The water channel protein alpha-TIP is a member of the major intrinsic protein (MIP) membrane channel family. This aquaporin is found abundantly in vacuolar membranes of cotyledons (seed storage organs) and is synthesized during seed maturation. The water channel activity of alpha-TIP can be regulated by phosphorylation, and the protein may function in seed desiccation, cytoplasmic osmoregulati...

In the search for macromolecular crystallization conditions, the precipitant is probably the most important variable, such that when problematic crystals are encountered there is always the question of whether an alternative precipitant might resolve the problem. During an effort to obtain high-quality crystals of several problematic proteins, two new agents, pentaerythritol propoxylate and pen...

Manganese superoxide dismutase was crystallized in microgravity with 35 PCAM experiments (Protein Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity) on the ISS (International Space Station) from 5 December 2001 to 19 April 2002. Crystals were very large in size and could easily be seen by eye. Crystals with 0.45 x 0.45 mm cross-sections and of up to 3 mm in length were obtained in several drops: an 80...

Thosea asigna virus (TaV) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) virus that belongs to the Permutotetravirus genera within the recently created Permutotetraviridae family. The genome of TaV consists of an RNA segment of about 5.700 nucleotides with two open reading frames, encoding for the replicase and capsid protein. The particular TaV replicase does not contain N7-methyl transferas...

The crystal structure of the extracellular domain of growth hormone receptor complexed to its ligand, growth hormone, has been known since 1992. However, no information exists for the unliganded form of the receptor. The human growth hormone receptor's extracellular ligand-binding domain, encompassing amino-acid residues 1-238, has been expressed in Escherichia coli, purified by anion ion-excha...

A construct consisting of residues 10-310 of BipD, a component of the Burkholderia pseudomallei type III secretion system (T3SS), has been overexpressed as a GST fusion, cleaved from the GST tag and purified. Crystals were grown of native and selenomethionine-labelled BipD. The crystals grow in two different polymorphs from the same condition. The first polymorph belongs to space group C222, wi...

Phospholipases A(2) (PLA(2)s) are enzymes that cause the liberation of fatty acids and lysophospholipids by the hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids. In addition to their catalytic action, a wide variety of pharmacological activities have been described for snake-venom PLA(2)s. BmooPLA(2)-I is an acidic, nontoxic and catalytic PLA(2) isolated from Bothrops moojeni snake venom which exhibits an ...

Jarosewichite, Mn3+Mn3+(AsOn)(OH)0, is a new mineral, closely related to chlorophoenicite, from the Franklin mine, Franklin, Sussex County, New Jersey, where it occurs associated with andradite, franklinite, flinkite, cahnite and hausmannite. Jarosewichite is orthorhombic, space grotp C2lmLlm2lm, C222 or Cmm2, with a : 6.56(3), b : 25.20(10), c : 10.00(5)4, and Z : 8. The strongest lines in the...

The dynamics of water and sodium counter-ions (Na(+)) in a C222(1) orthorhombic β-lactoglobulin crystal is investigated by means of 5 ns molecular dynamics simulations. The effect of the fluctuation of the protein atoms on the motion of water and sodium ions is studied by comparing simulations in a rigid and in a flexible lattice. The electrostatic interactions of sodium ions with the positivel...

SEDL (known also as sedlin) is a 140 amino-acid protein with a putative role in endoplasmic reticulum-to-Golgi transport. Several missense mutations and deletion mutations in the SEDL gene, which result in protein truncation by frame shift, are responsible for spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tarda, a progressive skeletal disorder. The protein is identical to MIP-2A, which was shown to interact phy...