title: Expression, purification and preliminary X-ray analysis of proliferating cell nuclear antigen from the archaeon Thermococcus thioreducens.
abstract: Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a DNA sliding clamp which confers processivity on replicative DNA polymerases. PCNA also acts as a sliding platform that enables the association of many DNA-processing proteins with DNA in a non-sequence-specific manner. In this investigation, the PCNA from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus thioreducens (TtPCNA) was cloned, overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to greater than 90% homogeneity. TtPCNA crystals were obtained by sitting-drop vapor-diffusion methods and the best ordered crystal diffracted to 1.86 A resolution using synchrotron radiation. The crystals belonged to the hexagonal space group P6(3), with unit-cell parameters a = b = 89.0, c = 62.8 A. Crystals of TtPCNA proved to be amenable to complete X-ray analysis and future structure determination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA.
authors.forename: Miranda L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Byrne-Steele
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019712:Thermococcus / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen