Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable polyesters that have attracted commercial and academic interest as environmentally friendly materials. A number of enzymes are able to degrade polyhydroxyalkanoates to water-soluble products. PhaZ7 poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) depolymerase (EC 3.1.1.75), a 342-amino-acid hydrolase from the PHA-degrading bacterium Paucimonas lemoignei, has been found to possess substrate specificity for amorphous PHA. PhaZ7 was crystallized by the microdialysis method. Thin rod-like crystals were grown in low ionic strength solution and found to belong to the monoclinic space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 225.8, b = 46.5, c = 171.3, beta = 128.9 degrees. A complete data set was collected to 2.75 A resolution at 100 K using synchrotron radiation.
