Metastability and supersaturation limit for lysozyme crystallization

Abstract

We investigate the ionic strength and temperature dependence of metastability with respect to crystallization in lysozyme solution. The supersaturation limit c* shows a simple scaling relation with salt concentration and, together with the equilibrium solubility c_sat, approximately factorizes into two terms, respectively accounting for electrostatic and temperature effects. The supersaturation ratio S = c*/c_sat monotonically increases with the addition of salt. While the dependence of solution properties on the ionic strength is consistent with a recent model by Sear and Warren, temperature effects highlight the importance of hydrophobic contributions.