Crystal structure of P22 tailspike protein: interdigitated subunits in a thermostable trimer.

The tailspike protein (TSP) of Salmonella typhimurium phage P22 is a part of the apparatus by which the phage attaches to the bacterial host and hydrolyzes the O antigen. It has served as a model system for genetic and biochemical analysis of protein folding. The x-ray structure of a shortened TSP (residues 109 to 666) was determined to a 2.0 angstrom resolution. Each subunit of the homotrimer contains a large parallel beta helix. The interdigitation of the polypeptide chains at the carboxyl termini is important to protrimer formation in the folding pathway and to thermostability of the mature protein.