Patent ID: 7363171

Claim:
A method for improving the chance of success of crystallizing a protein of interest or improving the quality of a crystallized protein of interest wherein said crystallized protein is to be used for crystallographic structural determination, said method comprising: a) comparing a first hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (DXMS) analysis of said protein of interest to a second DXMS analysis of said protein in order to identify agents and/or conditions which reduce the content of unstructured regions of said protein, wherein: (i) said first DXMS analysis identifies unstructured regions of said protein, and (ii) said second DXMS analysis is carried out in the presence of an agent and/or condition which potentially reduces the content of unstructured regions; and b) subjecting said protein to crystallization and structure determination in the presence of the identified agents and/or conditions which reduce the content of the unstructured regions thereof, thereby improving the quality of the protein crystal or improving the chance of success of crystallizing said protein.