Crystallization and Preliminary X-ray Analysis of Candida albicans Phosphomannose Isomerase

Abstract Crystals of recombinant phosphomannose isomerase from Candida albicans have been obtained in a form suitable for X-ray diffraction analysis. The enzyme plays a key role in the biosynthesis of the mannan component of the fungal cell wall. It crystallizes in monoclinic space group C 2, with cell dimensions a =124·9 A, b =52·9 A, c =85·9 A and β=127·4°. The crystals diffract to Bragg spacings beyond 1·7 A native data have been collected to 2·4 A and a search for heavy-metal derivatives is in progress. The asymmetric unit contains one molecule of the enzyme ( M r ∼ 49,000) with a V m of 2·3 A3/Da.