Kinetics of ferritin crystal formation and melting in acoustically levitated droplets
Abstract
Understanding protein crystallization pathways is essential for controlling crystallization in structural biology, materials science, and pharmaceutical applications. Classical nucleation theory does not fully capture crystallization processes for several proteins, including ferritin. Here, we combine acoustic levitation with small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) to monitor ferritin crystallization in evaporating aqueous polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions. Acoustic levitation rapidly drives the droplets through a broad range of protein and polymer concentrations, enabling time-resolved measurements of crystallization during evaporation. The scattering data show that ferritin crystals form during evaporation and subsequently lose their crystalline order upon further dehydration. Varying the PEG molecular weight switches between distinct crystallization pathways: one dominated by attractive protein-protein interactions and another dominated by repulsive interactions and excluded-volume effects. Furthermore, we find that lower molecular weight PEG (1000 g/mol) suppresses the dehydration-induced loss of crystalline order observed for higher molecular weight PEG (6000 g/mol), providing a simple strategy for improving protein crystal stability.
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BibTeX
@misc{girelli2026kinetics,
title = {{Kinetics of ferritin crystal formation and melting in acoustically levitated droplets}},
author = {Anita Girelli and Iason Andronis and Aigerim Karina and Sampad Bag and Lennart Bergström and Tomás Plivelic and Felix Roosen-Runge and Fivos Perakis},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11226},
eprint = {2609.11226},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11226},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Kinetics of ferritin crystal formation and melting in acoustically levitated droplets
AU - Anita Girelli
AU - Iason Andronis
AU - Aigerim Karina
AU - Sampad Bag
AU - Lennart Bergström
AU - Tomás Plivelic
AU - Felix Roosen-Runge
AU - Fivos Perakis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11226
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11226
AB - Understanding protein crystallization pathways is essential for controlling crystallization in structural biology, materials science, and pharmaceutical applications. Classical nucleation theory does not fully capture crystallization processes for several proteins, including ferritin. Here, we combine acoustic levitation with small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) to monitor ferritin crystallization in evaporating aqueous polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions. Acoustic levitation rapidly drives the droplets through a broad range of protein and polymer concentrations, enabling time-resolved measurements of crystallization during evaporation. The scattering data show that ferritin crystals form during evaporation and subsequently lose their crystalline order upon further dehydration. Varying the PEG molecular weight switches between distinct crystallization pathways: one dominated by attractive protein-protein interactions and another dominated by repulsive interactions and excluded-volume effects. Furthermore, we find that lower molecular weight PEG (1000 g/mol) suppresses the dehydration-induced loss of crystalline order observed for higher molecular weight PEG (6000 g/mol), providing a simple strategy for improving protein crystal stability.
ER -