Sequence: H2N-KVFGRCELAAAMKRHGLD-OH
Formula of Egg white lysozyme (19-36) [Gallus gallus]:
C86H144N28O23S2
Hen egg white lysozyme has a molecular weight of about 14,600 and each molecule comprises 129 amino acid residues1.
The crystals have unit cell dimensions a = b = 79.1, c = 37.9 A and space group P43212, and there are eight molecules in the unit cell, one per asymmetric unit2. Liquid of crystallization constitutes about 33.5 per cent of the weight of the crystal3.
The activity of lysozyme in promoting the dissolution of bacterial cell walls is now known to depend upon its ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of ,3-(1-4) glycosidic linkages between amino sugar residues in poly-saccharide components of these cell walls1.
References:
1. David C. Phillips. The Hen Egg-White Lysozyme Molecule. (1967) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 57: 483-495
2. Blake, C. C. F., E. H. Fenn, A. C. T. North, D. C. Phillips, and t. J. Polijak, Nature, 196, 1173 (1962).
3. Steinrauf, L. K., Acta Cryst., 12, 77 (1959).