Crystallization of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein from bovine liver

The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is a heterodimeric lipid transfer protein required for the assembly of plasma very low density lipoproteins in the liver and chylomicrons in the intestine. Bovine MTP was purified by a modification of a previously published procedure and crystals of MTP were grown reproducibly with polyethylene glycol as a precipitant at pH 7.0. MTP crystals, which diffract to Bragg spacings of better than 3.2 Å, have the symmetry of space group P2₁2₁2₁ with refined lattice constants of a = 88.7, b = 100.9 and c = 201.1 Å, with one heterodimer per asymmetric unit.