Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxygenation_Event
This might suggest you may have used up the available oxygen. If you would like to try growing your crystals in an oxygen-free environment, we (in Leicester) have a glove box with a Douglas Instruments Oryx 4 robot. I know its not exactly handy for Glasgow, but ...... On 1 August 2012 13:53, RHYS GRINTER <r.grinte...@research.gla.ac.uk> wrote: > Hi All, > > I'm currently working of a protein with a ferredoxin protein with > anIron-Sulphur cluster. I was harvesting some crystals the other day and a > piece of my scalpel blade broke off and ended up in the well solution. I > Sealed the well without noticing, the shard of iron oxidised and the > crystals lost most of their red colour: > > Ordinary crystals: > > http://s1058.photobucket.com/albums/t401/__Rhys__/?action=view¤t=MBPR_Rodcluster2edit.png > > Crystals from Blade containing well: > > http://s1058.photobucket.com/albums/t401/__Rhys__/?action=view¤t=MBPR_Bleached.png > > My explanation for this (If someone has a different one that'd be great > too) > > Is that the oxidation of the metallic iron the well, created reducing > conditions in the chamber and reduced the iron-sulphur cluster (reduced > ferredoxin is much less strongly coloured). > Which got me to thinking...Could this be applied as a technique to create > reducing conditions in protein crystallography, as the use of reducing > agents isn't always practical. > > Cheers, > > Rhys Grinter > PhD Candidate > University of Glasgow
