TABLE OF CONTENTS Crystallization is recognized among structural biologists as a necessary process before three-dimensional structure can be solved at an atomic level. Crystallization has a dose of mysticism among protein chemist. Some treats it as an "art" and others as "black magic". These concepts aroused from a limited knowledge in the physical chemistry of proteins in solution. Crystallization appears only in a metastable state. To define crystallization conditions the experiments are guided either by a chance search or by dedicated factorial design. Here we will briefly describe a factorial design method to rationally approach the metastable state. In summary, there is nothing mysterious in crystallization of biological macromolecules, and the success can often be achieved within a limited number of experiments.
Keywords: crystallization, membrane proteins, virus, structural biology
Crystallization is known since decades as a method of purification, or separation of substances that are solubilized in a liquid [31], [73]. Crystallization itself is a complex physicochemical process of forming solid phase of the dissolved components in test tube or inside living organisms under normal or pathological condition [1], [53]. The phenomenon of crystallization follows, virtually, the same law [61] everywhere on Earth or in...
