• Question: what is next experiment your working on

    Asked by sophiex to MariaMagdalena on 15 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Maria Magdalena Razalan

      Maria Magdalena Razalan answered on 15 Nov 2015:

      Hello again sophiex!

      After producing my proteins in bacteria (have a look at what I replied to your other question), I would like to crystallize these proteins in order to have a look at their structure.

      -how do i do this: I have to produce a loooooooooot of protein. Then I have to clean it up as much as possible (because protein samples made from living organisms may contain not only the protein, but also other things produced at the same time by the bacteria). At this point I can mix my clean protein with different chemicals that will help it form solid structures, very similar to that of salt crystals. These can be observed at the microscope and an overall structure of the crystal can be drawn using X-rays, depending on how the rays hitting the crystals are deviated. Fascinating, isn’t it?

      You can find an amazing picture of protein crystals in this Nature paper: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090506/pdf/459024a.pdf

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