Production, crystallization and structure determination of a mycobacterial glucosylglycerate hydrolase

Glucosylglycerate hydrolase is highly conserved among rapidly growing mycobacteria and has been found to be involved in recovery from nitrogen starvation by promoting the rapid mobilization of the glucosylglycerate that accumulates under these conditions. Here, the production, crystallization and structure determination of glucosylglycerate hydrolase from Mycobacterium hassiacum using two-wavelength anomalous diffraction of selenomethionine-substituted crystals are described. The monoclinic (space group P2₁) crystals diffracted to ∼2.0 Å resolution at a synchrotron-radiation source and contained four molecules in the asymmetric unit, corresponding to a Matthews coefficient of 3.07 ų Da^-1 and a solvent content of 59.9%. The quality of the experimental phases allowed the automated building of 1677 of the 1792 residues in the asymmetric unit.