Recent advances in methodology for the crystallization of biological macromolecules

The detailed understanding of the structure of biological macromolecules reveals their function and is thus important in the design of new medicines and for engineering molecules with improved properties for industrial applications. X-ray diffraction is the most reliable method to determine the structure of such large molecules, but it can only be applied provided suitable crystals are obtained. The major bottleneck to structure determination is the ability to produce diffraction-quality crystals. This paper presents an approach which employs the use of oil as a major element in crystallization, and highlights recent oil-based technologies for producing crystals of biological macromolecules as well as techniques for controlling the nucleation and growth rates of the crystallization process. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.