Destruction-and-diffraction by X-ray free-electron laser

All polymer microfluidic chips-A fixed target sample delivery workhorse for serial crystallography

The development of x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) light sources and serial crystallography methodologies has led to a revolution in protein crystallography, enabling the determination of previously unobtainable protein structures and near-atomic resolution of otherwise poorly diffracting protein crystals. However, to utilize XFEL sources efficiently demands the continuous, rapid delivery of a large number of difficult-to-handle microcrystals to the x-ray beam. A recently developed fixed-target system, in which crystals of interest are enclosed within a sample holder, which is rastered through the x-ray beam, is discussed in detail in this Perspective. The fixed target is easy to use, maintains sample hydration, and can be readily modified to allow a broad range of sample types and different beamline requirements. Recent innovations demonstrate the potential of such microfluidic-based fixed targets to be an all-around "workhorse" for serial crystallography measurements. This Perspective will summarize recent advancements in microfluidic fixed targets for serial crystallography, examine needs for future development, and guide users in designing, choosing, and utilizing a fixed-target sample delivery device for their system.

Heterogeneous Composition of Oxygen-Evolving Complexes in Crystal Structures of Dark-Adapted Photosystem II

Photosystem II (PSII) is a homodimeric protein complex that catalyzes water oxidation at the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC), a heterocubanoid calcium-tetramanganese cluster. Here, we analyze the omit electron density peaks of the OEC's metal ions in five X-ray free-electron laser PSII structures at resolutions between 2.15 and 1.95 Å. The omit peaks can be described by the total number of electrons and approximated by the variance of electron density distribution when the distributions are spherically symmetric. We show that the number of electrons of metal centers is different in the two OECs of PSII dimers, implying that the oxidation states and/or occupancies of individual metal ions are different in the two monomers. In either case, we find that the two OECs of dark-adapted PSII dimers in crystals are not fully synchronized in the S₁ state. Differences in redox states of the OEC in PSII only partially account for the observation that the electron densities integrate to a smaller number of electrons than expected. Differences between the determined and expected relative electron numbers are much larger than the estimated errors, indicating heterogeneity in the OEC composition.

Crystallographic Data Support the Carousel Mechanism of Water Supply to the Oxygen-Evolving Complex of Photosystem II

Photosystem II (PSII) oxidizes water to produce oxygen through a four-step photocatalytic cycle. Understanding PSII structure-function relations is important for the development of biomimetic photocatalytic systems. The quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) analysis of substrate water binding to the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) has suggested a rearrangement of water ligands in a carousel mechanism around a key Mn center. Here, we find that the most recently reported X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) crystallographic data obtained for the dark-stable S₁ state and the doubly flashed S₃ state at 2.25 Å resolution support the carousel mechanism. The features in the XFEL data and QM/MM model-simulated difference Fourier maps suggest that water displacement may occur from the so-called "narrow" channel, resulting in binding of a new water molecule to the OEC, and thus provide new insights into the nature of rearrangements of water ligands along the catalytic cycle before O=O bond formation.

Oxygen additions in serial femtosecond crystallographic protein structures

In principle, serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) could yield data sets that are completely free of the effects caused by slow, radiation-induced chemical reactions, for example, oxygen additions, responsible for radiation damage. However, experimental evidence is presented here that SFX data sets obtained by techniques that expose different parts of the same specimen to single pulses of radiation do not have this property, even if the specimen in question is frozen. The diffraction image of each such crystal obtained with the first pulse of radiation is certain to represent the structure of a protein that has not been modified chemically, but all of the images obtained subsequently from the same crystal will represent structures that have been modified to a lesser or greater extent by oxygen additions because of the rapid diffusion of oxygenic free radicals through the specimen. The higher the level of oxygen additions a crystal suffers during data collection, the poorer the statistical quality of data set obtained from it will, and the higher the free R-factors of the resulting structural model.