Our objective is to determine the three-dimensional structure of bacterial luciferase by the method of X-ray crystallography. Recent success in obtaining large crystals of the protein makes this a feasible undertaking. This will be the first known structure of any bioluminescent system and will be a major step toward understanding the phenomenon of light emission. The study will also contribute to our understanding of the structure and function of biological systems in general and flavin-proteins in particular.
| Roderick, S L; Matthews, B W (1988) Crystallization of methionine aminopeptidase from Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem 263:16531 |
| Tronrud, D E; Schmid, M F; Matthews, B W (1986) Structure and X-ray amino acid sequence of a bacteriochlorophyll a protein from Prosthecochloris aestuarii refined at 1.9 A resolution. J Mol Biol 188:443-54 |
