title: Purification, crystallization and initial crystallographic characterization of brazil-nut allergen Ber e 2.
abstract: Peanut and tree-nut allergies have attracted considerable attention because of their frequency and their lifelong persistence. Brazil-nut (Bertholletia excelsa) allergies have been well documented and the 11S legumin-like seed storage protein Ber e 2 (excelsin) is one of the two known brazil-nut allergens. In this study, Ber e 2 was extracted from brazil-nut kernels and purified to high purity by crystalline precipitation and gel-filtration chromatography. Well diffracting single crystals were obtained using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. A molecular-replacement structural solution has been obtained. Refinement of the structure is currently under way.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Tengchuan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Yu Zhu
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D052179:Antigens, Plant / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D031383:Bertholletia / Q000737:chemistry*; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D052179:Antigens, Plant; C525128:Ber e 2 protein, Bertholletia excelsa