1
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Brodmerkel MN, Thiede L, De Santis E, Uetrecht C, Caleman C, Marklund EG. Collision induced unfolding and molecular dynamics simulations of norovirus capsid dimers reveal strain-specific stability profiles. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:13094-13105. [PMID: 38628116 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp06344e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Collision induced unfolding (CIU) is a method used with ion mobility mass spectrometry to examine protein structures and their stability. Such experiments yield information about higher order protein structures, yet are unable to provide details about the underlying processes. That information can however be provided using molecular dynamics simulations. Here, we investigate the gas-phase unfolding of norovirus capsid dimers from the Norwalk and Kawasaki strains by employing molecular dynamics simulations over a range of temperatures, representing different levels of activation, together with CIU experiments. The dimers have highly similar structures, but their CIU reveals different stability that can be explained by the different dynamics that arises in response to the activation seen in the simulations, including a part of the sequence with previously observed strain-specific dynamics in solution. Our findings show how similar protein variants can be examined using mass spectrometric techniques in conjunction with atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to reveal differences in stability as well as differences in how and where unfolding takes place upon activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxim N Brodmerkel
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Lars Thiede
- CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- Institute of Chemistry and Metabolomics, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Emiliano De Santis
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Charlotte Uetrecht
- CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- Institute of Chemistry and Metabolomics, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science CFEL, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
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2
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Wollter A, De Santis E, Ekeberg T, Marklund EG, Caleman C. Enhanced EMC-Advantages of partially known orientations in x-ray single particle imaging. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:114108. [PMID: 38506290 DOI: 10.1063/5.0188772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Single particle imaging of proteins in the gas phase with x-ray free-electron lasers holds great potential to study fast protein dynamics, but is currently limited by weak and noisy data. A further challenge is to discover the proteins' orientation as each protein is randomly oriented when exposed to x-rays. Algorithms such as the expand, maximize, and compress (EMC) exist that can solve the orientation problem and reconstruct the three-dimensional diffraction intensity space, given sufficient measurements. If information about orientation were known, for example, by using an electric field to orient the particles, the reconstruction would benefit and potentially reach better results. We used simulated diffraction experiments to test how the reconstructions from EMC improve with particles' orientation to a preferred axis. Our reconstructions converged to correct maps of the three-dimensional diffraction space with fewer measurements if biased orientation information was considered. Even for a moderate bias, there was still significant improvement. Biased orientations also substantially improved the results in the case of missing central information, in particular in the case of small datasets. The effects were even more significant when adding a background with 50% the strength of the averaged diffraction signal photons to the diffraction patterns, sometimes reducing the data requirement for convergence by a factor of 10. This demonstrates the usefulness of having biased orientation information in single particle imaging experiments, even for a weaker bias than what was previously known. This could be a key component in overcoming the problems with background noise that currently plague these experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- August Wollter
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Husargatan 3, 75124 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Emiliano De Santis
- Department of Chemistry-BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Tomas Ekeberg
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Husargatan 3, 75124 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry-BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science CFEL, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, DE-22607 Hamburg, Germany
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3
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E J, Stransky M, Shen Z, Jurek Z, Fortmann-Grote C, Bean R, Santra R, Ziaja B, Mancuso AP. Water layer and radiation damage effects on the orientation recovery of proteins in single-particle imaging at an X-ray free-electron laser. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16359. [PMID: 37773512 PMCID: PMC10541445 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43298-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The noise caused by sample heterogeneity (including sample solvent) has been identified as one of the determinant factors for a successful X-ray single-particle imaging experiment. It influences both the radiation damage process that occurs during illumination as well as the scattering patterns captured by the detector. Here, we investigate the impact of water layer thickness and radiation damage on orientation recovery from diffraction patterns of the nitrogenase iron protein. Orientation recovery is a critical step for single-particle imaging. It enables to sort a set of diffraction patterns scattered by identical particles placed at unknown orientations and assemble them into a 3D reciprocal space volume. The recovery quality is characterized by a "disconcurrence" metric. Our results show that while a water layer mitigates protein damage, the noise generated by the scattering from it can introduce challenges for orientation recovery and is anticipated to cause problems in the phase retrieval process to extract the desired protein structure. Compared to these disadvantageous effects due to the thick water layer, the effects of radiation damage on the orientation recovery are relatively small. Therefore, minimizing the amount of residual sample solvent should be considered a crucial step in improving the fidelity and resolution of X-ray single-particle imaging experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juncheng E
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869, Schenefeld, Germany.
| | - Michal Stransky
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869, Schenefeld, Germany
- Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342, Kraków, Poland
| | - Zhou Shen
- Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Zoltan Jurek
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Richard Bean
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869, Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Robin Santra
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Notkestr. 9-11, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Beata Ziaja
- Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342, Kraków, Poland
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Adrian P Mancuso
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869, Schenefeld, Germany.
- Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0DE, UK.
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia.
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4
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Shuto Y, Walinda E, Morimoto D, Sugase K. Conformational Fluctuations and Induced Orientation of a Protein, Its Solvation Shell, and Bulk Water in Weak Non-Unfolding External Electric Fields. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:7417-7430. [PMID: 37587419 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c01683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Extreme external electric fields have been reported to disrupt the tertiary structure of stably folded proteins; however, the effects of weaker electric fields on many biomolecules, especially net-uncharged proteins, and on the surrounding aqueous environment have been rarely discussed. To explore these effects at the atomic level, here, we have used molecular dynamics simulations to estimate rotational motion and induced structural fluctuations in the model protein ubiquitin and its hydration layer due to applied non-unfolding electrostatic fields. When exposed to weak electric fields of up to 0.2 V nm-1, ubiquitin displayed competition between internal structure-maintaining molecular interactions and the external orienting force, which disrupted the local structure in certain regions of the protein. Moreover, relative to hydration water, bulk water showed a greater tendency to align with the electric field, indicating that the presence of protein caused hydration water to acquire rotational mobility different from that in a pure-water system. The differential influence of the applied electric field on the hydration and bulk water surrounding ubiquitin will be common to almost all (nonmembrane) biomacromolecules. Our findings highlight the importance of local dipoles and their electric polarizability even in net-uncharged biomolecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Shuto
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, N346 Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Erik Walinda
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Daichi Morimoto
- Department of Molecular Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto-Daigaku Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan
| | - Kenji Sugase
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, N346 Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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5
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Brodmerkel MN, De Santis E, Caleman C, Marklund EG. Rehydration Post-orientation: Investigating Field-Induced Structural Changes via Computational Rehydration. Protein J 2023:10.1007/s10930-023-10110-y. [PMID: 37031302 DOI: 10.1007/s10930-023-10110-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/10/2023]
Abstract
Proteins can be oriented in the gas phase using strong electric fields, which brings advantages for structure determination using X-ray free electron lasers. Both the vacuum conditions and the electric-field exposure risk damaging the protein structures. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations to rehydrate and relax vacuum and electric-field exposed proteins in aqueous solution, which simulates a refinement of structure models derived from oriented gas-phase proteins. We find that the impact of the strong electric fields on the protein structures is of minor importance after rehydration, compared to that of vacuum exposure and ionization in electrospraying. The structures did not fully relax back to their native structure in solution on the simulated timescales of 200 ns, but they recover several features, including native-like intra-protein contacts, which suggests that the structures remain in a state from which the fully native structure is accessible. Our findings imply that the electric fields used in native mass spectrometry are well below a destructive level, and suggest that structures inferred from X-ray diffraction from gas-phase proteins are relevant for solution and in vivo conditions, at least after in silico rehydration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxim N Brodmerkel
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 75123, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Emiliano De Santis
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 75123, Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 75123, Uppsala, Sweden.
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6
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Brodmerkel MN, De Santis E, Uetrecht C, Caleman C, Marklund EG. Stability and conformational memory of electrosprayed and rehydrated bacteriophage MS2 virus coat proteins. Curr Res Struct Biol 2022; 4:338-348. [PMID: 36440379 PMCID: PMC9685359 DOI: 10.1016/j.crstbi.2022.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteins are innately dynamic, which is important for their functions, but which also poses significant challenges when studying their structures. Gas-phase techniques can utilise separation and a range of sample manipulations to transcend some of the limitations of conventional techniques for structural biology in crystalline or solution phase, and isolate different states for separate interrogation. However, the transfer from solution to the gas phase risks affecting the structures, and it is unclear to what extent different conformations remain distinct in the gas phase, and if resolution in silico can recover the native conformations and their differences. Here, we use extensive molecular dynamics simulations to study the two distinct conformations of dimeric capsid protein of the MS2 bacteriophage. The protein undergoes notable restructuring of its peripheral parts in the gas phase, but subsequent simulation in solvent largely recovers the native structure. Our results suggest that despite some structural loss due to the experimental conditions, gas-phase structural biology techniques provide meaningful data that inform not only about the structures but also conformational dynamics of proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxim N. Brodmerkel
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, Uppsala, 75123, Sweden
| | - Emiliano De Santis
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, Uppsala, 75123, Sweden
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, Uppsala, 75120, Sweden
| | - Charlotte Uetrecht
- Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV), Hamburg, 20251, Germany
- Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, Hamburg, 22607, Germany
- School of Life Sciences, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, Uppsala, 75120, Sweden
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, Hamburg, 22607, Germany
| | - Erik G. Marklund
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, Uppsala, 75123, Sweden
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7
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E J, Kim Y, Bielecki J, Sikorski M, de Wijn R, Fortmann-Grote C, Sztuk-Dambietz J, Koliyadu JCP, Letrun R, Kirkwood HJ, Sato T, Bean R, Mancuso AP, Kim C. Expected resolution limits of x-ray free-electron laser single-particle imaging for realistic source and detector properties. STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS (MELVILLE, N.Y.) 2022; 9:064101. [PMID: 36411869 PMCID: PMC9675053 DOI: 10.1063/4.0000169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
The unprecedented intensity of x-ray free-electron laser sources has enabled single-particle x-ray diffraction imaging (SPI) of various biological specimens in both two-dimensional projection and three dimensions (3D). The potential of studying protein dynamics in their native conditions, without crystallization or chemical staining, has encouraged researchers to aim for increasingly higher resolutions with this technique. The currently achievable resolution of SPI is limited to the sub-10 nanometer range, mainly due to background effects, such as instrumental noise and parasitic scattering from the carrier gas used for sample delivery. Recent theoretical studies have quantified the effects of x-ray pulse parameters, as well as the required number of diffraction patterns to achieve a certain resolution, in a 3D reconstruction, although the effects of detector noise and the random particle orientation in each diffraction snapshot were not taken into account. In this work, we show these shortcomings and address limitations on achievable image resolution imposed by the adaptive gain integrating pixel detector noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juncheng E
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Y. Kim
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - J. Bielecki
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - M. Sikorski
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - R. de Wijn
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | | | | | | | - R. Letrun
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | | | - T. Sato
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - R. Bean
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | | | - C. Kim
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed:
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8
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Peck A, Chang HY, Dujardin A, Ramalingam D, Uervirojnangkoorn M, Wang Z, Mancuso A, Poitevin F, Yoon CH. Skopi: a simulation package for diffractive imaging of noncrystalline biomolecules. J Appl Crystallogr 2022; 55:1002-1010. [PMID: 35974743 PMCID: PMC9348890 DOI: 10.1107/s1600576722005994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have the ability to produce ultra-bright femtosecond X-ray pulses for coherent diffraction imaging of biomolecules. While the development of methods and algorithms for macromolecular crystallography is now mature, XFEL experiments involving aerosolized or solvated biomolecular samples offer new challenges in terms of both experimental design and data processing. Skopi is a simulation package that can generate single-hit diffraction images for reconstruction algorithms, multi-hit diffraction images of aggregated particles for training machine learning classifiers using labeled data, diffraction images of randomly distributed particles for fluctuation X-ray scattering algorithms, and diffraction images of reference and target particles for holographic reconstruction algorithms. Skopi is a resource to aid feasibility studies and advance the development of algorithms for noncrystalline experiments at XFEL facilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariana Peck
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Hsing-Yin Chang
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Antoine Dujardin
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Deeban Ramalingam
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Monarin Uervirojnangkoorn
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Zhaoyou Wang
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Adrian Mancuso
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Frédéric Poitevin
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Chun Hong Yoon
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
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9
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Abramsson ML, Sahin C, Hopper JTS, Branca RMM, Danielsson J, Xu M, Chandler SA, Österlund N, Ilag LL, Leppert A, Costeira-Paulo J, Lang L, Teilum K, Laganowsky A, Benesch JLP, Oliveberg M, Robinson CV, Marklund EG, Allison TM, Winther JR, Landreh M. Charge Engineering Reveals the Roles of Ionizable Side Chains in Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. JACS AU 2021; 1:2385-2393. [PMID: 34977906 PMCID: PMC8717373 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
In solution, the charge of a protein is intricately linked to its stability, but electrospray ionization distorts this connection, potentially limiting the ability of native mass spectrometry to inform about protein structure and dynamics. How the behavior of intact proteins in the gas phase depends on the presence and distribution of ionizable surface residues has been difficult to answer because multiple chargeable sites are present in virtually all proteins. Turning to protein engineering, we show that ionizable side chains are completely dispensable for charging under native conditions, but if present, they are preferential protonation sites. The absence of ionizable side chains results in identical charge state distributions under native-like and denaturing conditions, while coexisting conformers can be distinguished using ion mobility separation. An excess of ionizable side chains, on the other hand, effectively modulates protein ion stability. In fact, moving a single ionizable group can dramatically alter the gas-phase conformation of a protein ion. We conclude that although the sum of the charges is governed solely by Coulombic terms, their locations affect the stability of the protein in the gas phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mia L. Abramsson
- Department
of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 23A, 171 65 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Cagla Sahin
- Department
of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 23A, 171 65 Stockholm, Sweden
- Linderstrøm-Lang
Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jonathan T. S. Hopper
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, U.K.
| | - Rui M. M. Branca
- Department
of Oncology-Pathology, Science for Life
Laboratory and Karolinska Institutet, 171 65 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jens Danielsson
- Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm
University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mingming Xu
- Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm
University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Shane A. Chandler
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, U.K.
| | - Nicklas Österlund
- Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm
University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Leopold L. Ilag
- Department
of Material and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Axel Leppert
- Department
of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska
Institutet, Neo, 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Joana Costeira-Paulo
- Department
of Chemistry−BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lisa Lang
- Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm
University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kaare Teilum
- Linderstrøm-Lang
Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Arthur Laganowsky
- Department
of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States
| | - Justin L. P. Benesch
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, U.K.
| | - Mikael Oliveberg
- Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm
University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Carol V. Robinson
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, U.K.
| | - Erik G. Marklund
- Department
of Chemistry−BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Timothy M. Allison
- Biomolecular
Interaction Centre, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
| | - Jakob R. Winther
- Linderstrøm-Lang
Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Michael Landreh
- Department
of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 23A, 171 65 Stockholm, Sweden
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10
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Eliah Dawod I, Tîmneanu N, Mancuso AP, Caleman C, Grånäs O. Imaging of femtosecond bond breaking and charge dynamics in ultracharged peptides. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 24:1532-1543. [PMID: 34939631 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp03419g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
X-ray free-electrons lasers have revolutionized the method of imaging biological macromolecules such as proteins, viruses and cells by opening the door to structural determination of both single particles and crystals at room temperature. By utilizing high intensity X-ray pulses on femtosecond timescales, the effects of radiation damage can be reduced. Achieving high resolution structures will likely require knowledge of how radiation damage affects the structure on an atomic scale, since the experimentally obtained electron densities will be reconstructed in the presence of radiation damage. Detailed understanding of the expected damage scenarios provides further information, in addition to guiding possible corrections that may need to be made to obtain a damage free reconstruction. In this work, we have quantified the effects of ionizing photon-matter interactions using first principles molecular dynamics. We utilize density functional theory to calculate bond breaking and charge dynamics in three ultracharged molecules and two different structural conformations that are important to the structural integrity of biological macromolecules, comparing to our previous studies on amino acids. The effects of the ultracharged states and subsequent bond breaking in real space are studied in reciprocal space using coherent diffractive imaging of an ensemble of aligned biomolecules in the gas phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibrahim Eliah Dawod
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. .,European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, DE-22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Nicusor Tîmneanu
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Adrian P Mancuso
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, DE-22869 Schenefeld, Germany.,Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. .,Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestraße 85, DE-22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Oscar Grånäs
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden.
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11
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In a flash of light: X-ray free electron lasers meet native mass spectrometry. DRUG DISCOVERY TODAY. TECHNOLOGIES 2021; 39:89-99. [PMID: 34906329 DOI: 10.1016/j.ddtec.2021.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2020] [Revised: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
During the last years, X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) have emerged as X-ray sources of unparalleled brightness, delivering extreme amounts of photons in femtosecond pulses. As such, they have opened up completely new possibilities in drug discovery and structural biology, including studying high resolution biomolecular structures and their functioning in a time resolved manner, and diffractive imaging of single particles without the need for their crystallization. In this perspective, we briefly review the operation of XFELs, their immediate uses for drug discovery and focus on the potentially revolutionary single particle diffractive imaging technique and the challenges which remain to be overcome to fully realize its potential to provide high resolution structures without the need for crystallization, freezing or the need to keep proteins stable at extreme concentrations for long periods of time. As the issues have been to a large extent sample delivery related, we outline a way for native mass spectrometry to overcome these and enable so far impossible research with a potentially huge impact on structural biology and drug discovery, such as studying structures of transient intermediate species in viral life cycles or during functioning of molecular machines.
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Abstract
Abstract
Methods of coherent X-ray diffraction imaging of the spatial structure of noncrystalline objects and nanocrystals (nanostructures) are considered. Particular attention is paid to the methods of scanning-based coherent diffraction imaging (ptychography), visualization based on coherent surface scattering with application of correlation spectroscopy approaches, and specific features of visualization using X-ray free-electron laser radiation. The corresponding data in the literature are analyzed to demonstrate the state of the art of the methods of coherent diffraction imaging and fields of their application.
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Effects of radiation damage and inelastic scattering on single-particle imaging of hydrated proteins with an X-ray Free-Electron Laser. Sci Rep 2021; 11:17976. [PMID: 34504156 PMCID: PMC8429720 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97142-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a computational case study of X-ray single-particle imaging of hydrated proteins on an example of 2-Nitrogenase-Iron protein covered with water layers of various thickness, using a start-to-end simulation platform and experimental parameters of the SPB/SFX instrument at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility. The simulations identify an optimal thickness of the water layer at which the effective resolution for imaging the hydrated sample becomes significantly higher than for the non-hydrated sample. This effect is lost when the water layer becomes too thick. Even though the detailed results presented pertain to the specific sample studied, the trends which we identify should also hold in a general case. We expect these findings will guide future single-particle imaging experiments using hydrated proteins.
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Sinelnikova A, Mandl T, Agelii H, Grånäs O, Marklund EG, Caleman C, De Santis E. Protein orientation in time-dependent electric fields: orientation before destruction. Biophys J 2021; 120:3709-3717. [PMID: 34303701 PMCID: PMC8456286 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteins often have nonzero electric dipole moments, making them interact with external electric fields and offering a means for controlling their orientation. One application that is known to benefit from orientation control is single-particle imaging with x-ray free-electron lasers, in which diffraction is recorded from proteins in the gas phase to determine their structures. To this point, theoretical investigations into this phenomenon have assumed that the field experienced by the proteins is constant or a perfect step function, whereas any real-world pulse will be smooth. Here, we explore the possibility of orienting gas-phase proteins using time-dependent electric fields. We performed ab initio simulations to estimate the field strength required to break protein bonds, with 45 V/nm as a breaking point value. We then simulated ubiquitin in time-dependent electric fields using classical molecular dynamics. The minimal field strength required for orientation within 10 ns was on the order of 0.5 V/nm. Although high fields can be destructive for the structure, the structures in our simulations were preserved until orientation was achieved regardless of field strength, a principle we denote “orientation before destruction.”
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Sinelnikova
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Thomas Mandl
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, Wien, Austria
| | - Harald Agelii
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Oscar Grånäs
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry BMC, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Emiliano De Santis
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Chemistry BMC, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
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Sinelnikova A, Mandl T, Östlin C, Grånäs O, Brodmerkel MN, Marklund EG, Caleman C. Reproducibility in the unfolding process of protein induced by an external electric field. Chem Sci 2020; 12:2030-2038. [PMID: 34163965 PMCID: PMC8179335 DOI: 10.1039/d0sc06008a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The dynamics of proteins are crucial for their function. However, commonly used techniques for studying protein structures are limited in monitoring time-resolved dynamics at high resolution. Combining electric fields with existing techniques to study gas-phase proteins, such as single particle imaging using free-electron lasers and gas-phase small angle X-ray scattering, has the potential to open up a new era in time-resolved studies of gas-phase protein dynamics. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we identify well-defined unfolding pathways of a protein, induced by experimentally achievable external electric fields. Our simulations show that strong electric fields in conjunction with short-pulsed X-ray sources such as free-electron lasers can be a new path for imaging dynamics of gas-phase proteins at high spatial and temporal resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Sinelnikova
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University Box 516 SE-751 20 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Thomas Mandl
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University Box 516 SE-751 20 Uppsala Sweden .,University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien Höchstädtplatz 6 A-1200 Wien Austria
| | - Christofer Östlin
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University Box 516 SE-751 20 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Oscar Grånäs
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University Box 516 SE-751 20 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Maxim N Brodmerkel
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University Box 576 SE-751 23 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University Box 576 SE-751 23 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University Box 516 SE-751 20 Uppsala Sweden .,Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY Notkestrasse 85 DE-22607 Hamburg Germany
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