Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray structure analysis of Vibrio cholerae uridine phosphorylase in complex with thymidine

A high-resolution structure of the complex of Vibrio cholerae uridine phosphorylase (VchUPh) with its physiological ligand thymidine is important in order to determine the mechanism of the substrate specificity of the enzyme and for the rational design of pharmacological modulators. Here, the expression and purification of VchUPh and the crystallization of its complex with thymidine are reported. Conditions for crystallization were determined with an automated Cartesian Dispensing System using The Classics, MbClass and MbClass II Suites crystallization kits. Crystals of the VchUPh–thymidine complex (of dimensions ∼200–350 µm) were grown by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method in ∼7 d at 291 K. The crystallization solution consisted of 1.5 µl VchUPh (15 mg ml⁻¹), 1 µl 0.1 M thymidine and 1.5 µl reservoir solution [15%(w/v) PEG 4000, 0.2 M MgCl₂.6H₂O in 0.1 M Tris–HCl pH 8.5]. The crystals diffracted to 2.12 Å resolution and belonged to space group P2₁ (No. 4), with unit-cell parameters a = 91.80, b = 95.91, c = 91.89 Å, β = 119.96°. The Matthews coefficient was calculated as 2.18 ų Da⁻¹; the corresponding solvent content was 43.74%.