Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of a phospholipase A(2) from the venom of the Brazilian snake Bothrops moojeni

A phospholipase A(2) purified from the venom of the snake Bothrops moojeni has been crystallized by vapour-diffusion techniques in hanging drops at 29 1 K. The crystals, which were grown in the absence of Ca2+, belong to the c ubic system, space group P432, with unit-cell parameters a = b = c = 91.86 Angstrom, and contain one molecule in the asymmetric unit (V-M = 2.71 (3) D a(-1)). X-ray diffraction experiments provide data to 2.35 Angstrom resolut ion collected on a rotating-anode home source at cryogenic temperatures. Th e structure has been solved via molecular-replacement techniques using a si ngle monomer of the crystallographic structure of the phospholipase from th e Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) as a search model.