Solution-mediated phase transition of protein crystals

Abstract

A snapshot of the evidence of solution-mediated phase transition of glucose isomerase (GI) crystals more than 7 months after the start of an experiment was successfully captured. The transition to [Formula: see text] crystals started about 2 months after the first I222 crystals nucleated. To conduct such long-term experiments, we developed novel observation cells with liquid paraffin layers to prevent aqueous GI solutions from evaporation of water. Changes in the weights of cells were measured, and much less evaporation was successfully achieved by continuously adding liquid paraffin as a liquid sealant.