Preliminary crystallographic studies on bacterioferritin from Azotobacter vinelandii

Bacterioferritin-cytochrome from Azotobacter vinelandii is an unusual protein containing haem groups as well as iron core like other ferritin. This paper reports the purification of bacterioferritin by affinity chromatography and the formation of brick-red crystals from a solution containing MgCl2. The crystals are optical isotropic with maximum dimensions of 0.4 X 0.4 X 0.1 mm3. The preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies have been performed. 1.5 degrees unscreened precession photographs show that the crystals of bacterioferritin belong to the cubic system, space group I432, with cell dimension 230 A. There are probably 8 molecules in one cubic unit cell and the molecule might have 32 symmetry. A molecular diameter of 115 A is derived from the packing of the molecules and a molecular weight of 826,000 is estimated for bacterioferritin.