Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and X‐ray crystallographic analysis of ScpB (Rv1710) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) proteins play diverse roles in cellular DNA reassembly by directly interacting with DNA. They require non‐SMC proteins for their proper function; these include the conserved segregation and condensation proteins (Scps) in prokaryotes. ScpB from Mycobacterium tuberculosis was crystallized using the sitting‐drop vapour‐diffusion method in the presence of 2  M NaCl and 10% PEG 6000 at 295 K. X‐ray diffraction data were collected to a maximum resolution of 2.3 Å at a synchrotron beamline. The crystal belongs to the hexagonal space group R 32, with unit‐cell parameters a  =  b  = 136.69, c = 78.55 Å, γ = 120°. With one molecule per asymmetric unit, the crystal volume per unit protein weight ( V M ) is 2.95 Å 3  Da −1 . The structure was solved by the single anomalous dispersion method and structure refinement is in progress.