Hi Tom-- We have had good luck crystallizing proteins with 5-10% glycerol. In the majority of these cases, the glycerol was included in the buffer for the final purification step. We have also seen several cases where 1,2-propanediol worked much better than glycerol.
Hope this helps! annie -----Original Message----- From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of Brett, Thomas Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 8:26 PM To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: [ccp4bb] off-topic replay: glycerol in protein stock solutions Hi guys: I know this has been asked before, but I want to get (current) opinions and observations once again. Every once in a while, you work with a protein that needs to have a little something added to the buffer to keep it soluble. The most common trick is addition of glycerol (usually 5-10%). I'm looking for general observations on this. I was of the opinion that this was usually a bad thing to do with protein stock that you intend to cyrstallize because glycerol will coat the protein in a non-homogeneous manner and make your homogeneous protein prep heterogeneous (in a way). Or do people usually have good luck crystallizing proteins that have to be stored in some glycerol? Or is there a better additive? Also, when having to use glycerol, do you put it on your sizing columns, etc? I am concerned with putting glycerol on my columns I may never be able to completely wash it away. What are your thoughts, community? thanks in advance, -tom
