Abstract
Experiments on protein crystallization on the Russian segment of the International Space Station were started in 2005. These experiments were performed in the Modul’-1 protein crystallization apparatus specially designed for crystal growth by the free-interface-diffusion method. This paper describes experiments on the crystallization of lysozyme, carboxypeptidase B, and recombinant human insulin on Earth and in microgravity using the Modul’-1 protein crystallization apparatus during the ISS-11-ISS-14 space flights. Crystals of all proteins grown in microgravity have larger sizes than those grown on Earth. Space-grown crystals of lysozyme and insulin characterized by X-ray diffraction were shown to diffract to higher resolution than the Earth-grown crystals. The three-dimensional structures of Zn-insulin crystals grown both on Earth and in microgravity were established. The conformation of the Zn-insulin hexamer in the crystalline state is described.
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Dedicated to the memory of G.B. Bokiĭ on the occasion of his 100th birthday
Original Russian Text © E.A. Smirnova, Yu.A. Kislitsyn, N.I. Sosfenov, A.V. Lyashenko, A.N. Popov, A.N. Baĭdus’, V.I. Timofeev, I.P. Kuranova, 2009, published in Kristallografiya, 2009, Vol. 54, No. 5, pp. 948–958.
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Smirnova, E.A., Kislitsyn, Y.A., Sosfenov, N.I. et al. Protein crystal growth on the Russian segment of the International Space Station. Crystallogr. Rep. 54, 901–911 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1134/S106377450905023X
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S106377450905023X