Crystal structure of peanut lectin, a protein with an unusual quaternary structure

The x-ray crystal structure of the tetrameric T-antigen-binding lectin from peanut, M(r) 110,000, has been determined by using the multiple isomorphous replacement method and refined to an R value of 0.218 for 22,155 reflections within the 10- to 2.95-A resolution range. Each subunit has essentially the same characteristic tertiary fold that is found in other legume lectins. The structure, however, exhibits an unusual quaternary arrangement of subunits. Unlike other well-characterized tetrameric proteins with identical subunits, peanut lectin has neither 222 (D2) nor fourfold (C4) symmetry. A noncrystallographic twofold axis relates two halves of the molecule. The two monomers in each half are related by a local twofold axis. The mutual disposition of the axes is such that they do not lead to a closed point group. Furthermore, the structure of peanut lectin demonstrates that differences in subunit arrangement in legume lectins could be due to factors intrinsic to the protein molecule and, contrary to earlier suggestions, are not necessarily caused by interactions involving covalently linked sugar. The structure provides a useful framework for exploring the structural basis and the functional implications of the variability in the subunit arrangement in legume lectins despite all of them having nearly the same subunit structure, and also for investigating the general problem of "open" quaternary assembly in oligomeric proteins.

Orientational melting and reorientational motion in a cubane molecular crystal: A molecular simulation study

Detailed molecular simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of temperature on orientational order in cubane molecular crystal. We report a transition from an orientationally ordered to an orientationally disordered plastic crystalline phase in the temperature range 425-450 K. This is similar to the experimentally reported transition at 395 K. The nature of this transition is first order and is associated with a 4.8% increase in unit Cell volume that is comparable to the experimentally reported unit cell volume change of 5.4% (Phys. Rev. Lett. 1997, 78, 4938). An orientational order parameter, eta(T), has been defined in terms of average angle of libration of a molecular 3-fold axis and the orientational melting has been characterized by using eta(T). The orientational melting is associated with an anomaly in specific heat at constant pressure (C-p) and compressibility (kappa). The enthalpy of transition and entropy of transition associated with this orientational melting are 20.8 J mol(-1) and 0.046 J mol(-1) K-1, respectively. The structure of crystalline as well as plastic crystalline phases is characterized by using various radial distribution functions and orientational distribution functions. The coefficient of thermal expansion of the plastic crystalline phase is more than twice that of the crystalline phase.

A simple miniature furnace for routine collection of single crystal x-ray data up to 1000°C on the Hilger and Watts linear diffractometer

A miniature furnace suitable for routine collection of x-ray data up to 1000°C from single crystals on the Hilger and Watts linear diffractometer, without restricting the normally allowed region of reciprocal space on the diffractometer, is described. The crystal is heated primarily by radiation from a surrounding current-heated, stationary platinum coil wound on a silica bracket. The coil is split at its middle to provide a 4 mm gap for crystal mounting and x-irradiation. The crystal, mounted on a standard goniometer head, can be rotated and centred freely, as in the room temperature case. There is no need for any radiation shields or water-cooling arrangement. Investigations up to 1500°C are possible with slight modifications of the furnace.

Crystal co-ordination of the barium ion

A systematic study has been made of the crystal co-ordination of the barium ion in various compounds whose structures have been solved. Apart from the more common co-ordination polyhedra which are enumerated in text-books, a number of new polyhedra have been identified, particularly in cases where the co-ordination numbers are unusual, such as ten or eleven. According to the radius-ratio rule of Pauling, a co-ordination number of nine or ten is normally expected for the barium ion. The present investigations, however, reveal that it shows a variety of co-ordinations with ligancies from six up to twelve. Some of the factors that might possibly enter in explaining this wide range of co-ordination numbers are discussed. It appears as though the part played by the Ba2+ ion in deciding the structure is secondary, limiting itself only to occupying vacant spaces provided by other atoms in the crystal.

Crystal structure of copper ammonium oxalate dihydrate, Cu(NH 4)2(C2O4)2.2H 2O

The crystal structure of copper ammonium oxalate dihydrate (space group P1̃) has been derived from a refinement of the two-dimensional (hk0) and (0kl) x-ray data using the atomic coordinateis of the isomorphous salt CuK 2(C2O4)2.2H2O as the starting point of the analysis. In contrast to the chromium complexes of oxalic acid the C-C bonds in both the two nonequivalent oxalate ions in the unit cell are single bonds (1.58 and 1.61 Å) consistent with the conclusion of Jeffrey and Parry that the carboxyl groups of the oxalate ion are separated by a pure a bond with little or no π conjugation across the molecule. Both the oxalate ions are slightly nonplanar. The copper ions occupy the special positions (0, 0, 0) and 0, 1/2, 0) and their coordination is of the distorted octahedral type with four nearest oxygen neighbors ( ≃ 2 Å) at the corners of a square and two more distant atoms along the octahedral bond direction. The environment of the NH4+ ions consists of eight nearest oxygen atoms at a mean distance of 3 Å.

Mechanism of crystal structure transformations. Part 3. - Factors affecting the anatase-rutile transformation

The particle size and crystallite size of anatase increase markedly in the region of the crystal structure transformation. The unit cell of anatase seems to expand prior to the transformation to rutile. This expansion has been attributed to a displacive transformation of the type defined by Buerger. Smaller particle size and larger surface area seem to favour the transformation. The kinetics of the transformation of anatase prepared by the hydrolysis of titanium sulphate have been studied at different temperatures and are found to be considerably different from the kinetics of the transformation of pure anatase. The transformation becomes immeasurably slow below ∼695 ± 10°C compared to ∼610°C for pure anatase. An induction period is observed in the transformation of anatase obtained from sulphate hydrolysis and the duration decreases with increase in temperature. The activation energy is ∼120 kcal/mole, a value higher than that for the pure anatase-rutile transformation. The results have been interpreted in terms of the relative rates of nucleation and propagation processes. The activation energy for the nucleation process seems to be much larger than for the propagation process. The kinetics of the transformation of anatase samples doped with different amounts of sulphate ion impurity have also been studied and the transformation is found to be progressively decelerated with increase in the impurity concentration. The energy of activation for the transformation appears to increase progressively with increase in impurity concentration.

Crystal structure of an intermolecular 2:1 complex between adenine and thymine.Evidence for both Hoogsteen and `quasi-Watson-Crick' interactions

The titled complex, obtained by co-crystallization (EtOH/25 degrees C),is apparently the only known complex of the free bases. Its crystal structure, as determined by X-ray diffraction at both 90 K and 313 K, showed that one A-T pair involves a Hoogsteen interaction, and the other a Watson-Crick interaction but only with respect to the adenine unit. The absence of a clear-cut Watson-Crick base pair raises intriguing questions about the basis of the DNA double helix. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crystal And Molecular-Structure Of 8-Acetoxy-6-(2,4-Dimethoxy-5-Bromophenyl)-3-Methyl-Tricyclo[5,2,1,03,8 ]Decan-2-One

The crystal and molecular structure has been determined by the heavy-atom method and refined by the least-squares procedure to R= 8"3 % for 2033 photographically observed reflexions. The compound crystallizes in the space group P]" with two molecules in a unit cell of dimensions a = 11"68 + 0-02, b = 12"91 +0"02, c= 10"43+0"02/~, e= 114"7+ 1, fl=90-2+ 1 and 7,= 118.3+ 1 °. The unit cell also contains one molecule of the solvent, benzene. The 'cage' part of the molecule exhibits a large number of elongated bonds and strained internal valency angles. The bridgehead angle in the bicyclic heptane ring system is 89 °. The acetate group at C(16) and the methyl group at C(15) are cis to each other.