Cloning, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of two low-molecular-weight protein tyrosine phosphatases from Vibrio cholerae.

Low-molecular-weight protein tyrosine phosphatases (LMWPTPs) are small cytoplasmic enzymes of molecular weight ∼18 kDa that belong to the large family of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs). Despite their wide distribution in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, their exact biological role in bacterial systems is not yet clear. Two low-molecular-weight protein tyrosine phosphatases (VcLMWPTP-1 and VcLMWPTP-2) from the Gram-negative bacterium Vibrio cholerae have been cloned, overexpressed, purified by Ni(2+)-NTA affinity chromatography followed by gel filtration and used for crystallization. Crystals of VcLMWPTP-1 were grown in the presence of ammonium sulfate and glycerol and diffracted to a resolution of 1.6 Å. VcLMWPTP-2 crystals were grown in PEG 4000 and diffracted to a resolution of 2.7 Å. Analysis of the diffraction data showed that the VcLMWPTP-1 crystals had symmetry consistent with space group P3(1) and that the VcLMWPTP-2 crystals had the symmetry of space group C2. Assuming the presence of four molecules in the asymmetric unit, the Matthews coefficient for the VcLMWPTP-1 crystals was estimated to be 1.97 Å(3) Da(-1), corresponding to a solvent content of 37.4%. The corresponding values for the VcLMWPTP-2 crystals, assuming the presence of two molecules in the asymmetric unit, were 2.77 Å(3) Da(-1) and 55.62%, respectively.