Crystallization of native and selenomethionyl yeast orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase

Crystals of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pyrimidine biosynthetic enzyme orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase (ODCase) were grown by the hanging-drop vapor-diffusion technique at 277 K using polyethylene glycol 4000 as the precipitant. Crystals of native and selenomethionyl ODCase diffract to less than 2.2 A and belong to the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 90.1, b = 116.2, c = 117.0 A. Crystals of ODCase grown in the presence of the postulated transition-state analog inhibitor 6-hydroxyuridine 5'--phosphate (BMP) diffract to less than 2.5 A and belong to space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 79.9, b = 80.0, c = 98.2 A, beta = 108.6 degrees.