Crystallization and preliminary X-ray studies of human erythrocyte acylpeptide hydrolase

Crystals of acylpeptide hydrolase suitable for structure determination have been obtained. This enzyme removes the N-terminal formyl or acetyl group together with the first amino acid residue from N-terminal blocked peptides including bioactive peptides. One set of crystals, which diffract to 2.2 A, are in space group P2 with cell dimensions a = 118.6 A, b = 82.3 A, c = 182.1 A, beta = 91.6 degrees. The search for suitable heavy-atom derivatives is underway.