Acta Crystallographica Section F

Structural Biology and Crystallization Communications

Volume 63, Part 3 (March 2007)


crystallization communications



Acta Cryst. (2007). F63, 193-195    [ doi:10.1107/S1744309107005283 ]

Purification and crystallization of Kokobera virus helicase

L. De Colibus, S. Speroni, B. Coutard, N. L. Forrester, E. Gould, B. Canard and A. Mattevi

Abstract: Kokobera virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus belonging, like West Nile virus, to the Japanese encephalitis virus serocomplex. The flavivirus genus is characterized by a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome. The unique open reading frame of the viral RNA is transcribed and translated as a single polyprotein which is post-translationally cleaved to yield three structural and seven nonstructural proteins, one of which is the NS3 gene that encodes a C-terminal helicase domain consisting of 431 amino acids. Helicase inhibitors are potential antiviral drugs as the helicase is essential to viral replication. Crystals of the Kokobera virus helicase domain were obtained by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals belong to space group P3121 (or P3221), with unit-cell parameters a = 88.6, c = 138.6 Å, and exhibit a diffraction limit of 2.3 Å.

Keywords: flaviviruses; helicases; viral replication.

 bibliographic record in  format

  Find reference:   Volume   Page   
  Search:     From   to      Advanced search

Copyright © International Union of Crystallography
IUCr Webmaster