Polyvinyl alcohol-induced regulation of lysozyme crystal morphology: From hexagonal to petal-like structures

Protein crystallization is essential in structural biology and drug development, with crystal morphology directly impacting diffraction quality and analytical accuracy. However, effective strategies for precisely controlling protein crystal morphology remain limited. Herein, we successfully regulated lysozyme crystal morphology using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as selective additive, exploiting the side-chain hydroxyl functional groups. Significant morphological transitions were induced in lysozyme crystals by adjusting the mass fraction of PVA, shifting from conventional hexagonal shapes to plate-like and petal-like forms. This transformation is attributed to the polyhydroxy structure of PVA, which facilitates targeted interactions with lysozyme, driving protein molecular clusters into a low aggregation state (2-37 nm), thereby influencing molecular arrangement and adsorption onto crystal surface. These interactions also induce conformational changes in lysozyme, reducing α-helix content by 56.89 % and increasing β-sheet formation by 42.78 %, without compromising diffraction quality (1.93 Å resolution). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation revealed that PVA induces these transformations by modifying lysozyme's conformational stability and intermolecular binding patterns, increasing steric hindrance and enhancing anisotropic growth. Furthermore, PVA also performed well in controlling proteinase K crystal morphology, resulting in high diffraction quality (1.72 Å resolution) and providing a valuable approach for obtaining high-quality crystals of diverse proteins by refining crystal morphology.