issue contents

Journal logoSTRUCTURAL
BIOLOGY
ISSN: 2059-7983

August 2001 issue

Highlighted illustration

Cover illustration: The glycohydrolase inhibitor cellobiono-imidazole binding to cellobiohydrolase Cel6A. The image was created using the Molray interface between O and POV-Ray. (p. 1201).

topical reviews


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Atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to investigate macromolecular crystal growth in situ, and to deduce mechanistic, kinetic and phenomenological properties of the process.

research papers



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The structure of leech anti-platelet protein was solved by single isomorphous replacement and refined to 2.2 Å resolution. It resembles the N-domain of hepatocyte growth factor, but no detectable sequence homology exists. A 36-residue N-terminal region rich in glycine and acidic residues is not visible in the electron-density map.

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The structure of H. influenzae HslU has been solved to 2.3 Å resolution in crystals which have one-dimensional disorder twinning. A method for computationally correcting for the twinning is described.

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Owing to phase changes as a result of freezing, the c axis of T3R_3^{\rm f} hexameric insulin is doubled and the asymmetric unit contains two independent TRf dimers.

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The crystal structure of the δ-­endotoxin Cry3Bb1 has been refined using data collected to 2.4 Å resolution, with a residual R factor of 17.5% and an Rfree of 25.3%. The structure is made up of three domains: I, a seven-helix bundle (residues 64–294); II, a three-sheet domain (residues 295–502); and III, a β-sandwich domain (residues 503–652).


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Counter-diffusion was used to produce very high quality crystals of tetragonal lysozyme. Their analysis at atomic resolution (0.94 Å) leads to a detailed description of alternate conformations and of ion binding.

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COMO is a new program for structure determination by the combined molecular-replacement protocol.

crystallization papers


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Jararhagin, a metalloprotease/disintegrin-like protein from the venom of B. jararaca, was crystallized and a molecular-replacement solution was obtained using a homology-built model based on the crystal structure of a haemorrhagic zinc metalloproteinase. Refinement techniques are currently being employed in attempts to locate the disintegrin-like domain of the structure.

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The 6-phospho-3-hexulose isomerase, YckF, from B. subtilis, was expressed in E. coli, purified to homogeneity and crystallized. Crystals of YckF were shown to diffract beyond 1.7 Å and belong to either space group P6522 or P6122, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 72.4, c = 241.2 Å, and have two molecules in the asymmetric unit.

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The catalytic module of pectate lyase 10A, Pel10Acm, from P. cellulosa, was expressed in E. coli, purified to homogeneity and crystallized. Crystals of Pel10Acm were shown to diffract beyond 1.5 Å and belong to space group P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 47.7, b = 106.1, c = 55.4 Å, β = 92.0°, and have two molecules in the asymmetric unit.


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Orthorhombic crystals of dUTPase from S. cerevisiae have been obtained. Native data have been collected to 2.7 Å using synchrotron X-rays.

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A mutant form of T. thermophilus ribosomal protein L22 responsible for erythromycin resistance has been crystallized and X-ray diffraction data have been collected to 1.8 Å resolution.

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Crystals of the stimulatory and inhibitory complexes of GTP cyclohydrolase I and its feedback regulatory protein GFRP were obtained. It was shown that each complex consists of two GTPCHI pentamer rings and two GFRP pentamer rings with pseudo-52 point-group symmetry.

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The catalase–peroxidase from the halophilic archaeon H. marismortui was purified and successfully crystallized. The crystal diffracts beyond 2.0 Å resolution and belongs to the space group C2.

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Gluconate kinase from E. coli has been expressed, purified, and crystallized in three different crystal forms. The crystals diffract to 2.0 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation.

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ALG-2 is an apoptosis-linked Ca2+-binding protein required for T-cell receptor-induced, Fas-induced and glucocorticoid-induced cell death. Ca2+-free ALG-2 was crystallized in two crystal forms by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method.

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A method for the expression, refolding, purification and crystallization of the OpcA invasin from the bacterial pathogen N. meningitidis is described. Diffraction data sets have been collected to 2.0 Å resolution.

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A complex of the small GTPase ARL2-GTP and a putative effector protein, the δ subunit of the human cGMP phosphodiesterase (hPDE δ), was successfully crystallized after co-expression of both proteins in E. coli and subsequent copurification. While a first crystal form grew within days and diffracted to 2.3 Å, a second form recrystallized afer several months and diffracted to 1.8 Å.

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Crystals of endopolygalacturonase I from S. purpureum have been obtained by vapour-diffusion method. The crystals diffract to ultrahigh (0.96 Å) resolution using synchrotron radiation and belong to space group P1, with unit-cell parameters a = 37.26, b = 46.34, c = 52.05 Å, α = 67.17, β = 72.44 and γ = 68.90°.


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The second and archaebacterial-type aspartyl-tRNA synthetase from the eubacterium T. thermophilus has been crystallized at pH 9.5 in space group P212121. Data were collected to 2.5 Å and molecular replacement gave solutions for the rotation and translation functions.

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Prostate kallikrein isolated from horse seminal plasma has been crystallized by the vapour-diffusion method using polyethylene glycol in the crystallization solution. Data collection under cryogenic conditions allowed the determination of the space group (C2) and the unit-cell parameters (a = 72.6, b = 79.1, c = 45.7 Å, β = 98.3°).

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In order to obtain the structure of an enzyme from clade I of the haem-containing catalases, two bacterial catalases, CatF from P. syringae and Kat from L. seeligeri, have been crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique, using PEG and ammonium sulfate as precipitants, respectively.

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The N-utilizing substance A (NusA) from M. tuberculosis has been crystallized. Diffraction data for the native protein to 1.7 Å resolution have been collected.

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A bacterial enzyme involved in the non-mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis has been cloned, purified and crystallized.

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Fab fragments of a family of related mouse esterolytic monoclonal antibodies differing in their catalytic power have been crystallized alone and in complex with a transition-state analogue in forms suitable for high-resolution structure determination.

short communications


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The crystal structure of human muscle creatine kinase has been determined by molecular replacement at 3.5 Å resolution. Both strict and approximate twofold symmetry dimers exist in the crystal.

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This public web service allows quick and easy production of publication-quality images from the molecular-modelling program O.

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A statistically significant and unbiased test on insulin crystals shows that crystals grown in microgravity are superior to those grown in unit gravity.
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