Tu JL, Chin KH, Wang AHJ, Chou SH. The crystallization of apo-form UMP kinase from Xanthomonas campestris is significantly improved in a strong magnetic field.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun 2007;
63:438-42. [PMID:
17565191 PMCID:
PMC2335002 DOI:
10.1107/s1744309107018787]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2007] [Accepted: 04/16/2007] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial UMP kinases (UMPKs) are crucial enzymes that are responsible for microbial UTP biosynthesis. Interestingly, eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells use different enzymes for UMP-phosphorylation reactions. Prokaryotic UMPKs are thus believed to be potential targets for antimicrobial drug development. Here, the cloning, expression and crystallization of SeMet-substituted XC1936, a bacterial UMPK from Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris, are reported. The crystallization of the apo-form UMPK was found to be significantly improved in a strong magnetic field; the crystals diffracted to a resolution of 2.35 A, a dramatic improvement over the original value of 3.6 A. Preliminary structural analyses of apo-form XC1936 using crystals grown in a strong magnetic field clearly reveal well defined loop regions involved in substrate-analogue binding that were previously not visible. Crystallization in a strong magnetic field thus was found to be indispensable in determining the flexible region of the XC1936 UMPK structure.
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