Process from monodispersion to regular aggregation in Duck Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase crystallization observed by atomic force microscopy

Up-to-date, considerably less is known about the early stage in protein crystallization. By using AFM a stepwise process from the solution state to the regular aggregation in the early stage of Duck Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (dSOD) crystallization has been observed. The process could be divided into four steps. At the beginning dSOD is in monodispersion as dimers. As supersaturation increases the irregular aggregation gives rise to linear...