Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus NDK: preliminary crystallographic analysis of the first viral nucleoside diphosphate kinase.

The complete sequence of the largest known double-stranded DNA virus, Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus, has recently been determined [Raoult et al. (2004), Science, 306, 1344-1350] and revealed numerous genes not expected to be found in a virus. A comprehensive structural and functional study of these gene products was initiated [Abergel et al. (2005), Acta Cryst. F61, 212-215] both to better understand their role in the virus physiology and to obtain some clues to the origin of DNA viruses. Here, the preliminary crystallographic analysis of the viral nucleoside diphosphate kinase protein is reported. The crystal belongs to the cubic space group P2(1)3, with unit-cell parameter 99.425 A. The self-rotation function confirms that there are two monomers per asymmetric unit related by a twofold non-crystallographic axis and that the unit cell thus contains four biological entities.