Crystalline Extracellular Nuclease of Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract Three crystal forms of an extracellular nuclease of Staphylococcus aureus, strains V8 and Foggi, have been obtained. One of these forms crystallizes in the tetragonal space group P41 (or P43) with unit cell dimensions of a = b = 48.1 A, c = 63.5 A, and 4 molecules per unit cell. Work is in progress on the structure of this enzyme at 4A resolution by three-dimensional methods. Several isomorphous substitutions, e.g. with UO22+ and p-nitroiodobenzene, have been successfully carried out.