Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction crystallographic study of human synaptotagmin 5 C2A domain

Synaptotagmin acts as the Ca²⁺ sensor for neural and endocrine exocytosis. Synaptotagmin 5 has been demonstrated to play a key role in the acquisition of cathepsin D and the vesicular proton ATPase and in Ca²⁺-dependent insulin exocytosis. The C2 domains modulate the interaction of synaptotagmin with the phospholipid bilayer of the presynaptic terminus and effector proteins such as the SNARE complex. This study reports the cloning, expression in Escherichia coli, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the C2A domain of human synaptotagmin 5 with an N-terminal His₆ tag. The crystals diffracted to 1.90 Å resolution and belonged to the hexagonal space group P6₅, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 93.97, c = 28.05 Å. A preliminary model of the protein structure has been built and refinement of the model is ongoing.