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Molecular Replacement (molecular + replacement)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Chemistry	99%

Selected Abstracts

Metabolic syndrome and mitochondrial function: Molecular replacement and antioxidant supplements to prevent membrane peroxidation and restore mitochondrial function,

JOURNAL OF CELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY, Issue 6 2007
Garth L. Nicolson
Abstract Metabolic syndrome consists of a cluster of metabolic conditions, such as hypertriglyeridemia, hyper-low-density lipoproteins, hypo-high-density lipoproteins, insulin resistance, abnormal glucose tolerance and hypertension, that,in combination with genetic susceptibility and abdominal obesity,are risk factors for type 2 diabetes, vascular inflammation, atherosclerosis, and renal, liver and heart disease. One of the defects in metabolic syndrome and its associated diseases is excess cellular oxidative stress (mediated by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, ROS/RNS) and oxidative damage to mitochondrial components, resulting in reduced efficiency of the electron transport chain. Recent evidence indicates that reduced mitochondrial function caused by ROS/RNS membrane oxidation is related to fatigue, a common complaint of MS patients. Lipid replacement therapy (LRT) administered as a nutritional supplement with antioxidants can prevent excess oxidative membrane damage, restore mitochondrial and other cellular membrane functions and reduce fatigue. Recent clinical trials have shown the benefit of LRT plus antioxidants in restoring mitochondrial electron transport function and reducing moderate to severe chronic fatigue. Thus LRT plus antioxidant supplements should be considered for metabolic syndrome patients who suffer to various degrees from fatigue. J. Cell. Biochem. 100: 1352,1369, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Molecular replacement: the probabilistic approach of the program REMO09 and its applications

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION A, Issue 6 2009
Rocco Caliandro
The method of joint probability distribution functions has been applied to molecular replacement techniques. The rotational search is performed by rotating the reciprocal lattice of the protein with respect to the calculated transform of the model structure; the translation search is performed by fast Fourier transform. Several cases of prior information are studied, both for the rotation and for the translation step: e.g. the conditional probability density for the rotation or the translation of a monomer is found both for ab initio and when the rotation and/or the translation values of other monomers are given. The new approach has been implemented in the program REMO09, which is part of the package for global phasing IL MILIONE [Burla, Caliandro, Camalli, Cascarano, De Caro, Giacovazzo, Polidori, Siliqi & Spagna (2007). J. Appl. Cryst.40, 609,613]. A large set of test structures has been used for checking the efficiency of the new algorithms, which proved to be significantly robust in finding the correct solutions and in discriminating them from noise. An important design concept is the high degree of automatism: REMO09 is often capable of providing a reliable model of the target structure without any user intervention. [source]

Molecular replacement with MOLREP

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 1 2010
Alexei Vagin
MOLREP is an automated program for molecular replacement that utilizes a number of original approaches to rotational and translational search and data preparation. Since the first publication describing the program, MOLREP has acquired a variety of features that include weighting of the X-ray data and search models, multi-copy search, fitting the model into electron density, structural superposition of two models and rigid-body refinement. The program can run in a fully automatic mode using optimized parameters calculated from the input data. [source]

Cluster analysis for phasing with molecular replacement: a feasibility study

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 7 2009
Andreas Buehler
Molecular replacement can fail to find a solution, namely a unique orientation and position of a search model, even when many search models are tested under various conditions. Simultaneous use of the results of these searches may help in the solution of such difficult structures. A closeness between the peaks of several calculated rotation functions may identify the model orientation. The largest and most compact cluster of such peaks usually corresponds to models which are oriented similarly to the molecule under study. A search for the optimal translation may be more problematic and both individual translation functions and straightforward cluster analysis in the space of geometric parameters such as rotation angles and translation vectors may give no result. An improvement may be obtained by performing cluster analysis of the peaks of several translation functions in phase-set space. In this case, the Fourier maps computed using the observed structure-factor magnitudes and the phases calculated from differently positioned models are compared. Again, as a rule, the largest and the most compact cluster corresponds to the correct solution. The result of the updated procedure is no longer a single search model but an averaged Fourier map. [source]

An introduction to molecular replacement

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 1 2008
Philip Evans
Molecular replacement is fundamentally a simple trial-and-error method of solving crystal structures when a suitable related model is available. The underlying simplicity of the method is often obscured by the mathematical trickery required to make the searches computationally tractable. This introduction sketches the essential issues in molecular replacement without going into technical details. General search strategies are discussed and the alternative Patterson and likelihood approaches are outlined. [source]

Definition of domain boundaries and crystallization of the SMN Tudor domain

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 2 2003
Remco Sprangers
Spinal muscular atropy (SMA) is the major genetic disease leading to childhood mortality and is caused by mutations in or deletions of the smn1 gene. The human survival of motor neurons (SMN) protein encoded by this gene plays an important role in the assembly of snRNPs (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein complexes) via binding to the spliceosomal Sm proteins. The tails of these Sm proteins contain symmetrically dimethylated arginines that are recognized by the central SMN Tudor domain. To gain insight in the molecular basis of this specific interaction, the SMN Tudor domain has been crystallized. The rapid crystallization of the protein and the high stability of the crystals is facilitated by redefinition of domain boundaries based on NMR relaxation experiments and the previously determined solution structure. The crystals diffract to high resolution (1.8,Å) and a complete data set has been collected from a hexagonal crystal form (P61/P65), with unit-cell parameters a = b = 27.65, c = 110.30,Å, , = , = 90, , = 120°. Crystal soaks and co-crystallization with peptides derived from the Sm protein tails have been initiated. Molecular replacement with the NMR coordinates is under way. [source]

A systematic case study on using NMR models for molecular replacement: p53 tetramerization domain revisited

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 12 2000
Yu Wai Chen
Molecular replacement using search models derived from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has often proved problematic. It has been known for some time that the overall differences in atomic positions (r.m.s.d.) between the crystalline and the solution states of the same protein are of the order of 1,2,Å and approach the limit of molecular replacement. In most cases, this structural difference is a result of calculating the NMR structure with insufficient data, yielding an NMR structure of limited accuracy. A systematic case study was performed to investigate the use of NMR models for molecular replacement on the p53 tetramerization domain: NMR search models of varying degrees of accuracy were employed to solve phases for the 1.5,Å X-ray diffraction data. An approximate correlation was found between the accuracy of the NMR search model and the clarity and quality of the molecular-replacement solution. It was found that ensemble models perform better than single averaged models and have a larger tolerance in model inaccuracy. Also, distance-derived B factors can improve the performance of single models. [source]

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of human endonuclease 1 (APE1) in complex with an oligonucleotide containing a 5,6-dihydrouracil (DHU) or an ,-anomeric 2,-deoxyadenosine (,dA) modified base

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2010
Pascal Retailleau
The multifunctional human apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease 1 (APE1) is a key enzyme involved in both the base-excision repair (BER) and nucleotide-incision repair (NIR) pathways. In the NIR pathway, APE1 incises DNA 5, to a number of oxidatively damaged bases. APE1 was crystallized in the presence of a 15-mer DNA containing an oxidatively damaged base in a single central 5,6-dihydrouracil (DHU)·T or ,-anomeric 2,-deoxyadenosine (,dA)·T base pair. Diffraction data sets were collected to 2.2 and 2.7,Å resolution from DNA-DHU,APE1 and DNA-,dA,APE1 crystals, respectively. The crystals were isomorphous and contained one enzyme molecule in the asymmetric unit. Molecular replacement was performed and the initial electron-density maps revealed that in both complexes APE1 had crystallized with a degradation DNA product reduced to a 6-mer, suggesting that NIR and exonuclease reactions occurred prior to crystallization. [source]

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of diaminopimelate epimerase from Escherichia coli

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2010
Lilian Hor
Diaminopimelate (DAP) epimerase (EC 5.1.1.7) catalyzes the penultimate step of lysine biosynthesis in bacteria and plants, converting l,l -diaminopimelate to meso -diaminopimelate. Here, the cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of DAP epimerase from Escherichia coli are presented. Crystals were obtained in space group P41212 and diffracted to 2.0,Å resolution, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 89.4, c = 179.6,Å. Molecular replacement was conducted using Bacillus anthracis DAP epimerase as a search model and showed the presence of two molecules in the asymmetric unit, with an initial Rfree of 0.456 and Rwork of 0.416. [source]

Cloning, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of a chimeric NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2009
Louise Aigrain
NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) is the favoured redox partner of microsomal cytochromes P450. This protein is composed of two flavin-containing domains (FMN and FAD) connected by a structured linker. An active CPR chimera consisting of the yeast FMN and human FAD domains has been produced, purified and crystallized. The crystals belonged to the monoclinic space group C2 and contained one molecule per asymmetric unit. Molecular replacement was performed using the published rat and yeast structures as search models. The initial electron-density maps revealed that the chimeric enzyme had crystallized in a conformation that differed from those of previously solved structures. [source]

Crystallization and preliminary structure analysis of the blue laccase from the ligninolytic fungus Panus tigrinus

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2005
Marta Ferraroni
The blue laccase from the white-rot basidiomycete fungus Panus tigrinus, an enzyme involved in lignin biodegradation, has been crystallized. P. tigrinus laccase crystals grew within one week at 296,K using the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method in 22%(w/v) PEG 4000, 0.2,M CaCl2, 100,mM Tris,HCl pH 7.5. The crystals belong to the monoclinic space group P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 54.2, b = 111.6, c = 97.1, , = 97.7°, and contain 46% solvent. A complete native data set was collected to 1.4,Å resolution at the copper edge. Molecular replacement using the Coprinus cinereus laccase structure (PDB code 1hfu) as a starting model was performed and initial electron-density maps revealed the presence of a full complement of copper ions. Model refinement is in progress. The P. tigrinus laccase structural model exhibits the highest resolution available to date and will assist in further elucidation of the catalytic mechanism and electron-transfer processes for this class of enzymes. [source]

Structure of Streptococcus agalactiae serine/threonine phosphatase

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 12 2007
The subdomain conformation is coupled to the binding of a third metal ion
We solved the crystal structure of Streptococcus agalactiae serine/threonine phosphatase (SaSTP) using a combination of single-wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing and molecular replacement. The overall structure resembles that of previously characterized members of the PPM/PP2C STP family. The asymmetric unit contains four monomers and we observed two novel conformations for the flap domain among them. In one of these conformations, the enzyme binds three metal ions, whereas in the other it binds only two. The three-metal ion structure also has the active site arginine in a novel conformation. The switch between the two- and three-metal ion structures appears to be binding of another monomer to the active site of STP, which promotes binding of the third metal ion. This interaction may mimic the binding of a product complex, especially since the motif binding to the active site contains a serine residue aligning remarkably well with the phosphate found in the human STP structure. [source]

The crystal structure of a plant 2C -methyl- D -erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase exhibits a distinct quaternary structure compared to bacterial homologues and a possible role in feedback regulation for cytidine monophosphate

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 5 2006
Mads Gabrielsen
The homodimeric 2C -methyl- d -erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase contributes to the nonmevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis. The crystal structure of the catalytic domain of the recombinant enzyme derived from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana has been solved by molecular replacement and refined to 2.0 Å resolution. The structure contains cytidine monophosphate bound in the active site, a ligand that has been acquired from the bacterial expression system, and this observation suggests a mechanism for feedback regulation of enzyme activity. Comparisons with bacterial enzyme structures, in particular the enzyme from Escherichia coli, indicate that whilst individual subunits overlay well, the arrangement of subunits in each functional dimer is different. That distinct quaternary structures are available, in conjunction with the observation that the protein structure contains localized areas of disorder, suggests that conformational flexibility may contribute to the function of this enzyme. [source]

Crystal structure of Fab198, an efficient protector of the acetylcholine receptor against myasthenogenic antibodies

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 13 2001
Konstantinos Poulas
The crystal structure of the Fab fragment of the rat monoclonal antibody 198, with protective activity for the main immunogenic region of the human muscle acetylcholine receptor against the destructive action of myasthenic antibodies, has been determined and refined to 2.8 Å resolution by X-ray crystallographic methods. The mouse anti-lysozyme Fab D1.3 was used as a search model in molecular replacement with the amore software. The complementarity determining regions (CDR)-L2, CDR-H1 and CDR-H2 belong to canonical groups. Loops CDR-L3, CDR-H2 and CDR-H3, which seem to make a major contribution to binding, were analyzed and residues of potential importance for antigen-binding are examined. The antigen-binding site was found to be a long crescent-shaped crevice. The structure should serve as a model in the rational design of very high affinity humanized mutants of Fab198, appropriate for therapeutic approaches in the model autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis. [source]

Structures of Four Crystal Forms of Decaplanin

HELVETICA CHIMICA ACTA, Issue 5 2003
Christopher Lehmann
The glycopeptide antibiotic decaplanin (1; formerly known as MM 47761 and M86-1410) crystallizes in two P21 and two P6122 crystal forms, each with four monomers in the asymmetric unit, with solvent contents varying from 48 to 69%. Although with ca. 600 unique atoms, the structures are larger than typical small molecules, one was solved by direct methods. The other three were solved by typical macromolecular methods: single-wavelength anomalous diffraction (SAD) of the Cl-atoms present naturally in the structure, multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) at the Br absorption edge for a crystal soaked in NaBr solution, and molecular replacement. There is evidence of appreciable radiation damage with loss of 20,30% of the covalent and ionic halogens affecting the synchrotron datasets that may even have unintentionally facilitated the MAD structure solution. The structures contain the dimer units typical of antibiotics related to vancomycin, but, in addition, there are a variety of further intermolecular interactions responsible for the polymorphy leading to intertwined 61 -helices in two of the crystal forms. Except for the sugars and some sidechains, the conformations of the 16 independent monomers are very similar. [source]

Combining solution wide-angle X-ray scattering and crystallography: determination of molecular envelope and heavy-atom sites

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2009
Xinguo Hong
Solving the phase problem remains central to crystallographic structure determination. A six-dimensional search method of molecular replacement (FSEARCH) can be used to locate a low-resolution molecular envelope determined from small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) within the crystallographic unit cell. This method has now been applied using the higher-resolution envelope provided by combining SAXS and WAXS (wide-angle X-ray scattering) data. The method was tested on horse hemoglobin, using the most probable model selected from a set of a dozen bead models constructed from SAXS/WAXS data using the program GASBOR at 5,Å resolution (qmax = 1.25,Å,1) to phase a set of single-crystal diffraction data. It was found that inclusion of WAXS data is essential for correctly locating the molecular envelope in the crystal unit cell, as well as for locating heavy-atom sites. An anomalous difference map was calculated using phases out to 8,Å resolution from the correctly positioned envelope; four distinct peaks at the 3.2, level were identified, which agree well with the four iron sites of the known structure (Protein Data Bank code 1ns9). In contrast, no peaks could be found close to the iron sites if the molecular envelope was constructed using the data from SAXS alone (qmax = 0.25,Å,1). The initial phases can be used as a starting point for a variety of phase-extension techniques, successful application of which will result in complete phasing of a crystallographic data set and determination of the internal structure of a macromolecule to atomic resolution. It is anticipated that the combination of FSEARCH and WAXS techniques will facilitate the initial structure determination of proteins and provide a good foundation for further structure refinement. [source]

Bulk-solvent correction for fast translation search in molecular replacement: service programs for AMoRe and CNS

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2003
Andrei Fokine
A new software package, BULK, was developed to allow fast and easy use of low-resolution data for the translation problem in molecular replacement. When the search model is relatively complete but not precise, or when its orientation is imprecisely determined, low-resolution data contribute very favourably to the solution of the translation-search problem. BULK comprises a specially developed program and a set of procedures complementary to the program AMoRe, as well as an input file for the CNS suite. [source]

Structural analysis of an "open" form of PBP1B from Streptococcus pneumoniae

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 7 2006
Andrew L. Lovering
Abstract The class A PBP1b from Streptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for glycosyltransferase and transpeptidase (TP) reactions, forming the peptidoglycan of the bacterial cell wall. The enzyme has been produced in a stable, soluble form and undergoes time-dependent proteolysis to leave an intact TP domain. Crystals of this TP domain were obtained, diffracting to 2.2 Å resolution, and the structure was solved by using molecular replacement. Analysis of the structure revealed an "open" active site, with important conformational differences to the previously determined "closed" apoenzyme. The active-site nucleophile, Ser460, is in an orientation that allows for acylation by ,-lactams. Consistent with the productive conformation of the conserved active-site catalytic residues, adjacent loops show only minor deviation from those of known acyl-enzyme structures. These findings are discussed in the context of enzyme functionality and the possible conformational sampling of PBP1b between active and inactive states. [source]

2.9 Å crystal structure of ligand-free tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase: Domain movements fragment the adenine nucleotide binding site

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 2 2000
Valentin A. Ilyin
Abstract The crystal structure of ligand-free tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) was solved at 2.9 Å using a combination of molecular replacement and maximum-entropy map/phase improvement. The dimeric structure (R = 23.7, Rfree = 26.2) is asymmetric, unlike that of the TrpRS tryptophanyl-5,AMP complex (TAM; Doublie S, Bricogne G, Gilmore CJ, Carter CW Jr, 1995, Structure 3:17,31). In agreement with small-angle solution X-ray scattering experiments, unliganded TrpRS has a conformation in which both monomers open, leaving only the tryptophan-binding regions of their active sites intact. The amino terminal ,A-helix, TIGN, and KMSKS signature sequences, and the distal helical domain rotate as a single rigid body away from the dinucleotide-binding fold domain, opening the AMP binding site, seen in the TAM complex, into two halves. Comparison of side-chain packing in ligand-free TrpRS and the TAM complex, using identification of nonpolar nuclei (Ilyin VA, 1994, Protein Eng 7:1189,1195), shows that significant repacking occurs between three relatively stable core regions, one of which acts as a bearing between the other two. These domain rearrangements provide a new structural paradigm that is consistent in detail with the"induced-fit" mechanism proposed for TyrRS by Fersht et al. (Fersht AR, Knill-Jones JW, Beduelle H, Winter G, 1988, Biochemistry 27:1581,1587). Coupling of ATP binding determinants associated with the two catalytic signature sequences to the helical domain containing the presumptive anticodon-binding site provides a mechanism to coordinate active-site chemistry with relocation of the major tRNA binding determinants. [source]

The (Fo,Fc) Fourier synthesis: a probabilistic study

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION A, Issue 5 2008
Rocco Caliandro
(Fo,Fc) and (2Fo,Fc) Fourier syntheses are considered the most powerful tools for recovering the remainder of a structure and for correcting crystal structure models. A probabilistic approach has been applied to derive the formula for the variance for the expected value of the coefficient (Fo,Fc). This has allowed a better understanding of the features of the difference Fourier synthesis; in particular, a subset of well phased reflections has been separated from the subset of reflections best phased by the standard Fo Fourier synthesis. An iterative procedure, based on the electron-density modification of the difference Fourier map, has been devised which aims to improve phase and modulus estimates of the reflections with higher variance value, by using as lever arm the set of reflections with lower variance value. The new procedure (DEDM) has been implemented and verified on a wide set of test structures, the partial models of which were obtained by molecular replacement or by automatic model-building routines applied to experimental electron-density maps. Phase and modulus estimates of the difference Fourier syntheses improve in all the test cases; as a consequence, the quality of the difference Fourier maps also improves in the region where the target structure deviates from the partial model. A new procedure is suggested, combining DEDM with standard electron-density modification techniques, which leads to significant reduction of the phase errors. The procedure may be considered a starting point for further developments. [source]

On the use of low-resolution data for translation search in molecular replacement

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION A, Issue 1 2002
Andrei Fokine
Low-resolution reflections (approximately 15,Å and lower) are very useful for the translation search in molecular replacement because they are less sensitive to model errors compared with the traditionally used reflections of resolution 4,10,Å. At low resolution, however, the contribution from the bulk solvent is quite significant and corresponding structure factors calculated from a macromolecular model cannot be compared with experimental values if this contribution is neglected. The proposed method provides a way of fast translation searches where low-resolution reflections are taken into account. Test calculations using several experimental data sets show a dramatic improvement in the signal after the bulk-solvent correction and low-resolution reflections were included in the calculation; this improvement allowed unambiguous identification of the solution. [source]

Structural study and thermodynamic characterization of inhibitor binding to lumazine synthase from Bacillus anthracis

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 9 2010
Ekaterina Morgunova
The crystal structure of lumazine synthase from Bacillus anthracis was solved by molecular replacement and refined to Rcryst = 23.7% (Rfree = 28.4%) at a resolution of 3.5,Å. The structure reveals the icosahedral symmetry of the enzyme and specific features of the active site that are unique in comparison with previously determined orthologues. The application of isothermal titration calorimetry in combination with enzyme kinetics showed that three designed pyrimidine derivatives bind to lumazine synthase with micromolar dissociation constants and competitively inhibit the catalytic reaction. Structure-based modelling suggested the binding modes of the inhibitors in the active site and allowed an estimation of the possible contacts formed upon binding. The results provide a structural framework for the design of antibiotics active against B. anthracis. [source]

Structure determination of the minimal complex between Tfb5 and Tfb2, two subunits of the yeast transcription/DNA-repair factor TFIIH: a retrospective study

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 7 2010
Denis E. Kainov
Tfb5 interacts with the Tfb2 subunit of the general transcription factor TFIIH to ensure efficient nucleotide-excision repair in eukaryotes. The crystal structure of the complex between Tfb5 and the C-terminal region of Tfb2 (Tfb2C) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae has recently been reported. Here, the structure-determination process is described as a case study. Although crystals were obtained readily, it was not possible to determine experimental phases from a first crystal form (Tfb2412,513,Tfb52,72) that diffracted to 2.6,Å resolution. Shortening of the Tfb2C from its N-terminus was decisive and modified the crystal packing, leading to a second crystal form (Tfb2435,513,Tfb52,72). These crystals diffracted to 1.7,Å resolution with excellent mosaicity and allowed structure determination by conventional approaches using heavy atoms. The refined structure from the second crystal form was used to solve the structure of the first crystal form by molecular replacement. Comparison of the two structures revealed that the N-terminal region of Tfb2C and (to a lesser extent) the C-terminal region of Tfb5 contributed to the crystal packing. A detailed analysis illustrates how variation in domain boundaries influences crystal packing and quality. [source]

Structure at 1.5,Å resolution of cytochrome c552 with its flexible linker segment, a membrane-anchored protein from Paracoccus denitrificans

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 7 2010
Chitra Rajendran
Electron transfer (ET) between the large membrane-integral redox complexes in the terminal part of the respiratory chain is mediated either by a soluble c -type cytochrome, as in mitochondria, or by a membrane-anchored cytochrome c, as described for the ET chain of the bacterium Paracoccus denitrificans. Here, the structure of cytochrome c552 from P. denitrificans with the linker segment that attaches the globular domain to the membrane anchor is presented. Cytochrome c552 including the linker segment was crystallized and its structure was determined by molecular replacement. The structural features provide functionally important information. The prediction of the flexibility of the linker region [Berry & Trumpower (1985), J. Biol. Chem.260, 2458,2467] was confirmed by our crystal structure. The N-terminal region from residues 13 to 31 is characterized by poor electron density, which is compatible with high mobility of this region. This result indicates that this region is highly flexible, which is functionally important for this protein to shuttle electrons between complexes III and IV in the respiratory chain. Zinc present in the crystallization buffer played a key role in the successful crystallization of this protein. It provided rigidity to the long negatively charged flexible loop by coordinating negatively charged residues from two different molecules and by enhancing the crystal contacts. [source]

Macromolecular crystal data phased by negative-stained electron-microscopy reconstructions

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 5 2010
Stefano Trapani
The combination of transmission electron microscopy with X-ray diffraction data is usually limited to relatively large particles. Here, the approach is continued one step further by utilizing negative staining, a technique that is of wider applicability than cryo-electron microscopy, to produce models of medium-size proteins suitable for molecular replacement. The technique was used to solve the crystal structure of the dodecameric type II dehydroquinase enzyme from Candida albicans (,190,kDa) and that of the orthologous Streptomyces coelicolor protein. [source]

Structure of d -tyrosyl-tRNATyr deacylase using home-source Cu,K, and moderate-quality iodide-SAD data: structural polymorphism and HEPES-bound enzyme states

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 5 2010
Manickam Yogavel
d -Tyrosyl-tRNATyr deacylase (DTD) is an editing enzyme that removes d -amino acids from mischarged tRNAs. The crystal structure of Plasmodium falciparum DTD (PfDTD) was determined using the iodide-SAD phasing method. Iodide-derivatized PfDTD crystals were obtained using the quick cryo-soaking procedure in which native crystals were soaked for a short period of 10,30,s in cryoprotectant solution containing 0.2,1,M NaI. Iodide-SAD data sets were collected to 3.3 and 2.74,Å resolution from PfDTD crystals that belonged to two different space groups, P43 and P1, using an in-house X-ray copper-anode source. This is the first report to detail structure solution using low iodide anomalous signal, modest resolution and redundancy and average solvent content for SAD phasing of 984 and 1312 amino acids in the triclinic P1 and tetragonal P43 space groups, respectively. A total of 85% and 56% of the residues were automatically built into the iodide-phased electron-density maps using PHENIX AutoBuild. The structure of HEPES-bound PfDTD was subsequently determined by molecular replacement and refined to 2.83,Å resolution. The crystals obtained from various batches of crystallization trials of PfDTD exhibited polymorphism in terms of belonging to different crystal forms and space groups. Even within a given crystal system the unit-cell parameters showed high non-isomorphism. These packing variations were exploited in order to conduct a systematic study of conformational changes in PfDTD. It is shown that the disposition of a ten-residue insertion loop affects packing within the PfDTD crystals and seems to determine the non-isomorphism in unit-cell parameters. By tracking the changes in PfDTD unit cells, it was possible to map conformational differences within PfDTD that may be of significance for enzyme activity. [source]

Carrying out an optimal experiment

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 4 2010
Zbigniew Dauter
Diffraction data collection is the last experimental stage in structural crystallography. It has several technical and theoretical aspects and a compromise usually has to be found between various parameters in order to achieve optimal data quality. The influence and importance of various experimental parameters and their consequences are discussed in the context of different data applications, such as molecular replacement, anomalous phasing, high-resolution refinement or searching for ligands. [source]

Structure determination using poorly diffracting membrane-protein crystals: the H+ -ATPase and Na+,K+ -ATPase case history

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 3 2010
Bjørn P. Pedersen
An approach is presented for the structure determination of membrane proteins on the basis of poorly diffracting crystals which exploits molecular replacement for heavy-atom site identification at 6,9,Å maximum resolution and improvement of the heavy-atom-derived phases by multi-crystal averaging using quasi-isomorphous data sets. The multi-crystal averaging procedure allows real-space density averaging followed by phase combination between non-isomorphous native data sets to exploit crystal-to-crystal nonisomorphism despite the crystals belonging to the same space group. This approach has been used in the structure determination of H+ -ATPase and Na+,K+ -ATPase using Ca2+ -ATPase models and its successful application to the Mhp1 symporter using LeuT as a search model is demonstrated. [source]

Feasibility of one-shot-per-crystal structure determination using Laue diffraction

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 1 2010
Sterling Cornaby
Crystal size is an important factor in determining the number of diffraction patterns which may be obtained from a protein crystal before severe radiation damage sets in. As crystal dimensions decrease this number is reduced, eventually falling to one, at which point a complete data set must be assembled using data from multiple crystals. When only a single exposure is to be collected from each crystal, the polychromatic Laue technique may be preferable to monochromatic methods owing to its simultaneous recording of a large number of fully recorded reflections per image. To assess the feasibility of solving structures using single Laue images from multiple crystals, data were collected using a `pink' beam at the CHESS D1 station from groups of lysozyme crystals with dimensions of the order of 20,30,µm mounted on MicroMesh grids. Single-shot Laue data were used for structure determination by molecular replacement and correct solutions were obtained even when as few as five crystals were used. [source]