Advances in high-throughput, automated techniques and instrumentation for protein crystallization screening

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1123.2016.08009

Abstract

Abstract:

In current structural biological researches, obtaining high quality protein crystals suitable for X-ray crystallography largely relies on high-throughput screening of hundreds to thousands of protein crystallization conditions. Recently, the rapid developments of automated liquid handling techniques and instrumentation provide effective and reliable solutions for protein crystallization and screening with high-throughput and low consumption. This article reviews the development of automated liquid handling techniques in protein crystallization area, including pipetting, syringe pump metering, synchronized nanoliter quantitative aspirate-dispense, inkjet-printing, acoustic dispensing and microfluidics. Their advantages and disadvantages for protein crystallization are discussed. In addition, we also introduce several fully-integrated crystallization workstations, which mostly based on pipetting and syringe pump techniques. These workstations integrate multiple functions including bar coding, plate handling, plate storage, environmental control and software management.

Key words: automated liquid handling, high-throughput screening, instrumentation, protein crystallization, review

CLC Number:

O658

LIANG Yiran, ZHU Ying, FANG Qun. Advances in high-throughput, automated techniques and instrumentation for protein crystallization screening[J]. Chinese Journal of Chromatography, 2016, 34(12): 1137-1144.

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