Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of a flavin-dependent thymidylate synthase from Helicobacter pylori.

The ThyX enzymes that have recently been identified in various bacteria, including some important human pathogens such as Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are flavin-dependent thymidylate synthases that function in the place of classic thymidylate synthase enzymes in the biosynthesis of dTMP, which is one of the building blocks of DNA. They are promising targets for the development of novel antibiotics because they utilize catalytic mechanisms that are distinct from those of the classic thymidylate synthases found in most organisms, including humans. In this study, H. pylori ThyX was purified and crystallized in complex with flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and a diffraction data set was collected to 2.5 A resolution. The crystals belonged to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 221.92, b = 49.43, c = 143.02 A, beta = 98.84 degrees .