Rapid increase of intracellular synthesis of specific histone-like Dps protein that binds DNA to protect the genome against deleterious factors leads to in cellulo crystallization-one of the most curious processes in the area of life science at the moment. However, the actual structure of the Dps-DNA co-crystals remained uncertain in the details for more than two decades. Cryo-electron tomography and small-angle X-ray scattering revealed polymorphous modifications of the co-crystals depending on the buffer parameters. Two different types of the Dps-DNA co-crystals are formed in vitro: triclinic and cubic. Three-dimensional reconstruction revealed DNA and Dps molecules in cubic co-crystals, and the unit cell parameters of cubic lattice were determined consistently by both methods.
Keywords: DNA; Dps; biocrystallization; co-crystals; cryo-electron tomography; small-angle X-ray scattering.