Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and X-ray crystallographic analysis of ScpB (Rv1710) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) proteins play diverse roles in cellular DNA reassembly by directly interacting with DNA. They require non-SMC proteins for their proper function; these include the conserved segregation and condensation proteins (Scps) in prokaryotes. ScpB from Mycobacterium tuberculosis was crystallized using the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method in the presence of 2 M NaCl and 10% PEG 6000 at 295 K. X-ray diffraction data were collected to a maximum resolution of 2.3 angstrom at a synchrotron beamline. The crystal belongs to the hexagonal space group R32, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 136.69, c = 78.55 angstrom, gamma = 120 degrees. With one molecule per asymmetric unit, the crystal volume per unit protein weight (V-M) is 2.95 angstrom(3) Da(-1). The structure was solved by the single anomalous dispersion method and structure refinement is in progress.