Crystallization and preliminary diffraction studies of Escherichia coli lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysU)

Crystals of Escherichia coli lysyl-tRNA synthetase (lysU gene product) have been obtained by vapour diffusion techniques. Three different crystal forms could be grown under similar conditions. The crystals that have been chosen for the structure determination belong to space group C222(1) with cell dimensions a = 144.3 A, b = 257.8 A, c = 182.1 A and contain three monomers in the asymmetric unit. They diffract to at least 2.1 A resolution, but are very sensitive to radiation damage.