Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of bacteriophage T4 deoxynucleotide kinase

T4 deoxynucleotide kinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of 5-hydroxymethyldeoxycytidylate, dTMP and dGMP while excluding dCMP and dAMP. In order to understand the mechanism of this remarkable specificity, the enzyme was over-expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized for X-ray diffraction analysis. The crystals belong to the monoclinic space group C2 with cell dimensions a = 155.2, b = 58.5, c = 75.7 Å, β = 108.1°. There are two protein monomers in the asymmetric unit related by a twofold axis. Diffraction data to 2.0 Å resolution have been collected.