Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of the mitochondrial F1-ATPase from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A genetically modified (His6-tagged) form of the mitochondrial F1-ATPase (MW = 370 kDa) has been purified from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and crystallized in the presence of polyethelene glycol (PEG) 6000 as a precipitant, 1 mM NiCl2, 1 mM Mg AMP-PNP and 50 microM Mg ADP. X-ray diffraction data were obtained on three separate occasions using synchrotron radiation, with a progression in the quality of the diffraction data, which improved from 3.3 to 3.0 to 2.8 A. On the second occasion, the diffraction was improved by a crystal-annealing procedure. The crystals belong to the monoclinic space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 110.6, b = 294.2, c = 190.4 A, beta = 101.6 degrees. The asymmetric unit contains three molecules of yeast F1, with a corresponding volume per protein weight (VM) of 2.8 A3 Da(-1) and a solvent content of 55%.