Ion and molecular recognition effects on the crystallisation of bovine serum albumin–salt mixtures

Abstract The effects of various bio-medically important salts Na, K, Li, Mg, Ca, Ni, Co, Cr, Fe and Cl on the dendritic or simple crystallisation of aqueous solutions of Bovine Serum Albumin have been investigated by contact or non-contact mode Atomic Force Microscopy. Four classes of structure are observed depending on the nature of the cation; a) unstructured protein–salt aggregates, b) large scale protein–salt meso-composites, c) mixed salt–protein gels, and d) microscopically phase separated systems.