Figure 1
From: Mechanisms of membrane protein crystallization in ‘bicelles’
Sequence of the experimental steps. (A) Schematic representation of the experimental stages of crystallization of bacteriorhodopsin in bicelles within capillaries. Step 1—preparation of the crystallization system on ice (mixture of bicelles and purple membranes); step 2—loading of the bicellar/purple membrane mixture into a capillary; step 3—addition of a precipitant and monitoring of subsequent changes of the crystallization matrix; step 4—monitoring of the formation of the BR crystals. During steps 2–4, monitoring of the structure of the crystallization system and the growth of the crystals were performed using real-time SAXS. (B)—Photographs of the crystallization system in different steps of the experiments (aligned vertically with A) corresponding to steps 1 (day 0), 2 (day 4), 3 (day 8 & 17); the crystallization system presents a transparent/semi-transparent homogeneous phase. In step 4 (day 24, 25 & 65), small crystals appeared, and then they grew to a maximum size.
