title: Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of human aquaporin 1 at a resolution of 3.28 Å.
abstract: Aquaporin water channels (AQPs) are found in almost every organism from humans to bacteria. In humans, 13 classes of AQPs control water and glycerol homeostasis. Knockout studies have suggested that modulating the activity of AQPs could be beneficial for the treatment of several pathologies. In particular, aquaporin 1 is a key factor in cell migration and angiogenesis, and constitutes a possible target for anticancer compounds and also for the treatment of glaucoma. Here, a preliminary crystallographic analysis at 3.28 Å resolution of crystals of human aquaporin 1 (hAQP1) obtained from protein expressed in Sf9 insect cells is reported. The crystals belonged to the tetragonal space group I422, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 89.28, c = 174.9 Å, and contained one monomer per asymmetric unit. The hAQP1 biological tetramer is generated via the crystallographic fourfold axis. This work extends previous electron crystallographic studies that used material extracted from human red blood cells, in which the resolution was limited to approximately 3.8 Å. It will inform efforts to improve lattice contacts and the diffraction limit for the future structure-based discovery of specific hAQP1 inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ruiz Carrillo
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: To Yiu Ying
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Darwis
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore.
authors.forename: Cin Huang
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Soon
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cornvik
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jaume
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lescar
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D051398:Aquaporin 1 / Q000737:chemistry*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D017931:DNA Primers; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D051398:Aquaporin 1
keywords: aquaporin 1; baculovirus; crystal packing; water channel