Holography with X-rays

Development of serial X-ray fluorescence holography for radiation-sensitive protein crystals

X-ray fluorescence holography (XFH) is a powerful atomic resolution technique capable of directly imaging the local atomic structure around atoms of a target element within a material. Although it is theoretically possible to use XFH to study the local structures of metal clusters in large protein crystals, the experiment has proven difficult to perform, especially on radiation-sensitive proteins. Here, the development of serial X-ray fluorescence holography to allow the direct recording of hologram patterns before the onset of radiation damage is reported. By combining a 2D hybrid detector and the serial data collection used in serial protein crystallography, the X-ray fluorescence hologram can be directly recorded in a fraction of the measurement time needed for conventional XFH measurements. This approach was demonstrated by obtaining the Mn Kα hologram pattern from the protein crystal Photosystem II without any X-ray-induced reduction of the Mn clusters. Furthermore, a method to interpret the fluorescence patterns as real-space projections of the atoms surrounding the Mn emitters has been developed, where the surrounding atoms produce large dark dips along the emitter-scatterer bond directions. This new technique paves the way for future experiments on protein crystals that aim to clarify the local atomic structures of their functional metal clusters, and for other related XFH experiments such as valence-selective XFH or time-resolved XFH.

Dual functions of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha for the commitment of mouse embryonic stem cells toward a neural lineage

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are useful for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of cell fate decision in the early development of mammals. It has been shown that aggregate culture of ES cells efficiently induces neuroectoderm differentiation. However, the molecular mechanism that leads to selective neural differentiation in aggregate culture is not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that the oxygen-sensitive hypoxia-inducible transcription factor, Hif-1α, is an essential regulator for neural commitment of ES cells. We found that a hypoxic environment is spontaneously established in differentiating ES cell aggregates within 3 days, and that this time window coincides with Hif-1α activation. In ES cells in adherent culture under hypoxic conditions, Hif-1α activation was correlated with significantly greater expression of neural progenitor-specific gene Sox1 compared with ES cells in adherent culture under normoxic conditions. In contrast, Hif-1α-depleted ES cell aggregates showed severe reduction in Sox1 expression and maintained high expression of undifferentiated ES cell marker genes and epiblast marker gene Fgf5 on day 4. Notably, chromatin immune precipitation assay and luciferase assay showed that Hif-1α might directly activate Sox1 expression. Of additional importance is our finding that attenuation of Hif-1α resulted in an increase of BMP4, a potent inhibitor of neural differentiation, and led to a high level of phosphorylated Smad1. Thus, our results indicate that Hif-1α acts as a positive regulator of neural commitment by promoting the transition of ES cell differentiation from the epiblast into the neuroectoderm state via direct activation of Sox1 expression and suppressing endogenous BMP signaling.

Stereoscopic microscopy of atomic arrangement by circularly polarized-light photoelectron diffraction

A principle for stereoscopic photographs that enables viewing three-dimensional atomic arrangements is proposed. The azimuthal shifts of forward-focusing peaks in the photoelectron diffraction pattern obtained by left and right helicity lights enables a stereoscopic image when the two images are, respectively, viewed by the left eye and the right eye simultaneously. By taking advantage of this phenomenon, a display-type spherical-mirror analyzer can obtain stereoscopic photographs directly on the screen without any computer-aided conversion process.

Genetic analysis of dorsoventral pattern formation in the zebrafish: requirement of a BMP-like ventralizing activity and its dorsal repressor

According to a model based on embryological studies in amphibia, dorsoventral patterning is regulated by the antagonizing function of ventralizing bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and dorsalizing signals generated by Spemann's organizer. Large-scale mutant screens in the zebrafish, Danio rerio, have led to the isolation of two classes of recessive lethal mutations affecting early dorsoventral pattern formation. dino mutant embryos are ventralized, whereas swirl mutants are dorsalized. We show that at early gastrula stages, dino and swirl mutants display an expanded or reduced Bmp4 expression, respectively. The dino and swirl mutant phenotypes both can be phenocopied and rescued by the modulation of BMP signaling in wild-type and mutant embryos. By suppressing BMP signaling in dino mutants, adult fertile dino -/- fish were generated. These findings, together with results from the analysis of dino-swirl double mutants, indicate that dino fulfills its dorsalizing activity via a suppression of swirl-dependent, BMP-like ventralizing activities. Finally, cell transplantation experiments show that dino is required on the dorsal side of early gastrula embryos and acts in a non-cell-autonomous fashion. Together, these results provide genetic evidence in support of a mechanism of early dorsoventral patterning that is conserved among vertebrate and invertebrate embryos.