Mycobacterium thermoresistibile as a source of thermostable orthologs of Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins.

ABSTRACT: The genus Mycobacterium comprises major human pathogens such as the causative agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and many environmental species. Tuberculosis claims ~1.5 million lives every year, and drug resistant strains of Mtb are rapidly emerging. To aid the development of new tuberculosis drugs, major efforts are currently under way to determine crystal structures of Mtb drug targets and proteins involved in pathogenicity. However, a major obstacle to obtaining crystal structures is the generation of well-diffracting crystals. Proteins from thermophiles can have better crystallization and diffraction properties than proteins from mesophiles, but their sequences and structures are often divergent. Here, we establish a thermophilic mycobacterial model organism, Myc

SUBMITTER: Edwards TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3403447 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature