Low-Resolution Structural Characterization of the Arginine Repressor/Activator from Bacillus subtilis: a Combined X-ray Crystallographic and Electron Microscopical Approach

Attempts to determine the X-ray crystal structure of the intact homohexameric arginine repressor/activator from B. subtilis have so far been unsuccessful. The major problem appears to be the lack of an isomorphous heavy-atom derivative with a manageable number of substitution sites. Here it is shown how electron microscopy of thin three-dimensional crystals, the same as those used for the X-ray crystallographic studies, made it possible (i) to obtain experimental support for some conclusions drawn on the basis of X-ray data alone, (ii) to determine the low-resolution distribution of electron density in several different crystallographic projections, and (iii) to obtain a tentative low-resolution model of the whole hexamer.