1
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Moon J, Lee Y, Ihee H. Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography for investigating structural dynamics of chemical systems. Chem Commun (Camb) 2024. [PMID: 39118495 DOI: 10.1039/d4cc03185g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) has emerged as a crucial tool for studying the structural dynamics of proteins. In principle, TR-SFX has the potential to be a powerful tool not only for studying proteins but also for investigating chemical reactions. However, non-protein systems generally face challenges in indexing due to sparse Bragg spots and encounter difficulties in effectively exciting target molecules. Nevertheless, successful TR-SFX studies on chemical systems have been recently reported in a few instances, boding well for the application of TR-SFX to study chemical reactions in the future. In this context, we review the static SFX and TR-SFX studies conducted on chemical systems reported to date and suggest prospects for future research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jungho Moon
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics (CARD), Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
| | - Yunbeom Lee
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics (CARD), Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
| | - Hyotcherl Ihee
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics (CARD), Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
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2
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Dawod I, Patra K, Cardoch S, Jönsson HO, Sellberg JA, Martin AV, Binns J, Grånäs O, Mancuso AP, Caleman C, Timneanu N. Theoretical Studies of Anisotropic Melting of Ice Induced by Ultrafast Nonthermal Heating. ACS PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AU 2024; 4:385-392. [PMID: 39069981 PMCID: PMC11274275 DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.3c00072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Water and ice are routinely studied with X-rays to reveal their diverse structures and anomalous properties. We employ a hybrid collisional-radiative/molecular-dynamics method to explore how femtosecond X-ray pulses interact with hexagonal ice. We find that ice makes a phase transition into a crystalline plasma where its initial structure is maintained up to tens of femtoseconds. The ultrafast melting process occurs anisotropically, where different geometric configurations of the structure melt on different time scales. The transient state and anisotropic melting of crystals can be captured by X-ray diffraction, which impacts any study of crystalline structures probed by femtosecond X-ray lasers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibrahim Dawod
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
- European
XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, DE-22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Kajwal Patra
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sebastian Cardoch
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - H. Olof Jönsson
- Department
of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jonas A. Sellberg
- Department
of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Andrew V. Martin
- School
of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
| | - Jack Binns
- School
of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
| | - Oscar Grånäs
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Adrian P. Mancuso
- European
XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, DE-22869 Schenefeld, Germany
- Diamond
Light Source, Harwell Science
and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, U.K.
- 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-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
- Center
for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches
Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestraße 85, DE-22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Nicusor Timneanu
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
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3
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Vinyard DJ, Govindjee G. Bicarbonate is a key regulator but not a substrate for O 2 evolution in Photosystem II. PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH 2024:10.1007/s11120-024-01111-8. [PMID: 39037690 DOI: 10.1007/s11120-024-01111-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 07/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Photosystem II (PSII) uses light energy to oxidize water and to reduce plastoquinone in the photosynthetic electron transport chain. O2 is produced as a byproduct. While most members of the PSII research community agree that O2 originates from water molecules, alternative hypotheses involving bicarbonate persist in the literature. In this perspective, we provide an overview of the important roles of bicarbonate in regulating PSII activity and assembly. Further, we emphasize that biochemistry, spectroscopy, and structural biology experiments have all failed to detect bicarbonate near the active site of O2 evolution. While thermodynamic arguments for oxygen-centered bicarbonate oxidation are valid, the claim that bicarbonate is a substrate for photosynthetic O2 evolution is challenged.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Vinyard
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
| | - Govindjee Govindjee
- Department of Biochemistry, Department of Plant Biology, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
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4
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Flesher DA, Liu J, Wang J, Gisriel CJ, Yang KR, Batista VS, Debus RJ, Brudvig GW. Mutation-induced shift of the photosystem II active site reveals insight into conserved water channels. J Biol Chem 2024; 300:107475. [PMID: 38879008 PMCID: PMC11294709 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 06/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Photosystem II (PSII) is the water-plastoquinone photo-oxidoreductase central to oxygenic photosynthesis. PSII has been extensively studied for its ability to catalyze light-driven water oxidation at a Mn4CaO5 cluster called the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC). Despite these efforts, the complete reaction mechanism for water oxidation by PSII is still heavily debated. Previous mutagenesis studies have investigated the roles of conserved amino acids, but these studies have lacked a direct structural basis that would allow for a more meaningful interpretation. Here, we report a 2.14-Å resolution cryo-EM structure of a PSII complex containing the substitution Asp170Glu on the D1 subunit. This mutation directly perturbs a bridging carboxylate ligand of the OEC, which alters the spectroscopic properties of the OEC without fully abolishing water oxidation. The structure reveals that the mutation shifts the position of the OEC within the active site without markedly distorting the Mn4CaO5 cluster metal-metal geometry, instead shifting the OEC as a rigid body. This shift disturbs the hydrogen-bonding network of structured waters near the OEC, causing disorder in the conserved water channels. This mutation-induced disorder appears consistent with previous FTIR spectroscopic data. We further show using quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics methods that the mutation-induced structural changes can affect the magnetic properties of the OEC by altering the axes of the Jahn-Teller distortion of the Mn(III) ion coordinated to D1-170. These results offer new perspectives on the conserved water channels, the rigid body property of the OEC, and the role of D1-Asp170 in the enzymatic water oxidation mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Flesher
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Jinchan Liu
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Jimin Wang
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | | | - Ke R Yang
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Victor S Batista
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Richard J Debus
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Riverside, California, USA.
| | - Gary W Brudvig
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
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5
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Lee Y, Oang KY, Kim D, Ihee H. A comparative review of time-resolved x-ray and electron scattering to probe structural dynamics. STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS (MELVILLE, N.Y.) 2024; 11:031301. [PMID: 38706888 PMCID: PMC11065455 DOI: 10.1063/4.0000249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
The structure of molecules, particularly the dynamic changes in structure, plays an essential role in understanding physical and chemical phenomena. Time-resolved (TR) scattering techniques serve as crucial experimental tools for studying structural dynamics, offering direct sensitivity to molecular structures through scattering signals. Over the past decade, the advent of x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) and mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED) facilities has ushered TR scattering experiments into a new era, garnering significant attention. In this review, we delve into the basic principles of TR scattering experiments, especially focusing on those that employ x-rays and electrons. We highlight the variations in experimental conditions when employing x-rays vs electrons and discuss their complementarity. Additionally, cutting-edge XFELs and MeV-UED facilities for TR x-ray and electron scattering experiments and the experiments performed at those facilities are reviewed. As new facilities are constructed and existing ones undergo upgrades, the landscape for TR x-ray and electron scattering experiments is poised for further expansion. Through this review, we aim to facilitate the effective utilization of these emerging opportunities, assisting researchers in delving deeper into the intricate dynamics of molecular structures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Key Young Oang
- Radiation Center for Ultrafast Science, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon 34057, South Korea
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6
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Kang J, Lee Y, Lee S, Ki H, Kim J, Gu J, Cha Y, Heo J, Lee KW, Kim SO, Park J, Park SY, Kim S, Ma R, Eom I, Kim M, Kim J, Lee JH, Ihee H. Dynamic three-dimensional structures of a metal-organic framework captured with femtosecond serial crystallography. Nat Chem 2024; 16:693-699. [PMID: 38528103 PMCID: PMC11087265 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-024-01460-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024]
Abstract
Crystalline systems consisting of small-molecule building blocks have emerged as promising materials with diverse applications. It is of great importance to characterize not only their static structures but also the conversion of their structures in response to external stimuli. Femtosecond time-resolved crystallography has the potential to probe the real-time dynamics of structural transitions, but, thus far, this has not been realized for chemical reactions in non-biological crystals. In this study, we applied time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX), a powerful technique for visualizing protein structural dynamics, to a metal-organic framework, consisting of Fe porphyrins and hexazirconium nodes, and elucidated its structural dynamics. The time-resolved electron density maps derived from the TR-SFX data unveil trifurcating structural pathways: coherent oscillatory movements of Zr and Fe atoms, a transient structure with the Fe porphyrins and Zr6 nodes undergoing doming and disordering movements, respectively, and a vibrationally hot structure with isotropic structural disorder. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using TR-SFX to study chemical systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaedong Kang
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Yunbeom Lee
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Seonggon Lee
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Hosung Ki
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jungmin Kim
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jain Gu
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Yongjun Cha
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun Heo
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyung Won Lee
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Seong Ok Kim
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jaehyun Park
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang-Youn Park
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Sangsoo Kim
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Rory Ma
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Intae Eom
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Minseok Kim
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Jeongho Kim
- Department of Chemistry, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jae Hyuk Lee
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyotcherl Ihee
- Department of Chemistry and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
- Center for Advanced Reaction Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
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7
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Stachowski TR, Fischer M. FLEXR GUI: a graphical user interface for multi-conformer modeling of proteins. J Appl Crystallogr 2024; 57:580-586. [PMID: 38596743 PMCID: PMC11001397 DOI: 10.1107/s1600576724001523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Proteins are well known 'shapeshifters' which change conformation to function. In crystallography, multiple conformational states are often present within the crystal and the resulting electron-density map. Yet, explicitly incorporating alternative states into models to disentangle multi-conformer ensembles is challenging. We previously reported the tool FLEXR, which, within a few minutes, automatically separates conformational signal from noise and builds the corresponding, often missing, structural features into a multi-conformer model. To make the method widely accessible for routine multi-conformer building as part of the computational toolkit for macromolecular crystallography, we present a graphical user interface (GUI) for FLEXR, designed as a plugin for Coot 1. The GUI implementation seamlessly connects FLEXR models with the existing suite of validation and modeling tools available in Coot. We envision that FLEXR will aid crystallographers by increasing access to a multi-conformer modeling method that will ultimately lead to a better representation of protein conformational heterogeneity in the Protein Data Bank. In turn, deeper insights into the protein conformational landscape may inform biology or provide new opportunities for ligand design. The code is open source and freely available on GitHub at https://github.com/TheFischerLab/FLEXR-GUI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R. Stachowski
- Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Marcus Fischer
- Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
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8
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Khusainov G, Standfuss J, Weinert T. The time revolution in macromolecular crystallography. STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS (MELVILLE, N.Y.) 2024; 11:020901. [PMID: 38616866 PMCID: PMC11015943 DOI: 10.1063/4.0000247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Macromolecular crystallography has historically provided the atomic structures of proteins fundamental to cellular functions. However, the advent of cryo-electron microscopy for structure determination of large and increasingly smaller and flexible proteins signaled a paradigm shift in structural biology. The extensive structural and sequence data from crystallography and advanced sequencing techniques have been pivotal for training computational models for accurate structure prediction, unveiling the general fold of most proteins. Here, we present a perspective on the rise of time-resolved crystallography as the new frontier of macromolecular structure determination. We trace the evolution from the pioneering time-resolved crystallography methods to modern serial crystallography, highlighting the synergy between rapid detection technologies and state-of-the-art x-ray sources. These innovations are redefining our exploration of protein dynamics, with high-resolution crystallography uniquely positioned to elucidate rapid dynamic processes at ambient temperatures, thus deepening our understanding of protein functionality. We propose that the integration of dynamic structural data with machine learning advancements will unlock predictive capabilities for protein kinetics, revolutionizing dynamics like macromolecular crystallography revolutionized structural biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgii Khusainov
- Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, Division of Biology and Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Joerg Standfuss
- Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, Division of Biology and Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Tobias Weinert
- Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, Division of Biology and Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
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9
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Caramello N, Royant A. From femtoseconds to minutes: time-resolved macromolecular crystallography at XFELs and synchrotrons. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2024; 80:60-79. [PMID: 38265875 PMCID: PMC10836399 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798323011002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Over the last decade, the development of time-resolved serial crystallography (TR-SX) at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) and synchrotrons has allowed researchers to study phenomena occurring in proteins on the femtosecond-to-minute timescale, taking advantage of many technical and methodological breakthroughs. Protein crystals of various sizes are presented to the X-ray beam in either a static or a moving medium. Photoactive proteins were naturally the initial systems to be studied in TR-SX experiments using pump-probe schemes, where the pump is a pulse of visible light. Other reaction initiations through small-molecule diffusion are gaining momentum. Here, selected examples of XFEL and synchrotron time-resolved crystallography studies will be used to highlight the specificities of the various instruments and methods with respect to time resolution, and are compared with cryo-trapping studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Caramello
- Structural Biology Group, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 1 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 40220, 38043 Grenoble CEDEX 9, France
- Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, HARBOR, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Antoine Royant
- Structural Biology Group, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 1 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 40220, 38043 Grenoble CEDEX 9, France
- Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS), 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 10090, 38044 Grenoble CEDEX 9, France
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10
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Botha S, Fromme P. Review of serial femtosecond crystallography including the COVID-19 pandemic impact and future outlook. Structure 2023; 31:1306-1319. [PMID: 37898125 PMCID: PMC10842180 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2023.10.005] [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: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023]
Abstract
Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) revolutionized macromolecular crystallography over the past decade by enabling the collection of X-ray diffraction data from nano- or micrometer sized crystals while outrunning structure-altering radiation damage effects at room temperature. The serial manner of data collection from millions of individual crystals coupled with the femtosecond duration of the ultrabright X-ray pulses enables time-resolved studies of macromolecules under near-physiological conditions to unprecedented temporal resolution. In 2020 the rapid spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 resulted in a global pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019. This led to a shift in how serial femtosecond experiments were performed, along with rapid funding and free electron laser beamtime availability dedicated to SARS-CoV-2-related studies. This review outlines the current state of SFX research, the milestones that were achieved, the impact of the global pandemic on this field as well as an outlook into exciting future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Botha
- Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5001, USA; Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1504, USA.
| | - Petra Fromme
- Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5001, USA; School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA.
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11
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Gates C, Williams JM, Ananyev G, Dismukes GC. How chloride functions to enable proton conduction in photosynthetic water oxidation: Time-resolved kinetics of intermediates (S-states) in vivo and bromide substitution. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA. BIOENERGETICS 2023; 1864:148998. [PMID: 37499962 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2023.148998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Chloride (Cl-) is essential for O2 evolution during photosynthetic water oxidation. Two chlorides near the water-oxidizing complex (WOC) in Photosystem II (PSII) structures from Thermosynechococcus elongatus (and T. vulcanus) have been postulated to transfer protons generated from water oxidation. We monitored four criteria: primary charge separation flash yield (P* → P+QA-), rates of water oxidation steps (S-states), rate of proton evolution, and flash O2 yield oscillations by measuring chlorophyll variable fluorescence (P* quenching), pH-sensitive dye changes, and oximetry. Br-substitution slows and destabilizes cellular growth, resulting from lower light-saturated O2 evolution rate (-20 %) and proton release (-36 % ΔpH gradient). The latter implies less ATP production. In Br- cultures, protonogenic S-state transitions (S2 → S3 → S0') slow with increasing light intensity and during O2/water exchange (S0' → S0 → S1), while the non-protonogenic S1 → S2 transition is kinetically unaffected. As flash rate increases in Cl- cultures, both rate and extent of acidification of the lumen increase, while charge recombination is suppressed relative to Br-. The Cl- advantage in rapid proton escape from the WOC to lumen is attributed to correlated ion-pair movement of H3O+Cl- in dry water channels vs. separated Br- and H+ ion movement through different regions (>200-fold difference in Bronsted acidities). By contrast, at low flash rates a previously unreported reversal occurs that favors Br- cultures for both proton evolution and less PSII charge recombination. In Br- cultures, slower proton transfer rate is attributed to stronger ion-pairing of Br- with AA residues lining the water channels. Both anions charge-neutralize protons and shepherd them to the lumen using dry aqueous channels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Gates
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA; Department of Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Loyola University Chicago, IL 60660, USA
| | - Jonah M Williams
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA; Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Gennady Ananyev
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA
| | - G Charles Dismukes
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08854, USA.
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12
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Abstract
Proteins guide the flows of information, energy, and matter that make life possible by accelerating transport and chemical reactions, by allosterically modulating these reactions, and by forming dynamic supramolecular assemblies. In these roles, conformational change underlies functional transitions. Time-resolved X-ray diffraction methods characterize these transitions either by directly triggering sequences of functionally important motions or, more broadly, by capturing the motions of which proteins are capable. To date, most successful have been experiments in which conformational change is triggered in light-dependent proteins. In this review, I emphasize emerging techniques that probe the dynamic basis of function in proteins lacking natively light-dependent transitions and speculate about extensions and further possibilities. In addition, I review how the weaker and more distributed signals in these data push the limits of the capabilities of analytical methods. Taken together, these new methods are beginning to establish a powerful paradigm for the study of the physics of protein function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doeke R Hekstra
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA;
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13
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Drosou M, Comas-Vilà G, Neese F, Salvador P, Pantazis DA. Does Serial Femtosecond Crystallography Depict State-Specific Catalytic Intermediates of the Oxygen-Evolving Complex? J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:10604-10621. [PMID: 37137865 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c00489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Recent advances in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) of photosystem II (PSII), enabled by X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), provided the first geometric models of distinct intermediates in the catalytic S-state cycle of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC). These models are obtained by flash-advancing the OEC from the dark-stable state (S1) to more oxidized intermediates (S2 and S3), eventually cycling back to the most reduced S0. However, the interpretation of these models is controversial because geometric parameters within the Mn4CaO5 cluster of the OEC do not exactly match those expected from coordination chemistry for the spectroscopically verified manganese oxidation states of the distinct S-state intermediates. Here we focus on the first catalytic transition, S1 → S2, which represents a one-electron oxidation of the OEC. Combining geometric and electronic structure criteria, including a novel effective oxidation state approach, we analyze existing 1-flash (1F) SFX-XFEL crystallographic models that should depict the S2 state of the OEC. We show that the 1F/S2 equivalence is not obvious, because the Mn oxidation states and total unpaired electron counts encoded in these models are not fully consistent with those of a pure S2 state and with the nature of the S1 → S2 transition. Furthermore, the oxidation state definition in two-flashed (2F) structural models is practically impossible to elucidate. Our results advise caution in the extraction of electronic structure information solely from the literal interpretation of crystallographic models and call for re-evaluation of structural and mechanistic interpretations that presume exact correspondence of such models to specific catalytic intermediates of the OEC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Drosou
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Gerard Comas-Vilà
- Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis, Chemistry Department, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus, Girona, Catalonia 17003, Spain
| | - Frank Neese
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Pedro Salvador
- Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis, Chemistry Department, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus, Girona, Catalonia 17003, Spain
| | - Dimitrios A Pantazis
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
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14
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Gates C, Ananyev G, Roy-Chowdhury S, Fromme P, Dismukes GC. Regulation of light energy conversion between linear and cyclic electron flow within photosystem II controlled by the plastoquinone/quinol redox poise. PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH 2023; 156:113-128. [PMID: 36436152 DOI: 10.1007/s11120-022-00985-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 11/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Ultrapurified Photosystem II complexes crystalize as uniform microcrystals (PSIIX) of unprecedented homogeneity that allow observation of details previously unachievable, including the longest sustained oscillations of flash-induced O2 yield over > 200 flashes and a novel period-4.7 water oxidation cycle. We provide new evidence for a molecular-based mechanism for PSII-cyclic electron flow that accounts for switching from linear to cyclic electron flow within PSII as the downstream PQ/PQH2 pool reduces in response to metabolic needs and environmental input. The model is supported by flash oximetry of PSIIX as the LEF/CEF switch occurs, Fourier analysis of O2 flash yields, and Joliot-Kok modeling. The LEF/CEF switch rebalances the ratio of reductant energy (PQH2) to proton gradient energy (H+o/H+i) created by PSII photochemistry. Central to this model is the requirement for a regulatory site (QC) with two redox states in equilibrium with the dissociable secondary electron carrier site QB. Both sites are controlled by electrons and protons. Our evidence fits historical LEF models wherein light-driven water oxidation delivers electrons (from QA-) and stromal protons through QB to generate plastoquinol, the terminal product of PSII-LEF in vivo. The new insight is the essential regulatory role of QC. This site senses both the proton gradient (H+o/H+i) and the PQ pool redox poise via e-/H+ equilibration with QB. This information directs switching to CEF upon population of the protonated semiquinone in the Qc site (Q-H+)C, while the WOC is in the reducible S2 or S3 states. Subsequent photochemical primary charge separation (P+QA-) forms no (QH2)B, but instead undergoes two-electron backward transition in which the QC protons are pumped into the lumen, while the electrons return to the WOC forming (S1/S2). PSII-CEF enables production of additional ATP needed to power cellular processes including the terminal carboxylation reaction and in some cases PSI-dependent CEF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Gates
- Dept of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA
- Dept of Computational Biology & Molecular Biophysics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
- Dept of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Gennady Ananyev
- Dept of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA
| | - Shatabdi Roy-Chowdhury
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Petra Fromme
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - G Charles Dismukes
- Dept of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA.
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA.
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15
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Caspy I, Fadeeva M, Mazor Y, Nelson N. Structure of Dunaliella photosystem II reveals conformational flexibility of stacked and unstacked supercomplexes. eLife 2023; 12:e81150. [PMID: 36799903 PMCID: PMC9949808 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Photosystem II (PSII) generates an oxidant whose redox potential is high enough to enable water oxidation , a substrate so abundant that it assures a practically unlimited electron source for life on earth . Our knowledge on the mechanism of water photooxidation was greatly advanced by high-resolution structures of prokaryotic PSII . Here, we show high-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of eukaryotic PSII from the green alga Dunaliella salina at two distinct conformations. The conformers are also present in stacked PSII, exhibiting flexibility that may be relevant to the grana formation in chloroplasts of the green lineage. CP29, one of PSII associated light-harvesting antennae, plays a major role in distinguishing the two conformations of the supercomplex. We also show that the stacked PSII dimer, a form suggested to support the organisation of thylakoid membranes , can appear in many different orientations providing a flexible stacking mechanism for the arrangement of grana stacks in thylakoids. Our findings provide a structural basis for the heterogenous nature of the eukaryotic PSII on multiple levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ido Caspy
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Maria Fadeeva
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Yuval Mazor
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State UniversityTempeUnited States
- Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State UniversityTempeUnited States
| | - Nathan Nelson
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
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16
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Simon PS, Makita H, Bogacz I, Fuller F, Bhowmick A, Hussein R, Ibrahim M, Zhang M, Chatterjee R, Cheah MH, Chernev P, Doyle MD, Brewster AS, Alonso-Mori R, Sauter NK, Bergmann U, Dobbek H, Zouni A, Messinger J, Kern J, Yachandra VK, Yano J. Capturing the sequence of events during the water oxidation reaction in photosynthesis using XFELs. FEBS Lett 2023; 597:30-37. [PMID: 36310373 PMCID: PMC9839502 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.14527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2022] [Revised: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Ever since the discovery that Mn was required for oxygen evolution in plants by Pirson in 1937 and the period-four oscillation in flash-induced oxygen evolution by Joliot and Kok in the 1970s, understanding of this process has advanced enormously using state-of-the-art methods. The most recent in this series of innovative techniques was the introduction of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) a decade ago, which led to another quantum leap in the understanding in this field, by enabling operando X-ray structural and X-ray spectroscopy studies at room temperature. This review summarizes the current understanding of the structure of Photosystem II (PS II) and its catalytic centre, the Mn4 CaO5 complex, in the intermediate Si (i = 0-4)-states of the Kok cycle, obtained using XFELs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp S Simon
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Hiroki Makita
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Isabel Bogacz
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Franklin Fuller
- Pulse Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
| | - Asmit Bhowmick
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Rana Hussein
- Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mohamed Ibrahim
- Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Miao Zhang
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ruchira Chatterjee
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Mun Hon Cheah
- Molecular Biomimetics, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Petko Chernev
- Molecular Biomimetics, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Margaret D Doyle
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Aaron S Brewster
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Roberto Alonso-Mori
- LINAC Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
| | - Nicholas K Sauter
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Uwe Bergmann
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Holger Dobbek
- Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Athina Zouni
- Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes Messinger
- Molecular Biomimetics, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Jan Kern
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Vittal K Yachandra
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Junko Yano
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
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17
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Stagno JR, Knoska J, Chapman HN, Wang YX. Mix-and-Inject Serial Femtosecond Crystallography to Capture RNA Riboswitch Intermediates. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2568:243-249. [PMID: 36227573 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2687-0_16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Time-resolved structure determination of macromolecular conformations and ligand-bound intermediates is extremely challenging, particularly for RNA. With rapid technological advances in both microfluidic liquid injection and X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), a new frontier has emerged in time-resolved crystallography whereby crystals can be mixed with ligand and then probed with X-rays (mix-and-inject) in real time and at room temperature. This chapter outlines the basic setup and procedures for mix-and-inject experiments for recording time-resolved crystallographic data of riboswitch RNA reaction states using serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) and an XFEL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason R Stagno
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Juraj Knoska
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Henry N Chapman
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Yun-Xing Wang
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA.
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18
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Bhattacharjee B, Rahman MM, Hibbs RE, Stowell MHB. A simple flash and freeze system for cryogenic time-resolved electron microscopy. Front Mol Biosci 2023; 10:1129225. [PMID: 36959978 PMCID: PMC10028177 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1129225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/09/2023] Open
Abstract
As the resolution revolution in CryoEM expands to encompass all manner of macromolecular complexes, an important new frontier is the implementation of cryogenic time resolved EM (cryoTREM). Biological macromolecular complexes are dynamic systems that undergo conformational changes on timescales from microseconds to minutes. Understanding the dynamic nature of biological changes is critical to understanding function. To realize the full potential of CryoEM, time resolved methods will be integral in coupling static structures to dynamic functions. Here, we present an LED-based photo-flash system as a core part of the sample preparation phase in CryoTREM. The plug-and-play system has a wide range of operational parameters, is low cost and ensures uniform irradiation and minimal heating of the sample prior to plunge freezing. The complete design including electronics and optics, manufacturing, control strategies and operating procedures are discussed for the Thermo Scientific™ Vitrobot and Leica™ EM GP2 plunge freezers. Possible adverse heating effects on the biological sample are also addressed through theoretical as well as experimental studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Biddut Bhattacharjee
- University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
- *Correspondence: Biddut Bhattacharjee, ; Michael H. B. Stowell,
| | | | - Ryan E. Hibbs
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
| | - Michael H. B. Stowell
- University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
- *Correspondence: Biddut Bhattacharjee, ; Michael H. B. Stowell,
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19
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Sonker M, Doppler D, Egatz-Gomez A, Zaare S, Rabbani MT, Manna A, Cruz Villarreal J, Nelson G, Ketawala GK, Karpos K, Alvarez RC, Nazari R, Thifault D, Jernigan R, Oberthür D, Han H, Sierra R, Hunter MS, Batyuk A, Kupitz CJ, Sublett RE, Poitevin F, Lisova S, Mariani V, Tolstikova A, Boutet S, Messerschmidt M, Meza-Aguilar JD, Fromme R, Martin-Garcia JM, Botha S, Fromme P, Grant TD, Kirian RA, Ros A. Electrically stimulated droplet injector for reduced sample consumption in serial crystallography. BIOPHYSICAL REPORTS 2022; 2:100081. [PMID: 36425668 PMCID: PMC9680787 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpr.2022.100081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
With advances in X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) has enabled the static and dynamic structure determination for challenging proteins such as membrane protein complexes. In SFX with XFELs, the crystals are typically destroyed after interacting with a single XFEL pulse. Therefore, thousands of new crystals must be sequentially introduced into the X-ray beam to collect full data sets. Because of the serial nature of any SFX experiment, up to 99% of the sample delivered to the X-ray beam during its "off-time" between X-ray pulses is wasted due to the intrinsic pulsed nature of all current XFELs. To solve this major problem of large and often limiting sample consumption, we report on improvements of a revolutionary sample-saving method that is compatible with all current XFELs. We previously reported 3D-printed injection devices coupled with gas dynamic virtual nozzles (GDVNs) capable of generating samples containing droplets segmented by an immiscible oil phase for jetting crystal-laden droplets into the path of an XFEL. Here, we have further improved the device design by including metal electrodes inducing electrowetting effects for improved control over droplet generation frequency to stimulate the droplet release to matching the XFEL repetition rate by employing an electrical feedback mechanism. We report the improvements in this electrically triggered segmented flow approach for sample conservation in comparison with a continuous GDVN injection using the microcrystals of lysozyme and 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate 8-phosphate synthase and report the segmented flow approach for sample injection applied at the Macromolecular Femtosecond Crystallography instrument at the Linear Coherent Light Source for the first time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mukul Sonker
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Diandra Doppler
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Ana Egatz-Gomez
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Sahba Zaare
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Mohammad T. Rabbani
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Abhik Manna
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Jorvani Cruz Villarreal
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Garrett Nelson
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Gihan K. Ketawala
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Konstantinos Karpos
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Roberto C. Alvarez
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Reza Nazari
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Darren Thifault
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Rebecca Jernigan
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Dominik Oberthür
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Raymond Sierra
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Mark S. Hunter
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Alexander Batyuk
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Christopher J. Kupitz
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Robert E. Sublett
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Frederic Poitevin
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Stella Lisova
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Valerio Mariani
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Alexandra Tolstikova
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Sebastien Boutet
- Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - Marc Messerschmidt
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - J. Domingo Meza-Aguilar
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Raimund Fromme
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Jose M. Martin-Garcia
- Institute Physical-Chemistry Rocasolano, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sabine Botha
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Petra Fromme
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Thomas D. Grant
- Department of Structural Biology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, SUNY University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
| | - Richard A. Kirian
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Alexandra Ros
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
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20
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Bondar AN. Interplay between local protein interactions and water bridging of a proton antenna carboxylate cluster. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA. BIOMEMBRANES 2022; 1864:184052. [PMID: 36116514 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2022.184052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Proteins that bind protons at cell membrane interfaces often expose to the bulk clusters of carboxylate and histidine sidechains that capture protons transiently and, in proton transporters, deliver protons to an internal site. The protonation-coupled dynamics of bulk-exposed carboxylate clusters, also known as proton antennas, is poorly described. An essential open question is how water-mediated bridges between sidechains of the cluster respond to protonation change and facilitate transient proton storage. To address this question, here I studied the protonation-coupled dynamics at the proton-binding antenna of PsbO, a small extrinsinc subunit of the photosystem II complex, with atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and systematic graph-based analyses of dynamic protein and protein-water hydrogen-bond networks. The protonation of specific carboxylate groups is found to impact the dynamics of their local protein-water hydrogen-bond clusters. Regardless of the protonation state considered for PsbO, carboxylate pairs that can sample direct hydrogen bonding, or bridge via short hydrogen-bonded water chains, anchor to nearby basic or polar protein sidechains. As a result, carboxylic sidechains of the hypothesized antenna cluster are part of dynamic hydrogen bond networks that may rearrange rapidly when the protonation changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana-Nicoleta Bondar
- University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Str. Atomiştilor 405, Bucharest-Măgurele 077125, Romania; Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine and Institute for Advanced Simulations (IAS-5/INM-9), Computational Biomedicine, 52425 Jülich, Germany; Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Physics, Theoretical Molecular Biophysics Group, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.
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21
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Weik M, Domratcheva T. Insight into the structural dynamics of light sensitive proteins from time-resolved crystallography and quantum chemical calculations. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2022; 77:102496. [PMID: 36462226 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2022.102496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
The structural dynamics underlying molecular mechanisms of light-sensitive proteins can be studied by a variety of experimental and computational biophysical techniques. Here we review recent progress in combining time-resolved crystallography at X-ray free electron lasers and quantum chemical calculations to study structural changes in photoenzymes, photosynthetic proteins, photoreceptors, and photoswitchable fluorescent proteins following photoexcitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Weik
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, Institut de Biologie Structurale, F-38044 Grenoble, France.
| | - Tatiana Domratcheva
- Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia; Max-Planck-Institut für medizinische Forschung, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
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22
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Smith N, Wilson MA. Understanding Cysteine Chemistry Using Conventional and Serial X-Ray Protein Crystallography. CRYSTALS 2022; 12:1671. [PMID: 36685087 PMCID: PMC9850494 DOI: 10.3390/cryst12111671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Proteins that use cysteine residues for catalysis or regulation are widely distributed and intensively studied, with many biomedically important examples. Enzymes where cysteine is a catalytic nucleophile typically generate covalent catalytic intermediates whose structures are important for understanding mechanism and for designing targeted inhibitors. The formation of catalytic intermediates can change enzyme conformational dynamics, sometimes activating protein motions that are important for catalytic turnover. However, these transiently populated intermediate species have been challenging to structurally characterize using traditional crystallographic approaches. This review describes the use and promise of new time-resolved serial crystallographic methods to study cysteine-dependent enzymes, with a focus on the main (Mpro) and papain-like (PLpro) cysteine proteases of SARS-CoV-2 as well as other examples. We review features of cysteine chemistry that are relevant for the design and execution of time-resolved serial crystallography experiments. In addition, we discuss emerging X-ray techniques such as time-resolved sulfur X-ray spectroscopy that may be able to detect changes in sulfur charge state and covalency during catalysis or regulatory modification. In summary, cysteine-dependent enzymes have features that make them especially attractive targets for new time-resolved serial crystallography approaches, which can reveal both changes to enzyme structure and dynamics during catalysis in crystalline samples.
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23
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Yamaguchi K, Shoji M, Isobe H, Kawakami T, Miyagawa K, Suga M, Akita F, Shen JR. Geometric, electronic and spin structures of the CaMn4O5 catalyst for water oxidation in oxygen-evolving photosystem II. Interplay between experiments and theoretical computations. Coord Chem Rev 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2022.214742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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24
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Lee HK, Conrad CE, Magidson V, Heinz WF, Pauly G, Yu P, Ramakrishnan S, Stagno JR, Wang YX. Developing methods to study conformational changes in RNA crystals using a photocaged ligand. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:964595. [PMID: 36052167 PMCID: PMC9424638 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.964595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Crystallographic observation of structural changes in real time requires that those changes be uniform both spatially and temporally. A primary challenge with time-resolved ligand-mixing diffraction experiments is asynchrony caused by variable factors, such as efficiency of mixing, rate of diffusion, crystal size, and subsequently, conformational heterogeneity. One method of minimizing such variability is use of a photolabile caged ligand, which can fully saturate the crystal environment (spatially), and whose photoactivation can rapidly (temporally) trigger the reaction in a controlled manner. Our recently published results on a ligand-mixing experiment using time-resolved X-ray crystallography (TRX) with an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) demonstrated that large conformational changes upon ligand binding resulted in a solid-to-solid phase transition (SSPT), while maintaining Bragg diffraction. Here we investigate this SSPT by polarized video microscopy (PVM) after light-triggered release of a photo-caged adenine (pcADE). In general, the mean transition times and transition widths of the SSPT were less dependent on crystal size than what was observed in previous PVM studies with direct ADE mixing. Instead, the photo-induced transition appears to be heavily influenced by the equilibrium between caged and uncaged ADE due to relatively low sample exposure and uncaging efficiency. Nevertheless, we successfully demonstrate a method for the characterization of phase transitions in RNA crystals that are inducible with a photocaged ligand. The transition data for three crystals of different sizes were then applied to kinetic analysis by fitting to the known four-state model associated with ligand-induced conformational changes, revealing an apparent concentration of uncaged ADE in crystal of 0.43–0.46 mM. These results provide further insight into approaches to study time-resolved ligand-induced conformational changes in crystals, and in particular, highlight the feasibility of triggering phase transitions using a light-inducible system. Developing such approaches may be paramount for the rapidly emerging field of time-resolved crystallography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyun Kyung Lee
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - Chelsie E. Conrad
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - Valentin Magidson
- Optical Microscopy and Analysis Laboratory, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - William F. Heinz
- Optical Microscopy and Analysis Laboratory, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - Gary Pauly
- Chemical Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - Ping Yu
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - Saminathan Ramakrishnan
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
| | - Jason R. Stagno
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
- *Correspondence: Jason R. Stagno, ; Yun-Xing Wang,
| | - Yun-Xing Wang
- Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Center for Structural Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, United States
- *Correspondence: Jason R. Stagno, ; Yun-Xing Wang,
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25
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Barends TR, Stauch B, Cherezov V, Schlichting I. Serial femtosecond crystallography. NATURE REVIEWS. METHODS PRIMERS 2022; 2:59. [PMID: 36643971 PMCID: PMC9833121 DOI: 10.1038/s43586-022-00141-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
With the advent of X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs), new, high-throughput serial crystallography techniques for macromolecular structure determination have emerged. Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) and related methods provide possibilities beyond canonical, single-crystal rotation crystallography by mitigating radiation damage and allowing time-resolved studies with unprecedented temporal resolution. This primer aims to assist structural biology groups with little or no experience in serial crystallography planning and carrying out a successful SFX experiment. It discusses the background of serial crystallography and its possibilities. Microcrystal growth and characterization methods are discussed, alongside techniques for sample delivery and data processing. Moreover, it gives practical tips for preparing an experiment, what to consider and do during a beamtime and how to conduct the final data analysis. Finally, the Primer looks at various applications of SFX, including structure determination of membrane proteins, investigation of radiation damage-prone systems and time-resolved studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas R.M. Barends
- Department for Biological Mechanisms, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Benjamin Stauch
- Department of Chemistry, The Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Vadim Cherezov
- Department of Chemistry, The Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Ilme Schlichting
- Department for Biological Mechanisms, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany,
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26
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Macromolecular conformational changes in photosystem II: interaction between structure and function. Biophys Rev 2022; 14:871-886. [DOI: 10.1007/s12551-022-00979-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
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27
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Chen Y, Xu B, Yao R, Chen C, Zhang C. Mimicking the Oxygen-Evolving Center in Photosynthesis. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:929532. [PMID: 35874004 PMCID: PMC9302449 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.929532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The oxygen-evolving center (OEC) in photosystem II (PSII) of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms is a unique heterometallic-oxide Mn4CaO5-cluster that catalyzes water splitting into electrons, protons, and molecular oxygen through a five-state cycle (Sn, n = 0 ~ 4). It serves as the blueprint for the developing of the man-made water-splitting catalysts to generate solar fuel in artificial photosynthesis. Understanding the structure-function relationship of this natural catalyst is a great challenge and a long-standing issue, which is severely restricted by the lack of a precise chemical model for this heterometallic-oxide cluster. However, it is a great challenge for chemists to precisely mimic the OEC in a laboratory. Recently, significant advances have been achieved and a series of artificial Mn4XO4-clusters (X = Ca/Y/Gd) have been reported, which closely mimic both the geometric structure and the electronic structure, as well as the redox property of the OEC. These new advances provide a structurally well-defined molecular platform to study the structure-function relationship of the OEC and shed new light on the design of efficient catalysts for the water-splitting reaction in artificial photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Chen
- Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Boran Xu
- Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ruoqing Yao
- Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Changhui Chen
- Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chunxi Zhang
- Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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28
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Lee K, Kim J, Baek S, Park J, Park S, Lee JL, Chung WK, Cho Y, Nam KH. Combination of an inject-and-transfer system for serial femtosecond crystallography. J Appl Crystallogr 2022; 55:813-822. [DOI: 10.1107/s1600576722005556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2022] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) enables the determination of room-temperature crystal structures of macromolecules with minimized radiation damage and provides time-resolved molecular dynamics by pump–probe or mix-and-inject experiments. In SFX, a variety of sample delivery methods with unique advantages have been developed and applied. The combination of existing sample delivery methods can enable a new approach to SFX data collection that combines the advantages of the individual methods. This study introduces a combined inject-and-transfer system (BITS) method for sample delivery in SFX experiments: a hybrid injection and fixed-target scanning method. BITS allows for solution samples to be reliably deposited on ultraviolet ozone (UVO)-treated polyimide films, at a minimum flow rate of 0.5 nl min−1, in both vertical and horizontal scanning modes. To utilize BITS in SFX experiments, lysozyme crystal samples were embedded in a viscous lard medium and injected at flow rates of 50–100 nl min−1 through a syringe needle onto a UVO-treated polyimide film, which was mounted on a fixed-target scan stage. The crystal samples deposited on the film were raster scanned with an X-ray free electron laser using a motion stage in both horizontal and vertical directions. Using the BITS method, the room-temperature structure of lysozyme was successfully determined at a resolution of 2.1 Å, and thus BITS could be utilized in future SFX experiments.
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29
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Gates C, Ananyev G, Roy-Chowdhury S, Cullinane B, Miller M, Fromme P, Dismukes GC. Why Did Nature Choose Manganese over Cobalt to Make Oxygen Photosynthetically on the Earth? J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:3257-3268. [PMID: 35446582 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
All contemporary oxygenic phototrophs─from primitive cyanobacteria to complex multicellular plants─split water using a single invariant cluster comprising Mn4CaO5 (the water oxidation catalyst) as the catalyst within photosystem II, the universal oxygenic reaction center of natural photosynthesis. This cluster is unstable outside of PSII and can be reconstituted, both in vivo and in vitro, using elemental aqueous ions and light, via photoassembly. Here, we demonstrate the first functional substitution of manganese in any oxygenic reaction center by in vitro photoassembly. Following complete removal of inorganic cofactors from cyanobacterial photosystem II microcrystal (PSIIX), photoassembly with free cobalt (Co2+), calcium (Ca2+), and water (OH-) restores O2 evolution activity. Photoassembly occurs at least threefold faster using Co2+ versus Mn2+ due to a higher quantum yield for PSIIX-mediated charge separation (P*): Co2+ → P* → Co3+QA-. However, this kinetic preference for Co2+ over native Mn2+ during photoassembly is offset by significantly poorer catalytic activity (∼25% of the activity with Mn2+) and ∼3- to 30-fold faster photoinactivation rate. The resulting reconstituted Co-PSIIX oxidizes water by the standard four-flash photocycle, although they produce 4-fold less O2 per PSII, suggested to arise from faster charge recombination (Co3+QA ← Co4+QA-) in the catalytic cycle. The faster photoinactivation of reconstituted Co-PSIIX occurs under anaerobic conditions during the catalytic cycle, suggesting direct photodamage without the involvement of O2. Manganese offers two advantages for oxygenic phototrophs, which may explain its exclusive retention throughout Darwinian evolution: significantly slower charge recombination (Mn3+QA ← Mn4+QA-) permits more water oxidation at low and fluctuating solar irradiation (greater net energy conversion) and much greater tolerance to photodamage at high light intensities (Mn4+ is less oxidizing than Co4+). Future work to identify the chemical nature of the intermediates will be needed for further interpretation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Gates
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Computational Biology & Molecular Biophysics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60660, United States
| | - Gennady Ananyev
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Shatabdi Roy-Chowdhury
- Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery and School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281, United States
| | - Brendan Cullinane
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Mathias Miller
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Petra Fromme
- Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery and School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281, United States
| | - G Charles Dismukes
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
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30
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Serial crystallography captures dynamic control of sequential electron and proton transfer events in a flavoenzyme. Nat Chem 2022; 14:677-685. [PMID: 35393554 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-022-00922-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Flavin coenzymes are universally found in biological redox reactions. DNA photolyases, with their flavin chromophore (FAD), utilize blue light for DNA repair and photoreduction. The latter process involves two single-electron transfers to FAD with an intermittent protonation step to prime the enzyme active for DNA repair. Here we use time-resolved serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography to describe how light-driven electron transfers trigger subsequent nanosecond-to-microsecond entanglement between FAD and its Asn/Arg-Asp redox sensor triad. We found that this key feature within the photolyase-cryptochrome family regulates FAD re-hybridization and protonation. After first electron transfer, the FAD•- isoalloxazine ring twists strongly when the arginine closes in to stabilize the negative charge. Subsequent breakage of the arginine-aspartate salt bridge allows proton transfer from arginine to FAD•-. Our molecular videos demonstrate how the protein environment of redox cofactors organizes multiple electron/proton transfer events in an ordered fashion, which could be applicable to other redox systems such as photosynthesis.
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31
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Potential of Time-Resolved Serial Femtosecond Crystallography Using High Repetition Rate XFEL Sources. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/app12052551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This perspective review describes emerging techniques and future opportunities for time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) experiments using high repetition rate XFEL sources. High repetition rate sources are becoming more available with the European XFEL in operation and the recently upgraded LCLS-II will be available in the near future. One efficient use of these facilities for TR-SFX relies on pump–probe experiments using a laser to trigger a reaction of light-responsive proteins or mix-and-inject experiments for light-unresponsive proteins. With the view to widen the application of TR-SFX, the promising field of photocaged compounds is under development, which allows the very fast laser triggering of reactions that is no longer limited to naturally light-responsive samples. In addition to reaction triggering, a key concern when performing an SFX experiment is efficient sample usage, which is a main focus of new high repetition rate-compatible sample delivery methods.
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32
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Puthenveetil R, Christenson ET, Vinogradova O. New Horizons in Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins: Experimental Evaluation of the Role of Conformational Dynamics and Intrinsic Flexibility. MEMBRANES 2022; 12:227. [PMID: 35207148 PMCID: PMC8877495 DOI: 10.3390/membranes12020227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
A plethora of membrane proteins are found along the cell surface and on the convoluted labyrinth of membranes surrounding organelles. Since the advent of various structural biology techniques, a sub-population of these proteins has become accessible to investigation at near-atomic resolutions. The predominant bona fide methods for structure solution, X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, provide high resolution in three-dimensional space at the cost of neglecting protein motions through time. Though structures provide various rigid snapshots, only an amorphous mechanistic understanding can be inferred from interpolations between these different static states. In this review, we discuss various techniques that have been utilized in observing dynamic conformational intermediaries that remain elusive from rigid structures. More specifically we discuss the application of structural techniques such as NMR, cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography in studying protein dynamics along with complementation by conformational trapping by specific binders such as antibodies. We finally showcase the strength of various biophysical techniques including FRET, EPR and computational approaches using a multitude of succinct examples from GPCRs, transporters and ion channels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robbins Puthenveetil
- Section on Structural and Chemical Biology of Membrane Proteins, Neurosciences and Cellular and Structural Biology Division, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 35A Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | | | - Olga Vinogradova
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
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33
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Lewis CM, Flory JD, Moore TA, Moore AL, Rittmann BE, Vermaas WFJ, Torres CI, Fromme P. Electrochemically Driven Photosynthetic Electron Transport in Cyanobacteria Lacking Photosystem II. J Am Chem Soc 2022; 144:2933-2942. [PMID: 35157427 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c09291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Light-activated photosystem II (PSII) carries out the critical step of splitting water in photosynthesis. However, PSII is susceptible to light-induced damage. Here, results are presented from a novel microbial electro-photosynthetic system (MEPS) that uses redox mediators in conjunction with an electrode to drive electron transport in live Synechocystis (ΔpsbB) cells lacking PSII. MEPS-generated, light-dependent current increased with light intensity up to 2050 μmol photons m-2 s-1, which yielded a delivery rate of 113 μmol electrons h-1 mg-chl-1 and an average current density of 150 A m-2 s-1 mg-chl-1. P700+ re-reduction kinetics demonstrated that initial rates exceeded wildtype PSII-driven electron delivery. The electron delivery occurs ahead of the cytochrome b6f complex to enable both NADPH and ATP production. This work demonstrates an electrochemical system that can drive photosynthetic electron transport, provides a platform for photosynthetic foundational studies, and has the potential for improving photosynthetic performance at high light intensities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine M Lewis
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Biodesign Institute Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Biodesign Institute Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Justin D Flory
- Biodesign Institute Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Engineering Center for Negative Carbon Emmisions, at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281, United States
| | - Thomas A Moore
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, Arizona State University, Tempe Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Ana L Moore
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, Arizona State University, Tempe Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Bruce E Rittmann
- School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Biodesign Institute Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Wim F J Vermaas
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - César I Torres
- Biodesign Institute Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Petra Fromme
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.,Biodesign Institute Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
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34
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Doppler D, Rabbani MT, Letrun R, Cruz Villarreal J, Kim DH, Gandhi S, Egatz-Gomez A, Sonker M, Chen J, Koua FHM, Yang J, Youssef M, Mazalova V, Bajt S, Shelby ML, Coleman MA, Wiedorn MO, Knoska J, Schön S, Sato T, Hunter MS, Hosseinizadeh A, Kuptiz C, Nazari R, Alvarez RC, Karpos K, Zaare S, Dobson Z, Discianno E, Zhang S, Zook JD, Bielecki J, de Wijn R, Round AR, Vagovic P, Kloos M, Vakili M, Ketawala GK, Stander NE, Olson TL, Morin K, Mondal J, Nguyen J, Meza-Aguilar JD, Kodis G, Vaiana S, Martin-Garcia JM, Mariani V, Schwander P, Schmidt M, Messerschmidt M, Ourmazd A, Zatsepin N, Weierstall U, Bruce BD, Mancuso AP, Grant T, Barty A, Chapman HN, Frank M, Fromme R, Spence JCH, Botha S, Fromme P, Kirian RA, Ros A. Co-flow injection for serial crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers. J Appl Crystallogr 2022; 55:1-13. [PMID: 35153640 PMCID: PMC8805165 DOI: 10.1107/s1600576721011079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) is a powerful technique that exploits X-ray free-electron lasers to determine the structure of macro-molecules at room temperature. Despite the impressive exposition of structural details with this novel crystallographic approach, the methods currently available to introduce crystals into the path of the X-ray beam sometimes exhibit serious drawbacks. Samples requiring liquid injection of crystal slurries consume large quantities of crystals (at times up to a gram of protein per data set), may not be compatible with vacuum configurations on beamlines or provide a high background due to additional sheathing liquids present during the injection. Proposed and characterized here is the use of an immiscible inert oil phase to supplement the flow of sample in a hybrid microfluidic 3D-printed co-flow device. Co-flow generation is reported with sample and oil phases flowing in parallel, resulting in stable injection conditions for two different resin materials experimentally. A numerical model is presented that adequately predicts these flow-rate conditions. The co-flow generating devices reduce crystal clogging effects, have the potential to conserve protein crystal samples up to 95% and will allow degradation-free light-induced time-resolved SFX.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diandra Doppler
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Mohammad T. Rabbani
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | | | - Jorvani Cruz Villarreal
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Dai Hyun Kim
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Sahir Gandhi
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Ana Egatz-Gomez
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Mukul Sonker
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Joe Chen
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Faisal H. M. Koua
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jayhow Yang
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Mohamed Youssef
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Victoria Mazalova
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Saša Bajt
- Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg, Germany
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Megan L. Shelby
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California, USA
| | - Matt A. Coleman
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California, USA
| | - Max O. Wiedorn
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
- Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Juraj Knoska
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Silvan Schön
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Mark S. Hunter
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California, USA
| | - Ahmad Hosseinizadeh
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Christopher Kuptiz
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California, USA
| | - Reza Nazari
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Roberto C. Alvarez
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Konstantinos Karpos
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Sahba Zaare
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Zachary Dobson
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Erin Discianno
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Shangji Zhang
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - James D. Zook
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | | | | | - Adam R. Round
- European XFEL, Schenefeld, Germany
- School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK
| | - Patrik Vagovic
- European XFEL, Schenefeld, Germany
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | | | | | - Gihan K. Ketawala
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Natasha E. Stander
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Tien L. Olson
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Katherine Morin
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Jyotirmory Mondal
- Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Jonathan Nguyen
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - José Domingo Meza-Aguilar
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- European XFEL, Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Gerdenis Kodis
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Sara Vaiana
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Jose M. Martin-Garcia
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Crystallography and Structural Biology, Institute of Physical Chemistry ‘Rocasolano’, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Valerio Mariani
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Peter Schwander
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Marius Schmidt
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Marc Messerschmidt
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Abbas Ourmazd
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Nadia Zatsepin
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Uwe Weierstall
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Barry D. Bruce
- Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Adrian P. Mancuso
- European XFEL, Schenefeld, Germany
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Thomas Grant
- Department of Structural Biology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, SUNY University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - Anton Barty
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
- Center for Data and Computing in Natural Science CDCS, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Henry N. Chapman
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
- Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Frank
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California, USA
| | - Raimund Fromme
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - John C. H. Spence
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Sabine Botha
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Petra Fromme
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Richard A. Kirian
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Alexandra Ros
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
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35
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Dynamics and mechanism of dimer dissociation of photoreceptor UVR8. Nat Commun 2022; 13:93. [PMID: 35013256 PMCID: PMC8748919 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27756-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Photoreceptors are a class of light-sensing proteins with critical biological functions. UVR8 is the only identified UV photoreceptor in plants and its dimer dissociation upon UV sensing activates UV-protective processes. However, the dissociation mechanism is still poorly understood. Here, by integrating extensive mutations, ultrafast spectroscopy, and computational calculations, we find that the funneled excitation energy in the interfacial tryptophan (Trp) pyramid center drives a directional Trp-Trp charge separation in 80 ps and produces a critical transient Trp anion, enabling its ultrafast charge neutralization with a nearby positive arginine residue in 17 ps to destroy a key salt bridge. A domino effect is then triggered to unzip the strong interfacial interactions, which is facilitated through flooding the interface by channel and interfacial water molecules. These detailed dynamics reveal a unique molecular mechanism of UV-induced dimer monomerization.
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36
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Schulz EC, Yorke BA, Pearson AR, Mehrabi P. Best practices for time-resolved serial synchrotron crystallography. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2022; 78:14-29. [PMID: 34981758 PMCID: PMC8725164 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798321011621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
With recent developments in X-ray sources, instrumentation and data-analysis tools, time-resolved crystallographic experiments, which were originally the preserve of a few expert groups, are becoming simpler and can be carried out at more radiation sources, and are thus increasingly accessible to a growing user base. However, these experiments are just that: discrete experiments, not just `data collections'. As such, careful planning and consideration of potential pitfalls is required to enable a successful experiment. Here, some of the key factors that should be considered during the planning and execution of a time-resolved structural study are outlined, with a particular focus on synchrotron-based experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eike C. Schulz
- Institute for Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, Universität Hamburg, HARBOR, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Briony A. Yorke
- School of Chemistry and Bioscience, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, United Kingdom
| | - Arwen R. Pearson
- Institute for Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, Universität Hamburg, HARBOR, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
- Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, HARBOR, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Pedram Mehrabi
- Institute for Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, Universität Hamburg, HARBOR, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
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37
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Bigness A, Vaddypally S, Zdilla MJ, Mendoza-Cortes JL. Ubiquity of cubanes in bioinorganic relevant compounds. Coord Chem Rev 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2021.214168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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38
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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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39
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Wilson MA. Mapping Enzyme Landscapes by Time-Resolved Crystallography with Synchrotron and X-Ray Free Electron Laser Light. Annu Rev Biophys 2021; 51:79-98. [PMID: 34932909 PMCID: PMC9132212 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-100421-110959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Directly observing enzyme catalysis in real time at the molecular level has been a long-standing goal of structural enzymology. Time-resolved serial crystallography methods at synchrotron and X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) sources have enabled researchers to follow enzyme catalysis and other nonequilibrium events at ambient conditions with unprecedented time resolution. X-ray crystallography provides detailed information about conformational heterogeneity and protein dynamics, which is enhanced when time-resolved approaches are used. This review outlines the ways in which information about the underlying energy landscape of a protein can be extracted from X-ray crystallographic data, with an emphasis on new developments in XFEL and synchrotron time-resolved crystallography. The emerging view of enzyme catalysis afforded by these techniques can be interpreted as enzymes moving on a time-dependent energy landscape. Some consequences of this view are discussed, including the proposal that irreversible enzymes or enzymes that use covalent catalytic mechanisms may commonly exhibit catalysis-activated motions. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biophysics, Volume 51 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark A Wilson
- Department of Biochemistry and Redox Biology Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA;
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40
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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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41
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42
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Schmidt M. Macromolecular movies, storybooks written by nature. Biophys Rev 2021; 13:1191-1197. [PMID: 35059037 PMCID: PMC8724502 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-021-00846-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Twelve years ago, the first free electron laser for hard X-rays (XFEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), came online. Due to the extreme brilliance and the ultrashort pulse duration of their X-ray radiation, XFELs are exceptionally well positioned to conduct time-resolved studies on biological macromolecules. Here, some of the pioneering experiments and recent results are summarized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius Schmidt
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211 USA
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43
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Pandey S, Calvey G, Katz AM, Malla TN, Koua FHM, Martin-Garcia JM, Poudyal I, Yang JH, Vakili M, Yefanov O, Zielinski KA, Bajt S, Awel S, Doerner K, Frank M, Gelisio L, Jernigan R, Kirkwood H, Kloos M, Koliyadu J, Mariani V, Miller MD, Mills G, Nelson G, Olmos JL, Sadri A, Sato T, Tolstikova A, Xu W, Ourmazd A, Spence JCH, Schwander P, Barty A, Chapman HN, Fromme P, Mancuso AP, Phillips GN, Bean R, Pollack L, Schmidt M. Observation of substrate diffusion and ligand binding in enzyme crystals using high-repetition-rate mix-and-inject serial crystallography. IUCRJ 2021; 8:878-895. [PMID: 34804542 PMCID: PMC8562667 DOI: 10.1107/s2052252521008125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Here, we illustrate what happens inside the catalytic cleft of an enzyme when substrate or ligand binds on single-millisecond timescales. The initial phase of the enzymatic cycle is observed with near-atomic resolution using the most advanced X-ray source currently available: the European XFEL (EuXFEL). The high repetition rate of the EuXFEL combined with our mix-and-inject technology enables the initial phase of ceftriaxone binding to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis β-lactamase to be followed using time-resolved crystallography in real time. It is shown how a diffusion coefficient in enzyme crystals can be derived directly from the X-ray data, enabling the determination of ligand and enzyme-ligand concentrations at any position in the crystal volume as a function of time. In addition, the structure of the irreversible inhibitor sulbactam bound to the enzyme at a 66 ms time delay after mixing is described. This demonstrates that the EuXFEL can be used as an important tool for biomedically relevant research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suraj Pandey
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3135 North Maryland Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - George Calvey
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 254 Clark Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Andrea M. Katz
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 254 Clark Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Tek Narsingh Malla
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3135 North Maryland Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - Faisal H. M. Koua
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jose M. Martin-Garcia
- School of Molecular Sciences and Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA
- Institute of Physical Chemistry Rocasolano, Spanish National Research Council, Calle de Serrano 119, 28006 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ishwor Poudyal
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3135 North Maryland Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - Jay-How Yang
- School of Molecular Sciences and Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA
| | | | - Oleksandr Yefanov
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Kara A. Zielinski
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 254 Clark Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Sasa Bajt
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Salah Awel
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Matthias Frank
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
| | - Luca Gelisio
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Rebecca Jernigan
- School of Molecular Sciences and Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA
| | | | - Marco Kloos
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | | | - Valerio Mariani
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
| | - Mitchell D. Miller
- Department of BioSciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Grant Mills
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Garrett Nelson
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Jose L. Olmos
- Department of BioSciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Alireza Sadri
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Tokushi Sato
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Alexandra Tolstikova
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Weijun Xu
- Department of BioSciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Abbas Ourmazd
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3135 North Maryland Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - John C. H. Spence
- Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Peter Schwander
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3135 North Maryland Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - Anton Barty
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Henry N. Chapman
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Petra Fromme
- School of Molecular Sciences and Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA
| | - Adrian P. 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
| | - George N. Phillips
- Department of BioSciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Richard Bean
- European XFEL, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
| | - Lois Pollack
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 254 Clark Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Marius Schmidt
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3135 North Maryland Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
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44
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Tetef S, Govind N, Seidler GT. Unsupervised machine learning for unbiased chemical classification in X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray emission spectroscopy. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:23586-23601. [PMID: 34651631 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp02903g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
We report a comprehensive computational study of unsupervised machine learning for extraction of chemically relevant information in X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and in valence-to-core X-ray emission spectra (VtC-XES) for classification of a broad ensemble of sulphorganic molecules. By progressively decreasing the constraining assumptions of the unsupervised machine learning algorithm, moving from principal component analysis (PCA) to a variational autoencoder (VAE) to t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding (t-SNE), we find improved sensitivity to steadily more refined chemical information. Surprisingly, when embedding the ensemble of spectra in merely two dimensions, t-SNE distinguishes not just oxidation state and general sulphur bonding environment but also the aromaticity of the bonding radical group with 87% accuracy as well as identifying even finer details in electronic structure within aromatic or aliphatic sub-classes. We find that the chemical information in XANES and VtC-XES is very similar in character and content, although they unexpectedly have different sensitivity within a given molecular class. We also discuss likely benefits from further effort with unsupervised machine learning and from the interplay between supervised and unsupervised machine learning for X-ray spectroscopies. Our overall results, i.e., the ability to reliably classify without user bias and to discover unexpected chemical signatures for XANES and VtC-XES, likely generalize to other systems as well as to other one-dimensional chemical spectroscopies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Tetef
- Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
| | - Niranjan Govind
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
| | - Gerald T Seidler
- Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
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45
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Monteiro DCF, Amoah E, Rogers C, Pearson AR. Using photocaging for fast time-resolved structural biology studies. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2021; 77:1218-1232. [PMID: 34605426 PMCID: PMC8489231 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798321008809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Careful selection of photocaging approaches is critical to achieve fast and well synchronized reaction initiation and perform successful time-resolved structural biology experiments. This review summarizes the best characterized and most relevant photocaging groups previously described in the literature. It also provides a walkthrough of the essential factors to consider in designing a suitable photocaged molecule to address specific biological questions, focusing on photocaging groups with well characterized spectroscopic properties. The relationships between decay rates (k in s-1), quantum yields (ϕ) and molar extinction coefficients (ϵmax in M-1 cm-1) are highlighted for different groups. The effects of the nature of the photocaged group on these properties is also discussed. Four main photocaging scaffolds are presented in detail, o-nitrobenzyls, p-hydroxyphenyls, coumarinyls and nitrodibenzofuranyls, along with three examples of the use of this technology. Furthermore, a subset of specialty photocages are highlighted: photoacids, molecular photoswitches and metal-containing photocages. These extend the range of photocaging approaches by, for example, controlling pH or generating conformationally locked molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana C. F. Monteiro
- Hauptman–Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicot Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
| | - Emmanuel Amoah
- Hauptman–Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicot Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
| | - Cromarte Rogers
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Chemistry, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Arwen R. Pearson
- The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
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46
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Brändén G, Neutze R. Advances and challenges in time-resolved macromolecular crystallography. Science 2021; 373:373/6558/eaba0954. [PMID: 34446579 DOI: 10.1126/science.aba0954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Conformational changes within biological macromolecules control a vast array of chemical reactions in living cells. Time-resolved crystallography can reveal time-dependent structural changes that occur within protein crystals, yielding chemical insights in unparalleled detail. Serial crystallography approaches developed at x-ray free-electron lasers are now routinely used for time-resolved diffraction studies of macromolecules. These techniques are increasingly being applied at synchrotron radiation sources and to a growing diversity of macromolecules. Here, we review recent progress in the field, including visualizing ultrafast structural changes that guide the initial trajectories of light-driven reactions as well as capturing biologically important conformational changes on slower time scales, for which bacteriorhodopsin and photosystem II are presented as illustrative case studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gisela Brändén
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Richard Neutze
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Abstract
Correlated motions in proteins arising from the collective movements of residues have long been proposed to be fundamentally important to key properties of proteins, from allostery and catalysis to evolvability. Recent breakthroughs in structural biology have made it possible to capture proteins undergoing complex conformational changes, yet intrinsic correlated motions within a conformation remain one of the least understood facets of protein structure. For many decades, the analysis of total X-ray scattering held the promise of animating crystal structures with correlated motions. With recent advances in both X-ray detectors and data interpretation methods, this long-held promise can now be met. In this Perspective, we will introduce how correlated motions are captured in total scattering and provide guidelines for the collection, interpretation, and validation of data. As structural biology continues to push the boundaries, we see an opportunity to gain atomistic insight into correlated motions using total scattering as a bridge between theory and experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Da Xu
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, 259 East Avenue, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Steve P Meisburger
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, 259 East Avenue, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Nozomi Ando
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, 259 East Avenue, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
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48
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Cavaletto SM, Nascimento DR, Zhang Y, Govind N, Mukamel S. Resonant Stimulated X-ray Raman Spectroscopy of Mixed-Valence Manganese Complexes. J Phys Chem Lett 2021; 12:5925-5931. [PMID: 34156863 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Resonant stimulated X-ray Raman spectroscopy of the bimetallic [MnIIIMnIV(μ-O)2(μ-OAC)(tacn)2]2+ manganese complex is investigated in a simulation study. Essential biological processes, including water oxidation in photosynthesis, involve charge transfer between manganese sites of different oxidation states. We study a prototypical binuclear mixed-valence transition-metal complex with two Mn atoms in different oxidation states surrounded by ligand structures and employ a pump-probe sequence of resonant X-ray Raman excitations to follow the charge transfer occurring in the molecule. This allows us to generate and monitor valence-electron wave packets at selected regions in the molecule by exploiting element-specific core-excited states. A two-color protocol is presented, with pump and probe pulses tuned to the Mn and N K-edges. A natural orbital decomposition allows the visualization of the electron dynamics underlying the signal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano M Cavaletto
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, United States
| | - Daniel R Nascimento
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, United States
| | - Yu Zhang
- Stanford PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States
| | - Niranjan Govind
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, United States
| | - Shaul Mukamel
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, United States
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49
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Gorel A, Schlichting I, Barends TRM. Discerning best practices in XFEL-based biological crystallography - standards for nonstandard experiments. IUCRJ 2021; 8:532-543. [PMID: 34258002 PMCID: PMC8256713 DOI: 10.1107/s205225252100467x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) is a novel tool in structural biology. In contrast to conventional crystallography, SFX relies on merging partial intensities acquired with X-ray beams of often randomly fluctuating properties from a very large number of still diffraction images of generally randomly oriented microcrystals. For this reason, and possibly due to limitations of the still evolving data-analysis programs, XFEL-derived SFX data are typically of a lower quality than 'standard' crystallographic data. In contrast with this, the studies performed at XFELs often aim to investigate issues that require precise high-resolution data, for example to determine structures of intermediates at low occupancy, which often display very small conformational changes. This is a potentially dangerous combination and underscores the need for a critical evaluation of procedures including data-quality standards in XFEL-based structural biology. Here, such concerns are addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Gorel
- Department of Biomolecular Mechanisms, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstr. 29, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Ilme Schlichting
- Department of Biomolecular Mechanisms, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstr. 29, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Thomas R. M. Barends
- Department of Biomolecular Mechanisms, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstr. 29, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
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50
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Lahey-Rudolph JM, Schönherr R, Barthelmess M, Fischer P, Seuring C, Wagner A, Meents A, Redecke L. Fixed-target serial femtosecond crystallography using in cellulo grown microcrystals. IUCRJ 2021; 8:665-677. [PMID: 34258014 PMCID: PMC8256716 DOI: 10.1107/s2052252521005297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The crystallization of recombinant proteins in living cells is an exciting new approach in structural biology. Recent success has highlighted the need for fast and efficient diffraction data collection, optimally directly exposing intact crystal-containing cells to the X-ray beam, thus protecting the in cellulo crystals from environmental challenges. Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at free-electron lasers (XFELs) allows the collection of detectable diffraction even from tiny protein crystals, but requires very fast sample exchange to utilize each XFEL pulse. Here, an efficient approach is presented for high-resolution structure elucidation using serial femtosecond in cellulo diffraction of micometre-sized crystals of the protein HEX-1 from the fungus Neurospora crassa on a fixed target. Employing the fast and highly accurate Roadrunner II translation-stage system allowed efficient raster scanning of the pores of micro-patterned, single-crystalline silicon chips loaded with living, crystal-containing insect cells. Compared with liquid-jet and LCP injection systems, the increased hit rates of up to 30% and reduced background scattering enabled elucidation of the HEX-1 structure. Using diffraction data from only a single chip collected within 12 min at the Linac Coherent Light Source, a 1.8 Å resolution structure was obtained with significantly reduced sample consumption compared with previous SFX experiments using liquid-jet injection. This HEX-1 structure is almost superimposable with that previously determined using synchrotron radiation from single HEX-1 crystals grown by sitting-drop vapour diffusion, validating the approach. This study demonstrates that fixed-target SFX using micro-patterned silicon chips is ideally suited for efficient in cellulo diffraction data collection using living, crystal-containing cells, and offers huge potential for the straightforward structure elucidation of proteins that form intracellular crystals at both XFELs and synchrotron sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Mia Lahey-Rudolph
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Robert Schönherr
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
- Photon Science, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Miriam Barthelmess
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Pontus Fischer
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Carolin Seuring
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- The Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, 22671 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Armin Wagner
- Diamond Light Source, Diamond House DH2-52, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
| | - Alke Meents
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
- Photon Science, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Lars Redecke
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
- Photon Science, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
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