Crystallophore: a versatile lanthanide complex for protein crystallography combining nucleating effects, phasing properties, and luminescence. Issue 9 (21st June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Engilberge, Sylvain; Riobé, François; Di Pietro, Sebastiano; Lassalle, Louise; Coquelle, Nicolas; Arnaud, Charles-Adrien; Pitrat, Delphine; Mulatier, Jean-Christophe; Madern, Dominique; Breyton, Cécile; Maury, Olivier; Girard, Eric
• Is Part Of: Chemical science. Volume 8:Issue 9(2017)
• Page Start: 5909
• Page End: 5917
• Publication Date: 2017-06-21
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540.5
• DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00758b
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-6520

Abstract

Abstract : Introducing an unprecedented nucleating and phasing agent for protein crystallography that presents convenient luminescence properties. Abstract : Macromolecular crystallography suffers from two major issues: getting well-diffracting crystals and solving the phase problem inherent to large macromolecules. Here, we describe the first example of a lanthanide complex family named "crystallophore" (Xo4), which contributes to tackling both bottlenecks. This terbium complex, Tb–Xo4, is an appealing agent for biocrystallography, combining the exceptional phasing power of the Tb(iii ) heavy atom with powerful nucleating properties, providing ready-to-use crystals for structure determination. Furthermore, protein/Tb–Xo4 co-crystals can be easily detected and discriminated from other crystalline by-products using luminescence. We demonstrate the potential of this additive for the crystallisation and structure determination of eight proteins, two of whose structures were unknown.