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Why biomolecules prefer only a few crystal structures.

Yu E Kitaev1, A G Panfilov, V P Smirnov

  • 1Laboratoire d'Optique Physique, Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France.

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|March 15, 2003
PubMed
Summary
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Biomolecular crystals preferentially occupy low-symmetry positions, unlike inorganic crystals. Replacing rotation axes with screw axes significantly increases the probability of biomolecular crystal formation.

Area of Science:

  • Crystallography
  • Structural Biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Biomolecular crystals often exhibit low site symmetry, with molecules occupying Wyckoff positions of low symmetry.
  • This contrasts with inorganic crystals where atoms typically occupy high-symmetry Wyckoff positions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between isolated molecule symmetry and the possible symmetries of biomolecular crystals.
  • To explain the observed distribution of biomolecular crystals across space groups.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of symmetry operations in chirally pure biomolecular crystals.
  • Modeling the space available for molecule centers based on molecular size and Wyckoff site symmetry.
  • Investigating the impact of replacing rotation axes with screw axes on crystal packing.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Improper symmetry operations (inversion, mirror) are prohibited in chirally pure biomolecular crystals.
  • Low molecular symmetry (C1) restricts the space molecules can occupy in a crystal, particularly near high-symmetry Wyckoff positions.
  • Replacing rotation axes with screw axes significantly increases the available space and thus the probability of crystal formation.

Conclusions:

  • The low symmetry of biomolecules dictates their packing in crystals, favoring low-symmetry Wyckoff sites.
  • The model explains the non-uniform distribution of biomolecular crystals across space groups.
  • Screw symmetry plays a crucial role in enabling the existence of complex biomolecular crystals.