Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of yeast arginyl-tRNA synthetase-yeast tRNAArg complexes

Three different crystal forms of complexes between arginyl-tRNA synthetase from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae (yArgRS) and the yeast second major tRNA(Arg) (tRNA(ICG)(Arg)) isoacceptor have been crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method in the presence of ammonium sulfate. Crystal form II, which diffracts beyond 2.2 Angstrom resolution at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ID14-4 beamline, belongs to the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2, with unit-cell parameters a = 129.64, b = 107.47, c = 71.38 Angstrom. This crystal form presents the highest resolution obtained for an active form of an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-tRNA complex. The estimated V-m of 2.6 Angstrom(3) Da(-1) indicates one molecule of complex in the asymmetric unit. The three crystal forms were solved by the molecular-replacement method using the coordinates of the free yArgRS.