title: Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the trimer core from measles virus fusion protein.
abstract: Two heptad-repeat regions (HR1 and HR2) are highly conserved in paramyxovirus fusion proteins and form a stable helical trimer of heterodimers [(HR1-HR2)(3)] after the fusion between viral and cellular membranes. In this study, two HR regions of the fusion protein of measles virus, a member of the paramyxoviruses, were selected and overexpressed as a single chain (named 2-Helix) connected by an amino-acid linker using a GST-fusion expression system in Escherichia coli. Crystals of 2-Helix protein (GST removed) could be obtained from many conditions using the sitting- or hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. A complete data set was collected in-house to 1.9 A resolution from a single crystal. The crystal belongs to space group P6, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 51.637, c = 67.058 A. To facilitate the crystal structure solution, SeMet-substituted 2-Helix crystals, grown under similar conditions to the native, were also obtained and diffracted X-rays to 1.8 A using synchrotron radiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongguancun Beiyitiao, Beijing 100080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jieqing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Tinghe
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Catherine W H
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Po
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tien
authors.forename: Zihe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: George F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012645:Selenomethionine / Q000737:chemistry; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins; D012645:Selenomethionine