Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of UDP-glucose:tetrahydrobiopterin α-glucosyltransferase (BGluT) fromSynechococcussp. PCC 7942

Abstract

A UDP-glucose:tetrahydrobiopterin α-glucosyltransferase (BGluT) enzyme was discovered in the cyanobacteriumSynechococcussp. PCC 7942 which transfers a glucose moiety from UDP-glucose to tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). BGluT protein was overexpressed with selenomethionine labelling for structure determination by the multi-wavelength anomalous dispersion method. The BGluT protein was purified by nickel-affinity and size-exclusion chromatography. It was then crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using a well solution consisting of 0.1 Mbis-tris pH 5.5, 19%(w/v) polyethylene glycol 3350 with 4%(w/v) D(+)-galactose as an additive. X-ray diffraction data were collected to 1.99 Å resolution using a synchrotron-radiation source. The crystals belonged to the monoclinic space groupC2, with unit-cell parametersa= 171.35,b= 77.99,c = 53.77 Å, β = 90.27°.