Crossref journal-article
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Science (221)
Abstract

Numerical simulations of homogeneous crystal nucleation with a model for globular proteins with short-range attractive interactions showed that the presence of a metastable fluid-fluid critical point drastically changes the pathway for the formation of a crystal nucleus. Close to this critical point, the free-energy barrier for crystal nucleation is strongly reduced and hence, the crystal nucleation rate increases by many orders of magnitude. Because the location of the metastable critical point can be controlled by changing the composition of the solvent, the present work suggests a systematic approach to promote protein crystallization.

Bibliography

Wolde, P. R. ten, & Frenkel, D. (1997). Enhancement of Protein Crystal Nucleation by Critical Density Fluctuations. Science, 277(5334), 1975–1978.

Authors 2
  1. Pieter Rein ten Wolde (first)
  2. Daan Frenkel (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 23 years, 1 month ago (July 27, 2002, 5:44 a.m.)
Deposited 1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 12, 2024, 10:51 p.m.)
Indexed 19 hours, 26 minutes ago (Aug. 30, 2025, 1:05 p.m.)
Issued 27 years, 11 months ago (Sept. 26, 1997)
Published 27 years, 11 months ago (Sept. 26, 1997)
Published Print 27 years, 11 months ago (Sept. 26, 1997)
Funders 0

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@article{Wolde_1997, title={Enhancement of Protein Crystal Nucleation by Critical Density Fluctuations}, volume={277}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5334.1975}, DOI={10.1126/science.277.5334.1975}, number={5334}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Wolde, Pieter Rein ten and Frenkel, Daan}, year={1997}, month=sep, pages={1975–1978} }