Preliminary investigation of the phage phi X174 crystal structure

P Willingmann; S Krishnaswamy; R McKenna; T J Smith; N H Olson; M G Rossmann; P L Stow; N L Incardona

doi:10.1016/0022-2836(90)90129-a

Preliminary investigation of the phage phi X174 crystal structure

J Mol Biol. 1990 Mar 20;212(2):345-50. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(90)90129-a.

Authors

P Willingmann¹, S Krishnaswamy, R McKenna, T J Smith, N H Olson, M G Rossmann, P L Stow, N L Incardona

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.

PMID: 2138678
DOI: 10.1016/0022-2836(90)90129-a

Abstract

Crystals of the single-stranded DNA bacteriophage phi X174 have been grown. They have a monoclinic unit cell with space group P2(1), unit cell dimensions of a = 306.0 (+/- 0.2) A, b = 361.1 (+/- 0.2) A, c = 299.7 (+/- 0.2 degrees) A, beta = 92.91 degrees (+/- 0.02 degrees) and diffract to at least 2.7 A resolution. There are two virus particles per unit cell. Packing considerations show that the mean diameter of the virus particles is 280 A. The virus separates into two bands in a sucrose gradient. The ratio between the absorbance at 260 nm and 280 nm is 1.45 to 1.65 for the faster and 1.15 to 1.35 for the slower bands, but both bands contain intact particles. Crystals derived from these bands are isomorphous and there is no detectable difference in their structure amplitudes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Bacteriophage phi X 174 / analysis
Bacteriophage phi X 174 / ultrastructure*
Crystallization
Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
Microscopy, Electron
X-Ray Diffraction