The MORPHEUS protein crystallization screen

A 96-condition initial screen for protein crystallization, called MORPHEUS, has been developed at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England (MRC-LMB). The concept integrates several innovative approaches, such as chemically compatible mixes of potential ligands, new buffer systems and precipitant mixes that also act as cryoprotectants. Instead of gathering a set of crystallization conditions that have already been successful, a selection of molecules frequently observed in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to co-crystallize with proteins has been made. These have been put together in mixes of similar chemical behaviour and structure, and combined with buffers and precipitant mixes that were also derived from PDB searches, to build the screen de novo. Observations made at the MRC-LMB and many practical aspects were also taken into account when formulating the screen. The resulting screen is easy to use, comprehensive yet small, and has already yielded a list of crystallization hits using both known and novel samples. As an indicator of success, the screen has now become one of the standard screens used routinely at the MRC-LMB when searching initial crystallization conditions for biological macromolecules.