This structural and biophysical study exploited a method of perdeuterating hen egg-white lysozyme based on the expression insoluble protein in Escherichia coli followed by in-column chemical refolding. allowed detailed comparisons with perdeuterated produced yeast Pichia pastoris , as well unlabelled lysozyme. Both variants exhibit reduced thermal stability enzymatic activity comparison hydroge...

Crystallographic studies of structures and mechanisms dioxygen-employing enzymes or oxygen-sensitive proteins usually require these molecules to be prepared crystallized under anoxic conditions in gloveboxes. Handling, cryo-cooling extraction crystals from gloveboxes for X-ray data collection can a tricky operation, during which samples might ruined if they are accidentally exposed atmospheric ...

A method based on cold ethyl alcohol fractionation at different pH levels and ionic strengths and on gel filtration on a Sephadex G-200 column was used to concentrate and purify lysozyme from the culture supernatant fluid of Staphylococcus aureus strain 524. The final, nondialyzable product exhibited a 163-fold rise in specific activity over that of the starting material. Staphylococcal lysozym...

The dynamics of water and chloride counter ions (Cl) in single unit cells of orthorhombic and tetragonal hen egg white lysozyme lattices are investigated by 5 ns molecular dynamics simulations. The electrostatic interaction inside the crystal channel significantly influences the diffusion of chloride ions. The corresponding diffusion constants of Cl calculated by averaging over all ions during ...

Crystal morphology is determined by the relative growth rates of the different faces involved. Opposite faces (hkl) and (h̄k̄l̄) can show different rates if the crystal structure does not have inversion symmetry. Protein crystals, being built of asymmetric molecules do not have identical opposite faces, except for those pairs linked by rotational symmetry. Here, we present an in-situ microscopy st...

N-acetyltryptophan (AT) and caprylic acid (Cap) are known to suppress the heat-induced aggregation of serum albumins. In this study, we examined the commonality of AT and Cap on the protein aggregation using hen egg-white lysozyme, ovalbumin, and bovine γ-globulin (BGG), as well as bovine and human serum albumin. AT and Cap as additives increased the unfolding temperatures of human and bovine a...

In the phase diagram of the protein hen egg-white lysozyme, a region is present in which the lysozyme solution demixes and forms two liquid phases. In situ observations by optical microscopy show that the dense liquid droplets dissolve when crystals grow in this system. During this process the demixed liquid region retracts from the crystal surface. The spatial distribution of the dense phase d...

Social insects rely heavily on pheromone communication to maintain their sociality. Egg protection is one of the most fundamental social behaviours in social insects. The recent discovery of the termite-egg mimicking fungus 'termite-ball' and subsequent studies on termite egg protection behaviour have shown that termites can be manipulated by using the termite egg recognition pheromone (TERP), ...