Perhaps the bubbles are related to the bubbles which form when mixing
alcohols with water, e.g., when making coomassie destain? And what are those
bubbles, by the way?
Jacob
*******************************************
Jacob Pearson Keller
Northwestern University
Medical Scientist Training Program
Dallos Laboratory
F. Searle 1-240
2240 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208
lab: 847.491.2438
cel: 773.608.9185
email: j-kell...@northwestern.edu
*******************************************
----- Original Message -----
From: <ar...@xtals.org>
To: <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Bubbles on crystals
Hi,
If you're worried - instead of transfering the crystal, just flood the
entire drop with excess of your cryo buffer. No exposure to air this way.
I bet that the bubbles won't go away though :)
Artem
Dear members,
I have protein crystals grown in a condition with Isopropanol (13%) and
citric acid (0.2 M). When I transfer the crystals to cryo-buffer (30%
glycerol or 25% ethyleneglycol with 0.25 M citric acid and 13%-15%
Isopropanol), small bubbles appear on the surface of the crystals. These
tiny bubbles sometimes disappear in few seconds and sometimes not.
Crystals
are exposed to air only for 2-3 seconds in the process of transfer. I am
worried if the formation of these bubbles is due to evaporation of
isopropanol form the crystal and if it affects the crystal lattice. These
crystals diffract X-rays upto 4 angstroms. Any ideas how to avoid this
problem?
Thank you
Kumar
