Als. Smarra et al., Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of haemoglobin I from the armoured catfish Liposarcus anisitsi, ACT CRYST D, 56, 2000, pp. 495-497
Liposarcus anisitsi is an armoured catfish that presents accessorial air ox
ygenation through a modified stomach, which allows this species to survive
in waters with very low oxygen content. Analysis of its haemolysate has sho
wn the presence of four haemoglobins; this work focuses on the main compone
nt, haemoglobin I. It has been crystallized in two different forms and X-ra
y diffraction data have been collected to 2.77 and 2.86 Angstrom resolution
using synchrotron radiation. Crystals were determined to belong to the spa
ce groups C2 and P2(1) and preliminary structural analysis revealed the pre
sence of one tetramer in the asymmetric unit in both crystal forms. The str
ucture was determined using a standard molecular-replacement technique.