Screening for phasing atoms in protein crystallography

Production of selenomethionyl proteins in prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems

The use of selenomethionine as a phasing tool was first reported in 1990. Engineering of selenomethionyl proteins for structure determination is now routine. In fact, selenium is by far the most commonly used anomalous scatterer for multiwavelength anomalous diffraction studies. The past few years have seen new developments, which demonstrated the feasibility of expressing selenomethionyl protein in eukaryotic systems. In this chapter, the different methods available for producing selenomethionine-labeled proteins in bacteria, as well as in yeast and mammalian cells will be presented, along with tips for purifying and crystallizing selenomethionyl proteins.

The Structure of β-Carbonic Anhydrase from the Carboxysomal Shell Reveals a Distinct Subclass with One Active Site for the Price of Two

CsoSCA (formerly CsoS3) is a bacterial carbonic anhydrase localized in the shell of a cellular microcompartment called the carboxysome, where it converts HCO(3)(-) to CO(2) for use in carbon fixation by ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). CsoSCA lacks significant sequence similarity to any of the four known classes of carbonic anhydrase (alpha, beta, gamma, or delta), and so it was initially classified as belonging to a new class, epsilon. The crystal structure of CsoSCA from Halothiobacillus neapolitanus reveals that it is actually a representative member of a new subclass of beta-carbonic anhydrases, distinguished by a lack of active site pairing. Whereas a typical beta-carbonic anhydrase maintains a pair of active sites organized within a two-fold symmetric homodimer or pair of fused, homologous domains, the two domains in CsoSCA have diverged to the point that only one domain in the pair retains a viable active site. We suggest that this defunct and somewhat diminished domain has evolved a new function, specific to its carboxysomal environment. Despite the level of sequence divergence that separates CsoSCA from the other two subclasses of beta-carbonic anhydrases, there is a remarkable level of structural similarity among active site regions, which suggests a common catalytic mechanism for the interconversion of HCO(3)(-) and CO(2). Crystal packing analysis suggests that CsoSCA exists within the carboxysome shell either as a homodimer or as extended filaments.

High pressure effects in anaesthesia and narcosis

There is growing interest in determining the effects of high pressure on biological functions. Studies of brain processes under hyperbaric conditions can give a unique insight into phenomena such as nitrogen narcosis, inert gas anaesthesia, and pressure reversal of the effects of anaesthetic and narcotic agents. Such research may shed light on the action of anaesthetics, which remains poorly understood, and on the nature of consciousness itself. Various studies have established the behavioural response of organisms to hyperbaric conditions, in the presence or absence of anaesthetic agents. At the molecular level, X-ray crystallography has been used to investigate the incorporation of species like Xe in hydrophobic pockets within model ion channels that may account for pressure effects on neuronal transmission. New magnetic resonance imaging techniques are providing tomographic three-dimensional images that detail brain structure and function, and that can be correlated with behavioural studies and psychological test results. Such whole organ techniques are linked to the molecular scale via voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging studies on brain slices that provide time-resolved images of the dynamic formation and interconnection of inter-neuronal complexes. The VSD experiments are readily adapted to in situ studies under high pressure conditions. In this tutorial review we review the current state of knowledge of hyperbaric effects on brain processes: anaesthesia and narcosis, recent studies at the molecular level via protein crystallography at high pressure in a Xe atmosphere, and we also present some preliminary results of VSD imaging of brain slices under hyperbaric conditions.

Structure of AMA1 from Plasmodium falciparum reveals a clustering of polymorphisms that surround a conserved hydrophobic pocket

Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is a leading malaria vaccine candidate that possesses polymorphisms that may pose a problem for a vaccine based on this antigen. Knowledge of the distribution of the polymorphic sites on the surface of AMA1 is necessary to obtain a detailed understanding of their significance for vaccine development. For this reason we have sought to determine the three-dimensional structure of AMA1 using x-ray crystallography. The central two-thirds of AMA1 is relatively conserved among Plasmodium species as well as more distantly related apicomplexan parasites, and contains two clusters of disulfide-bonded cysteines termed domains I and II. The crystal structure of this fragment of AMA1 reported here reveals that domains I+II consists of two intimately associated PAN domains. PAN domain I contains many long loops that extend from the domain core and form a scaffold for numerous polymorphic residues. This extreme adaptation of a PAN domain reveals how malaria parasites have introduced significant flexibility and variation into AMA1 to evade protective human antibody responses. The polymorphisms on the AMA1 surface are exclusively located on one side of the molecule, presumably because this region of AMA1 is most accessible to antibodies reacting with the parasite surface. Moreover, the most highly polymorphic residues surround a conserved hydrophobic trough that is ringed by domain I and domain II loops. Precedents set by viral receptor proteins would suggest that this is likely to be the AMA1 receptor binding pocket.

Selenomethionine and selenocysteine double labeling strategy for crystallographic phasing

A protocol for the quantitative incorporation of both selenomethionine and selenocysteine into recombinant proteins overexpressed in Escherichia coli is described. This methodology is based on the use of a suitable cysteine auxotrophic strain and a minimal medium supplemented with selenium-labeled methionine and cysteine. The proteins chosen for these studies are the cathelin-like motif of protegrin-3 and a nucleoside-diphosphate kinase. Analysis of the purified proteins by electrospray mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography revealed that both cysteine and methionine residues were isomorphously replaced by selenocysteine and selenomethionine. Moreover, selenocysteines allowed the formation of unstrained and stable diselenide bridges in place of the canonical disulfide bonds. In addition, we showed that NDP kinase contains a selenocysteine adduct on Cys122. This novel selenium double-labeling method is proposed as a general approach to increase the efficiency of the MAD technique used for phase determination in protein crystallography.

The crystal structure of a cyanobacterial water-soluble carotenoid binding protein

Carotenoids undergo a wide range of photochemical reactions in animal, plant, and microbial systems. In photosynthetic organisms, in addition to light harvesting, they perform an essential role in protecting against light-induced damage by quenching singlet oxygen, superoxide anion radicals, or triplet-state chlorophyll. We have determined the crystal structure of a water-soluble orange carotenoid protein (OCP) isolated from the cyanobacterium Arthrospira maxima at a resolution of 2.1 A. OCP forms a homodimer with one carotenoid molecule per monomer. The carotenoid binding site is lined by a striking number of methionine residues. The structure reveals several possible ways in which the protein environment influences the spectral properties of the pigment and provides insight into how the OCP carries out its putative functions in photoprotection.

Insights into DNA recombination from the structure of a RAD51-BRCA2 complex

The breast cancer susceptibility protein BRCA2 controls the function of RAD51, a recombinase enzyme, in pathways for DNA repair by homologous recombination. We report here the structure of a complex between an evolutionarily conserved sequence in BRCA2 (the BRC repeat) and the RecA-homology domain of RAD51. The BRC repeat mimics a motif in RAD51 that serves as an interface for oligomerization between individual RAD51 monomers, thus enabling BRCA2 to control the assembly of the RAD51 nucleoprotein filament, which is essential for strand-pairing reactions during DNA recombination. The RAD51 oligomerization motif is highly conserved among RecA-like recombinases, highlighting a common evolutionary origin for the mechanism of nucleoprotein filament formation, mirrored in the BRC repeat. Cancer-associated mutations that affect the BRC repeat disrupt its predicted interaction with RAD51, yielding structural insight into mechanisms for cancer susceptibility.

Crystal structure of a protein repair methyltransferase from Pyrococcus furiosus with its L-isoaspartyl peptide substrate

Protein L-isoaspartyl (D-aspartyl) methyltransferases (EC 2.1.1.77) are found in almost all organisms. These enzymes catalyze the S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet)-dependent methylation of isomerized and racemized aspartyl residues in age-damaged proteins as part of an essential protein repair process. Here, we report crystal structures of the repair methyltransferase at resolutions up to 1.2 A from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus. Refined structures include binary complexes with the active cofactor AdoMet, its reaction product S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy), and adenosine. The enzyme places the methyl-donating cofactor in a deep, electrostatically negative pocket that is shielded from solvent. Across the multiple crystal structures visualized, the presence or absence of the methyl group on the cofactor correlates with a significant conformational change in the enzyme in a loop bordering the active site, suggesting a role for motion in catalysis or cofactor exchange. We also report the structure of a ternary complex of the enzyme with adenosine and the methyl-accepting polypeptide substrate VYP(L-isoAsp)HA at 2.1 A. The substrate binds in a narrow active site cleft with three of its residues in an extended conformation, suggesting that damaged proteins may be locally denatured during the repair process in cells. Manual and computer-based docking studies on different isomers help explain how the enzyme uses steric effects to make the critical distinction between normal L-aspartyl and age-damaged L-isoaspartyl and D-aspartyl residues.

Mass spectrometry as a tool for protein crystallography

Atomic resolution structure determinations of proteins by X-ray crystallography are formidable multidisciplinary undertakings, requiring protein construct design, expression and purification, crystallization trials, phase determination, and model building. Modern mass spectrometric methods can greatly facilitate these obligate tasks. Thus, mass spectrometry can be used to verify that the desired protein construct has been correctly expressed, to define compact domains in the target protein, to assess the components contained within the protein crystals, and to screen for successful incorporation of seleno-methionine and other heavy metal reagents used for phasing. In addition, mass spectrometry can be used to address issues of modeling, topology, and side-chain proximity. Here, we demonstrate how rational use of mass spectrometry assists and expedites high resolution X-ray structure determination through each stage of the process of protein crystallography.

Incorporation of beta-selenolo[3,2-b]pyrrolyl-alanine into proteins for phase determination in protein X-ray crystallography

beta-Selenolo[3,2-b]pyrrolyl-L-alanine that mimics tryptophan with the benzene ring of the indole moiety replaced by selenophene, was incorporated into human annexin V and barstar. This was achieved by fermentation and expression in a Trp-auxotrophic Escherichia coli host strain using the selective pressure incorporation method. The seleno- proteins were obtained in yields comparable to those of the wild-type proteins and exhibit full crystallographic isomorphism to the parent proteins, but expectedly show altered absorbance profiles and quenched tryptophan fluorescence. Since the occurrence of tryptophan residues in proteins is rare, incorporation of the electron-rich selenium-containing tryptophan surrogate into proteins represents a useful supplementation and even a promising novel alternative to selenomethionine for solving the phase problem in protein X-ray crystallography.

Structural characteristics of protein binding sites for calcium and lanthanide ions

Surveys of X-ray structures of Ca2+-containing and lanthanide ion-containing proteins and coordination complexes have been performed and structural features of the metal binding sites compared. A total of 515 structures of Ca2+-containing proteins were considered, although the final data set contained only 44 structures and 60 Ca2+ binding sites with a total of 323 ligands. Eighteen protein structures containing lanthanide ions were considered with a final data set containing eight structures and 11 metal binding sites. Structural features analysed include coordination numbers of the metal ions, the identity of their ligands, the denticity of carboxylate ligands, and the type of secondary structure from which the ligands are derived. Three general types of calcium binding site were identified in the final data set: class I sites supply the Ca2+ ligands from a continuous short sequence of amino acids; class II sites have one ligand supplied by a part of the amino acid sequence far removed from the main binding sequence; and class III sites are created by amino acids remote from one another in the sequence. The abundant EF-hand type of Ca2+ binding site was under-represented in the data set of structures analysed as far as its biological distribution is concerned, but was adequately represented for the chemical survey undertaken. A turn or loop structure was found to provide the bulk of the ligands to Ca2+, but helix and sheet secondary structures are slightly better providers of bidentate carboxylate ligation than turn or loop structures. The average coordination number for Ca2+ was 6.0, though for EF-hand sites it is 7. The average coordination number of a lanthanide ion in an intrinsic protein Ca2+ site was 7.2, but for the adventitious sites was only 4.4. A survey of the Cambridge Structural Database showed there are small-molecule lanthanide complexes with low coordination numbers but it is likely that water molecules, which do not appear in the electron density maps, are present for some lanthanide sites in proteins. A detailed comparison of the well-defined Ca2+ and lanthanide ion binding sites suggests that a reduction of hydrogen bonding associated with the ligating residues of the binding sites containing lanthanide ions may be a response to the additional positive charge of the lanthanide ion. Major structural differences between Ca2+ binding sites with weak and strong binding affinities were not obvious, a consequence of long-range electrostatic interactions and metal ion-induced protein conformational changes modulating affinities.