A generic cross-seeding approach to protein crystallization.
Caspy, I., Tang, S., Bellini, D., Gorrec, F.(2025) J Appl Crystallogr 58: 383-391
- PubMed: 40170961 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576725000457
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
9FCR - PubMed Abstract: 
Obtaining diffraction-quality crystals is often the rate-limiting step during structure determination of biological macromolecules by X-ray crystallography. To address this problem, we investigated a cross-seeding approach with a mixture integrating a heterogeneous set of protein crystal fragments to be used as generic seeds. The fragments are nanometre-sized templates chosen to promote crystal nucleation of protein samples unrelated to the proteins forming the seeds. An atypical crystal form of the human serine hydrolase retinoblastoma binding protein 9 was obtained by adding the mixture to the protein sample before performing standard crystallization assays. The structure was solved by X-ray crystallography at 1.4 Å resolution. Follow-up experiments showed that crystal fragments of α-amylase were critical components in this particular result. The limitations and future applications of our experimental developments are discussed.
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CambridgeCB2 0QH, United Kingdom.
Organizational Affiliation: 
















