Crystallization and initial crystal characterization of the N-terminal DH/PH domain of Trio.

Trio is a multidomain signaling protein that plays an important role in neurite outgrowth, axon guidance and skeletal muscle development. Trio contains two DH/PH tandem domains that respectively activate the small GTPases RhoG/Rac and RhoA. The N-terminal DH/PH domain, TrioN, crystallizes in space group P3(1)21, with one TrioN molecule in the asymmetric unit and diffracts to 1.7 A resolution. The unit-cell parameters are a = b = 99.5, c = 98.3 A, alpha = beta = 90, gamma = 120 degrees. A greater than 90% complete native data set has been collected and structure determination using the multiple isomorphous replacement (MIR) method is ongoing.