The effects of microgravity on protein crystallization: evidence for concentration gradients around growing crystals

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations have revealed that macromolecular crystals, during their growth, incorporate an extensive array of impurities. These vary from individual molecules to large particles, and microcrystals in the micron size range. AFM, along with X-ray topology, has further shown that the density of defects and faults in most macromolecular crystals is very high in comparison with conventional crystals. The high defect...