Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of Pac17 from the pacidamycin-biosynthetic cluster of Streptomyces coeruleorubidus

Pac17 is an uncharacterized protein from the pacidamycin gene cluster of the soil bacterium Streptomyces coeruleorubidus. It is implicated in the biosynthesis of the core diaminobutyric acid residue of the antibiotic, although its precise role is uncertain at present. Given that pacidamycins inhibit translocase I of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a clinically unexploited antibiotic target, they offer new hope in the search for antibacterial agents directed against this important pathogen. Crystals of Pac17 were grown by vapour diffusion and X-ray data were collected at a synchrotron to a resolution of 1.9 Å from a single crystal. The crystal belonged to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 214.12, b = 70.88, c = 142.22 Å, β = 92.96°. Preliminary analysis of these data suggests that the asymmetric unit consists of one Pac17 homotetramer, with an estimated solvent content of 49.0%.