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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Crystallizing Membrane Proteins for Structure Determination using Lipidic Mesophases
Published on: November 21, 2010
Protein crystal structure determination with the crystallophore, a nucleating and phasing agent
Sylvain Engilberge1, Tristan Wagner2, Gianluca Santoni3
1Institut de Biologie Structurale, University Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, 71 avenue des Martyrs, CS 10090, 38044 Grenoble, France.
Abstract:
Obtaining crystals and solving the phase problem remain major hurdles encountered by bio-crystallographers in their race to obtain new high-quality structures. Both issues can be overcome by the crystallophore, Tb-Xo4, a lanthanide-based molecular complex with unique nucleating and phasing properties. This article presents examples of new crystallization conditions induced by the presence of Tb-Xo4. These new crystalline forms bypass crystal defects often encountered by crystallographers, such as low-resolution diffracting samples or crystals with twinning. Thanks to Tb-Xo4's high phasing power, the structure determination process is greatly facilitated and can be extended to serial crystallography approaches.
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