Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of GatD, a glutamine amidotransferase-like protein from Staphylococcus aureus peptidoglycan

Amidation of peptidoglycan is an essential feature in Staphylococcus aureus that is necessary for resistance to β-lactams and lysozyme. GatD, a 27 kDa type I glutamine amidotransferase-like protein, together with MurT ligase, catalyses the amidation reaction of the glutamic acid residues of the peptidoglycan of S. aureus. The native and the selenomethionine-derivative proteins were crystallized using the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method with polyethylene glycol, sodium acetate and calcium acetate. The crystals obtained diffracted beyond 1.85 and 2.25 Å, respectively, and belonged to space group P2₁2₁2₁. X-ray diffraction data sets were collected at Diamond Light Source (on beamlines I02 and I04) and were used to obtain initial phases.