Why Screen Temperatures?

The TG40 System enables rapid screening for the optimum crystallization temperature. While it is common to screen crystallization conditions at 20ºC and at 4ºC, these are not always the optimal temperatures for a particular protein to crystallize. And many protein crystallizations are performed at other temperatures for this reason.

Shown below are the effects of temperature screening on protein crystallization between 4ºC and 20ºC  in 4ºC temperature steps. The largest crystals were obtained at 16ºC in this case. (Click on the image to zoom.)


This work was done by Andrew Bent, a protein crystallization scientist scientist at a major pharmaceutical company.

There is an interesting discussion on usiing temperature as a variable in protein crystallization on the Emerald BioSystems website: Temperature scouting to increase protein crystallization success

There are many reported examples of protein crystallizations done at temperatures other than the common 4ºC or 20-22ºC . A summary of the Biological Macromolecule Crystallization Database is shown in the chart below, which graphs the number of proteins crystallized and the reported temperatures (as of September 2009). Approximately 30% of the crystallizations were obtained at other temperatures.