Crystallization of the Staphylococcus aureus MazF mRNA interferase

mazEF modules encode toxin-antitoxin pairs that are involved in the bacterial stress response through controlled and specific degradation of mRNA. Staphylococcus aureus MazF and MazE constitute a unique toxin-antitoxin module under regulation of the sigB operon. A MazF-type mRNA interferase is combined with an antitoxin of unknown fold. Crystals of S. aureus MazF (SaMazF) were grown in space group P2₁2₁2₁. The crystals diffracted to 2.1 Å resolution and are likely to contain two SaMazF dimers in the asymmetric unit.