Purification, crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis of human synaptotagmin 1 C2A-C2B

Synaptotagmin acts as the Ca²⁺ sensor for neuronal exocytosis. The cytosolic domain of human synaptotagmin 1 is composed of tandem C2 domains: C2A and C2B. These C2 domains modulate the interaction of synaptotagmin with the phospholipid bilayer of the presynaptic terminus and effector proteins such as the SNARE complex. Human synaptotagmin C2A-C2B has been expressed as a glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein in Escherichia coli. The purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of this protein are reported here. The crystals diffract to 2.7 Å and belong to the orthorhombic space group P2₁2₁2₁, with unit-cell parameters a = 82.37, b = 86.31, c = 140.2 Å. From self-rotation function analysis, there are two molecules in the asymmetric unit. The structure determination of the protein using this data is ongoing.