Anisotropic diffusion of point defects in a two-dimensional crystal of streptavidin observed by high-speed atomic force microscopy

The diffusion of individual point defects in a two-dimensional streptavidin crystal formed on biotin-containing supported lipid bilayers was observed by high-speed atomic force microscopy. The two-dimensional diffusion of monovacancy defects exhibited anisotropy correlated with the two crystallographic axes in the orthorhombic C222 crystal; in the 2D plane, one axis ( the a-axis) is comprised of contiguous biotin-bound subunit pairs whereas the other axis ( the b-axis) is comprised of contiguous biotin-unbound subunit pairs. The diffusivity along the b-axis is approximately 2.4 times larger than that along the a-axis. This anisotropy is ascribed to the difference in the association free energy between the biotin-bound subunit-subunit interaction and the biotin-unbound subunit-subunit interaction. The preferred intermolecular contact occurs between the biotin-unbound subunits. The difference in the intermolecular binding energy between the two types of subunit pair is estimated to be approximately 0.52 kcal mol(-1). Another observed dynamic behavior of point defects was fusion of two point defects into a larger defect, which occurred much more frequently than the fission of a point defect into smaller defects. The diffusivity of point defects increased with increasing defect size. The fusion and the higher diffusivity of larger defects are suggested to be involved in the mechanism for the formation of defect-free crystals.