Crystallization of substrate and product analog complexes of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase

We have prepared crystals of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase from Bacillus stearothermophilus complexed to tryptophan (type II*), and to tryptophanyl-3'(2')-ATP (type IV). The latter compound is a product analog, enzymatically synthesized by acyl transfer of tryptophan from the tryptophanyl-5'-AMP intermediate to a second molecule of ATP. It resembles the 3'-terminal fragment, tryptophanyl-3'(2')-adenosine, of Trp-tRNATrp. Both crystal forms diffract to high resolution. Although both forms are grown from 2 M K2HPO4, they are dramatically different in the shape of the unit cell and in space group symmetry. Type II* crystals are monoclinic (space group P21). However, low-resolution reflections obey the symmetry of space group P321, which indicates both the existence and the location of noncrystallographic symmetry in the monoclinic unit cell. Type IV crystals belong to space group P41212 (or its enantiomorph) and the unit cell is elongated along the fourfold screw axis. Analysis of molecular packing suggests that intermolecular contacts in the two crystal types are very different. Thus, the two structures may exhibit conformational differences related to catalysis by this enzyme. Solution of type II* and type IV crystal structures may provide representations resembling a Michaelis complex and an acyl transfer product complex.