Crystallographic studies of SarV, a global regulator from Staphylococcus aureus

SarV, a member of the SarA protein family, is a global transcriptional regulator which has been reported to be involved in the regulation of autolysis in Staphylococcus aureus. In this study, SarV from S. aureus was successfully cloned, expressed, purified and crystallized. X-ray diffraction data were collected to 2.10 Å resolution. The crystals of SarV belonged to the monoclinic space group P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 36.40, b = 119.64, c = 66.80 Å, α = γ = 90, β = 98.75°. The Matthews coefficient and the solvent content were estimated to be 2.57 Å(3) Da(-1) and 52%, respectively, suggesting the presence of four molecules in the asymmetric unit. The results of size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) indicated that S. aureus SarV exists as a homodimer in solution. Unfortunately, the structure cannot be solved by molecular replacement because of the low sequence identity of S. aureus SarV to known structures. Further phase determination by selenomethionine single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) and the heavy-atom method is in progress.