Crystal growth of phosphopantetheine adenylyltransferase, carboxypeptidase t, and thymidine phosphorylase on the international space station by the capillary counter-diffusion method

Abstract

Crystals of phosphopantetheine adenylyltransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, thymidine phosphorylase from Escherichia coli, carboxypeptidase T from Thermoactinomyces vulgaris and its mutant forms, and crystals of complexes of these proteins with functional ligands and inhibitors were grown by the capillary counter-diffusion method in the Japanese Experimental Module Kibo on the International Space Station. The high-resolution X-ray diffraction data sets suitable for the determination of high-resolution three-dimensional structures of these proteins were collected from the grown crystals on the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility. The conditions of crystal growth for the proteins and the data-collection statistics are reported. The crystals grown in microgravity diffracted to a higher resolution than crystals of the same proteins grown on Earth.