Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of peptide deformylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Peptide deformylase (PDF) from the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli and crystallized in the presence of its inhibitor actinonin at 297 K using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 as a precipitant. The diffraction limit and the spot shape of the crystals could be slightly improved by the crystal annealing/dehydration procedure. X-ray diffraction data to 1.85 Å have been collected using synchrotron radiation. The crystal belongs to the orthorhombic space group P2₁2₁2₁, with unit-cell parameters a = 68.75, b = 74.46, c = 77.18 Å. The asymmetric unit contains two subunits of peptide deformylase, with a corresponding crystal volume per protein mass (V_M) of 2.45 Å³ Da^-1 and a solvent content of 49.8%.