Figure 3.

Crystal structure. (a) Similar to the crystal structure of truncated Hfq_Ec (amino acids 1–72; PDB entry 1hk9; Sauter et al., 2003 ▶), the hexameric molecules pack in a hexagonal ‘honeycomb’ pattern inside the crystal. (b) In the crystal of full-length Hfq_Ec the hexamers pack in staggered double layers interspaced by an ∼30 Å void, which leaves room for the unstructured termini. Interestingly, the coordination between the double layers is unstaggered. Hexamers from each unit cell are coloured red, gold and green.