PicW2 fromPicea wilsonii: preparation, purification, crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis

Abstract

Low temperature is a major limiting factor for plant growth and development. Dehydrin proteins are generally induced in response to low-temperature stress. In previous research, a full-length dehydrin gene,PicW2, was isolated fromPicea wilsoniiand its expression was associated with hardiness to cold. In order to gain insight into the mechanism of low-temperature tolerance by studying its three-dimensional crystal structure, prokaryotically expressed PicW2 dehydrin protein was purified using chitosan-affinity chromatography and gel filtration, and crystallized using the vapour-diffusion method. The crystal grew in a condition consisting of 0.1 MHEPES pH 8.0, 25%(w/v) PEG 3350 using 4 mg ml−1protein solution at 289 K. X-ray diffraction data were collected from a crystal at 100 K to 2.82 Å resolution. The crystal belonged to space groupC121, with unit-cell parametersa= 121.55,b= 33.26,c= 73.39 Å, α = γ = 90.00, β = 109.01°. The asymmetric unit contained one molecule of the protein, with a corresponding Matthews coefficient of 2.87 Å3 Da−1and a solvent content of 57.20%. Owing to a lack of structures of homologous dehydrin proteins, molecular-replacement trials failed. Data collection for selenium derivatization of PicW2 and crystal structure determination is currently in progress.