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Research & Reviews: Journal of Material Sciences | ISSN: 2321-6212 | Volulme 6
November 07-08, 2018 | Atlanta, USA
Materials Science and Engineering
15th International Conference and Exhibition on
Applied Crystallography
3rd International Conference on
&
Protein crystallization by mutational surface engineering
Protein crystallization constitutes a major bottleneck in the high-resolution structural characterization of proteins and their
complexes. It is estimated that the probability of obtaining single crystals as a result of screening ranges from less than 1% to
25%, depending on the source and biophysical properties of the target protein or complex. A further complication arises if the
crystals lack diffraction quality, impeding high-resolution data collection. Nearly two decades ago we proposed a new approach
to protein crystallization based on rational surface engineering to generate surface patches with an enhanced propensity to form
crystal contacts. The method relies on the mutational replacement of surface residues with high conformational entropy, such as
Lys and Glu/Gln with Ala or other small amino acids. The design of variants with enhanced crystallization propensity is possible
using a dedicated server ). This methodology, known as Surface Entropy Reduction (SER),
has been successfully used in hundreds of studies, not only to obtain crystals of otherwise intractable proteins or complexes, but
also to generate new crystal forms with improved diffraction quality allowing to collect X-ray data to much higher resolution
than that recorded for the wild-type crystals. In addition, the database of protein crystal structures determined with the help of
SER provides interesting insights into the mechanistic aspects of protein crystallization.
Biography
Zygmunt Derewenda obtained PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Lodz in Poland. His Postdoctoral studies were conducted at the University of York, UK.
Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Virginia, where he is currently a Harrison Distinguished Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, he
was an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He has published more than 150 papers on a range of subjects in structural biology,
which were cited over 11,000 times (H-factor 58).
Zygmunt Derewenda
University of Virginia, USA
Zygmunt Derewenda, Res. Rev. J Mat. Sci. 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2321-6212-C8-034