, the magnitude of destructive energy depends on the imposed supersaturation. The rationale behind the consideration presented is that the critical nucleus size is determined by the balance between destructive and bond energies. By summing up all intra-crystal bonds, the breaking of which is needed to disintegrate a crystal into its constituting molecules, and using a crystallographic computer program, the bond energy of the closest-packed crystals is calculated (hexagonal closest-packed crystals are given as an example). This approach is compared to the classical mean work of separation (MWS) method of Stranski and Kaischew. While the latter is applied merely for the so-called Kossel-crystal and vapor grown crystals, the approach presented can be used to establish the supersaturation dependence of the protein crystal nucleus size of arbitrary lattice structures.Keywords: protein crystal nucleation; thermodynamic and energetic approach; protein 'affinity' to water; solubility; balance between crystal bond energy and destructive surface energies; supersaturation dependence of the crystal nucleus size

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Brittleness of protein crystals

Cited by 12 publications

References 19 publications

Microindentation Hardness of Protein Crystals under Controlled Relative Humidity

Microindentation Hardness of Protein Crystals under Controlled Relative Humidity

The Depth-Dependent Mechanical Behavior of Anisotropic Native and Cross-Linked HheG Enzyme Crystals

Recent Insights into Protein Crystal Nucleation

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