title: Manipulation of an existing crystal form unexpectedly results in interwoven packing networks with pseudo-translational symmetry.
abstract: Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are multimodular enzymes that synthesize a myriad of diverse molecules. Tailoring domains have been co-opted into NRPSs to introduce further variety into nonribosomal peptide products. Linear gramicidin synthetase contains a unique formylation-tailoring domain in its initiation module (F-A-PCP). The structure of the F-A di-domain has previously been determined in a crystal form which had large solvent channels and no density for the minor Asubsubdomain. An attempt was made to take advantage of this packing by removing the Asubsubdomain from the construct (F-AΔsub) in order to produce a crystal that could accommodate the PCP domain. In the resulting crystal the original packing network was still present, but a second network with the same packing and almost no contact with the original network took the place of the solvent channels and changed the space group of the crystal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, 3649 Promenade Sir William Osler, Montreal, Quebec H3G 0B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Janice M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Reimer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, 3649 Promenade Sir William Osler, Montreal, Quebec H3G 0B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Martin N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Aloise
authors.affiliation: 12 Buxton Road, Chingford, London E4 7DP, England.
authors.forename: Harold R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, 3649 Promenade Sir William Osler, Montreal, Quebec H3G 0B1, Canada.
authors.forename: T Martin
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Schmeing
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D058675:Brevibacillus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D006096:Gramicidin / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010453:Peptide Synthases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006096:Gramicidin; D010453:Peptide Synthases; C104385:non-ribosomal peptide synthase
keywords: NRPS; crystal packing; formylation; interwoven networks; pseudo-translational symmetry