CRYSTALLIZATION AND PRELIMINARY-X-RAY DIFFRACTION STUDIES OF A NOVEL KILLER TOXIN FROM A HALOTOLERANT YEAST PICHIA-FARINOSA

A killer toxin from a halotolerant yeast, Pichia farinosa strain KK1, was crystallized at high- and low-salt concentrations. Crystals from t he high-salt solution belonged to the tetragonal space group P4(1)2(1) 2 or P4(3)2(1)2, with unit-cell dimensions of a = b = 81.10, c = 118.4 6 Angstrom. The low-salt solution provided crystals that belonged to t he same space group, with nearly same cell dimensions. Preliminary dif fraction studies showed that the intensity distributions are significa ntly different between the two crystals. Both types of crystals contai ned either two or three molecules per asymmetric unit. They diffracted X-rays beyond 2.0 Angstrom resolution and were stable to X-ray irradi ation.