Issue 29, 2020, Issue in Progress

A comparative study of the drying evolution and dried morphology of two globular proteins in de-ionized water solutions

Abstract

Pattern formation in drying protein droplets continues to attract considerable research attention because it can be linked to specific protein–protein interactions. An extensive study of the drying evolution and the final crack patterns is presented, highlighting the concentration dependence (from 1 to 13 wt%) of two globular proteins, lysozyme (Lys) and bovine serum albumin (BSA), in de-ionized water. The drying evolution starts with a constant contact radius mode and shifts to a mixed mode where both fluid front and contact angle changes. The contact angle monotonically decreases, whereas, the fluid front exhibits two regimes: an initial linear regime and a later non-linear regime. Unlike the linear regime, the non-linear regime is faster for Lys droplets. This results in the formation of a “mound”-like structure in the central region. A new feature, a “dimple” is observed in this mound which is found to be dependent on the initial concentration. The different crack morphology of BSA and Lys depends strongly on the initial state of the solution and can be interpreted using a simple mechanical model. In fact, when dried under uniform conditions (surface, humidity, temperature, droplet diameter, etc.), the evolution and the final pattern displays as a fingerprint of the initial state.

Graphical abstract: A comparative study of the drying evolution and dried morphology of two globular proteins in de-ionized water solutions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Feb 2020
Accepted
15 Apr 2020
First published
30 Apr 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 16906-16916

A comparative study of the drying evolution and dried morphology of two globular proteins in de-ionized water solutions

A. Pal, A. Gope, A. S. Athair and G. S. Iannacchione, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 16906 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA01748E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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