STRUCTURAL STUDY ON HEN EGG-WHITE LYSOZYME CRYSTALS GROWN IN GRAVITY AND MICROGRAVITY

Microgravity in space offers an ideal environment for growing protein crystals, where there is an absence of density-driven convection and s edimentation. Using domestic apparatus of protein crystallization, two space experiments of protein crystal growth have been carried our on the Chinese re-entry satellite, and good-quality hen egg-white lysozym e crystals were obtained. To study the effect oi microgravity on the p rotein crystal structure, three structures of lysozyme crystals grown in gravity and microgravity were determined at high resolution.