A Novel Model of Protein Crystal Growth: Kinetic Limits, Length Scales and the Role of the Double Layer

A kinetic model has been designed that tries to capture some most important physico-chemical properties of crystallization from water-based electrolyte. The crystal growing process is thought to proceed in a conserved system, in which the charged-mass conservation law is obeyed. Although the model phenomenon under study proceeds in a mass-convection regime, it is readily interface-controlled. The interfacial control is identified with the role played by the double-layer, presumably of the Stern type, surrounding the object under growth. The product of supersaturation and individual biomolecule velocity in the double-layer appears to be both the controlling kinetic factor and the asymptotic (kinetic) limit being achieved by the process, i.e. the crystal growth rate approaches the value of the mentioned product. The first successful test of the model was carried out on data representing the lyzosyme crystal growth.