Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of Mycobacterium smegmatis Dps

Three crystal forms of a DNA-binding protein from stationary phase cells (Dps) of Mycobacterium smegmatis have been grown. They are hexagonal, tetragonal and cubic. The structure of the cubic form, which has one subunit in the asymmetric unit, has been solved using the molecular-replacement method. The application of the crystallographic symmetry operations on the subunit leads to eight dodecamers with 23 symmetry in the unit cell