The crystallization of biological macromolecules from precipitates: evidence for Ostwald ripening

Crystals were obtained by different methods under conditions where nucleation and growth occur from precipitated macromolecular material. The phenomenon was observed with compounds of different size and nature, such as thaumatin, concanavalin A, an α-amylase, a thermostable aspartyl-tRNA synthetase, the nucleo-protein complex between a tRNAAsp transcript and its cognate yeast aspartyl-tRNA synthetase, and tomato bushy stunt virus. In each...