Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan engineered a fluorescent protein that rapidly assembles into large crystals inside living cells, and showed that cells actively targeted the crystals for degradation. The unprecedented size and purity of these crystals allowed an analysis of the protein’s structure directly within the intact cell. The researchers were able to observe the crystallization process and the cell’s responses in real-time, potentially transforming the production and study of protein crystals.

Press Release
Cells target giant protein crystals for degradation

Reference
Hidekazu Tsutsui, Yuka Jinno, Keiko Shoda, Akiko Tomita, Makoto Matsuda, Eiki Yamashita, Hiroyuki Katayama, Atsushi Nakagawa and Atsushi Miyawaki, "A diffraction-quality protein crystal processed as an autophagic cargo", Molecular Cell
doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2015.02.007