Figure 2

Crystal morphologies grown in the presence and absence of SDB microspheres.

(a) Lysozyme crystals grown (a₁) in the presence of SDB1; (b₁) in the presence of SDB2 and (c₁) in the absence of SDB microspheres after 2 months. Crystallisation conditions: lysozyme: 40 mg/ml, NaCl: 40 mg/ml, buffer: 0.2 M sodium acetate buffer, pH 4.6; temperature: 20°C. (b) Catalase, concanavalin A and thaumatin crystals grown (a₁-a₃) in the presence of SDB1; (b₁-b₃) in the presence of SDB2 and (c₁-c₃) in the absence of SDB microspheres after 4 days at 20°C. Crystallisation conditions: (a₁-c₁) Catalase: 20 mg/ml, 0.2 M trimethylamine N-oxide dehydrate, 0.1 M Tris, 20% w/v polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether 2,000, pH 8.5; (a₂-c₂) Concanavalin A: 20 mg/ml, 0.2 M L-proline, 0.1 M HEPES, 10% w/v polyethylene glycol 3350, pH 7.5; (a₃-c₃) Thaumatin: 20 mg/ml, 40% tacsimate, pH 7.0. The crystals were grown at Northwestern Polytechnical University.