issue contents

Journal logoSTRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
COMMUNICATIONS
ISSN: 2053-230X

May 2021 issue

Highlighted illustration

Cover illustration: Enoyl-CoA hydratase from Thermus thermophilus HB8. [Padavattan et al. (2021), Acta Cryst. F77, 148–155]. Fatty-acid degradation is an oxidative process that involves four enzymatic steps and is referred to as the β-oxidation pathway. Enoyl-CoA hydratase (ECH) catalyzes the second step of this pathway. During this process, long-chain acyl-CoAs are broken down into acetyl-CoA, which enters the mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, resulting in the production of energy in the form of ATP.

research communications


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In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, iron levels are strictly controlled by iron-assimilating protein 1 (FEA1). Recombinant FEA1 protein was successfully purified and crystallized by hanging-drop vapor diffusion. The phase problem was solved by the native sulfur SAD method using long-wavelength X-rays (2.7 Å). Laser-cutting technology was used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and derive an initial structure.

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A new untwinned crystal form of the autophagy protein GABARAPL2 is described. The LC3-interacting region (LIR) docking site is blocked by a crystal contact with the C-terminal residue, Phe117. This residue is removed during the processing of GABARAPL2 by Atg4 family proteases. This suggests that the removal of Phe117 is required to co-crystallize LIR peptides with GABARAPL2 in order to establish the interactions between these important autophagy mediators.

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Enoyl-CoA hydratase (ECH) catalyzes the second step of the β-oxidation pathway. Here, the crystal structure of ECH from T. thermophilus HB8 is reported at 2.85 Å resolution.

methods communications


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Tetrabromoterephthalic acid (B4C) provides sufficient anomalous signal to solve the crystal structure of hen egg-white lysozyme using MAD phasing. The use of B4C as an experimental phasing compound offers several advantages over existing compounds, including its compatibility with common crystallization reagents and its amenability to co-crystallization.
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