title: Crystallographic analysis of the N-terminal domain of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus nucleocapsid protein.
abstract: The N-terminal domain of the nucleocapsid protein from Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV NP-NTD) contains many positively charged residues and has been identified to be responsible for RNA binding during ribonucleocapsid formation by the virus. In this study, the crystallization and crystallographic analysis of MERS-CoV NP-NTD (amino acids 39-165), with a molecular weight of 14.7 kDa, are reported. MERS-CoV NP-NTD was crystallized at 293 K using PEG 3350 as a precipitant and a 94.5% complete native data set was collected from a cooled crystal at 77 K to 2.63 Å resolution with an overall Rmerge of 9.6%. The crystals were monoclinic and belonged to space group P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 35.60, b = 109.64, c = 91.99 Å, β = 101.22°. The asymmetric unit contained four MERS-CoV NP-NTD molecules.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yong Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung Ke
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming Hon
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D065207:Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins
keywords: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus; N-terminal domain; RNA binding; nucleocapsid protein