title: Purification, crystallization and initial X-ray analysis of the head-tail connector of bacteriophage phi29.
abstract: The head-tail connector of bacteriophage phi29, an oligomer of gene product 10 (gp10), was crystallized into various forms. The most useful of these were an orthorhombic P22(1)2(1) form (unit-cell parameters a = 143.0, b = 157.0, c = 245.2 A), a monoclinic C2 form (a = 160.7, b = 143.6, c = 221.0 A, beta = 97.8 degrees ) and another monoclinic C2 form (a = 177.0, b = 169.1, c = 185.2 A, beta = 114.1 degrees ). Frozen crystals diffracted to about 3.2 A resolution. There is one connector per crystallographic asymmetric unit in each case. Rotation functions show the connector to be a dodecamer. Translation functions readily determined the position of the 12-fold axis in each unit cell. The structure is being determined by 12-fold electron-density averaging within each crystal and by averaging between the various crystal forms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Oral Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Badasso
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Leiman
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Ohlendorf
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Rossmann
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D017103:Bacillus Phages / Q000235:genetics; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C097975:portal protein, bacteriophage phi29