高通量、自动化蛋白质结晶筛选技术以及相关仪器的研究进展

基于X射线晶体学的蛋白质结构解析主要依赖于大规模结晶条件筛选获得的高衍射分辨率的蛋白质晶体。近年来，自动化、高通量的液体操控技术和相关仪器的快速发展为蛋白质结晶筛选提供了高效、可靠的研究手段，显著推动了蛋白质结构生物学的研究。文章综述了蛋白质结晶筛选的自动化液体处理技术的发展，包括移液器、注射泵、同步纳升定量吸取注射、喷墨打印、超声喷射以及微流控等技术。文章详细介绍了各技术所对应的典型商品化仪器及其在蛋白质结晶筛选中的应用。此外，文章还介绍了集成多孔板的储存和操控、编码扫描、环境控制和软件管理等诸多功能的一体化液体操纵平台。

Advances in high-throughput,automated techniques and instrumentation for protein crystallization screening

In current structural biological researches, obtaining high quality protein crystals suitable for X-ray crystallography largely relies on high-throughput screening of hundreds to thousands of protein crystallization conditions. Recently, the rapid developments of automated liquid handling techniques and instrumentation provide effective and reliable solutions for protein crystallization and screening with high-throughput and low consumption. This article reviews the development of automated liquid handling techniques in protein crystallization area, including pipetting, syringe pump metering, synchronized nanoliter quantitative aspirate-dispense, inkjet-printing, acoustic dispensing and microfluidics. Their advantages and disadvantages for protein crystallization are discussed. In addition, we also introduce several fully-integrated crystallization workstations, which mostly based on pipetting and syringe pump techniques. These workstations integrate multiple functions including bar coding, plate handling, plate storage, environmental control and software management.