Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of the ubiquitin-like (UbL) domain of the human homologue A of Rad23 (hHR23A) protein

Human homologue A of Rad23 (hHR23A) plays dual roles in DNA repair as well as serving as a shuttle vehicle targeting polyubiquitinated proteins for degradation. Its N-terminal ubiquitin-like (UbL) domain interacts with the 19S proteasomal cap and provides the docking mechanism for protein delivery. Pyramidal crystals of the UbL domain of hHR23A were obtained by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method with ammonium sulfate as the crystallizing agent. The crystals diffracted to beyond 2 Å resolution and belonged to the hexagonal space group P6₅22, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 78.48, c = 63.57 Å. The structure was solved by molecular replacement using the UbL domain of yeast Dsk2 as the search model.