I04-1-Macromolecular Crystallography (fixed wavelength)
I04-Macromolecular Crystallography
I24-Microfocus Macromolecular Crystallography
Krios I-Titan Krios I at Diamond
Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[13062, 17844, 21288, 21404]
Abstract: Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) proteins are essential for sterol homeostasis, believed to drive sterol integration into the lysosomal membrane before redistribution to other cellular membranes. Here, using a combination of crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and biochemical and in vivo studies on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae NPC system (NCR1 and NPC2), we present a framework for sterol membrane integration. Sterols are transferred between hydrophobic pockets of vacuolar NPC2 and membrane-protein NCR1. NCR1 has its N-terminal domain (NTD) positioned to deliver a sterol to a tunnel connecting NTD to the luminal membrane leaflet 50 Å away. A sterol is caught inside this tunnel during transport, and a proton-relay network of charged residues in the transmembrane region is linked to this tunnel supporting a proton-driven transport mechanism. We propose a model for sterol integration that clarifies the role of NPC proteins in this essential eukaryotic pathway and that rationalizes mutations in patients with Niemann-Pick disease type C.
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Oct 2019
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Krios I-Titan Krios I at Diamond
Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[23268]
Abstract: The Rag guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) recruit the master kinase mTORC1 to lysosomes to regulate cell growth and proliferation in response to amino acid availability. The nucleotide state of Rag heterodimers is critical for their association with mTORC1. Our cryo–electron microscopy structure of RagA/RagC in complex with mTORC1 shows the details of RagA/RagC binding to the RAPTOR subunit of mTORC1 and explains why only the RagAGTP/RagCGDP nucleotide state binds mTORC1. Previous kinetic studies suggested that GTP binding to one Rag locks the heterodimer to prevent GTP binding to the other. Our crystal structures and dynamics of RagA/RagC show the mechanism for this locking and explain how oncogenic hotspot mutations disrupt this process. In contrast to allosteric activation by RHEB, Rag heterodimer binding does not change mTORC1 conformation and activates mTORC1 by targeting it to lysosomes.
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Oct 2019
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Krios I-Titan Krios I at Diamond
Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[14704]
Abstract: Dynein-2 assembles with polymeric intraflagellar transport (IFT) trains to form a transport machinery that is crucial for cilia biogenesis and signaling. Here we recombinantly expressed the ~1.4-MDa human dynein-2 complex and solved its cryo-EM structure to near-atomic resolution. The two identical copies of the dynein-2 heavy chain are contorted into different conformations by a WDR60−WDR34 heterodimer and a block of two RB and six LC8 light chains. One heavy chain is steered into a zig-zag conformation, which matches the periodicity of the anterograde IFT-B train. Contacts between adjacent dyneins along the train indicate a cooperative mode of assembly. Removal of the WDR60−WDR34−light chain subcomplex renders dynein-2 monomeric and relieves autoinhibition of its motility. Our results converge on a model in which an unusual stoichiometry of non-motor subunits controls dynein-2 assembly, asymmetry, and activity, giving mechanistic insight into the interaction of dynein-2 with IFT trains and the origin of diverse functions in the dynein family.
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Aug 2019
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Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[17434]
Open Access
Abstract: The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) orchestrates cell cycle progression by controlling the temporal degradation of specific cell cycle regulators. Although cyclin A2 and cyclin B1 are both targeted for degradation by the APC/C, during the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), the mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC) represses APC/C's activity towards cyclin B1, but not cyclin A2. Through structural, biochemical and in vivo analysis, we identify a non-canonical D box (D2) that is critical for cyclin A2 ubiquitination in vitro and degradation in vivo. During the SAC, cyclin A2 is ubiquitinated by the repressed APC/C-MCC, mediated by the cooperative engagement of its KEN and D2 boxes, ABBA motif, and the cofactor Cks. Once the SAC is satisfied, cyclin A2 binds APC/C-Cdc20 through two mutually exclusive binding modes, resulting in differential ubiquitination efficiency. Our findings reveal that a single substrate can engage an E3 ligase through multiple binding modes, affecting its degradation timing and efficiency.
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Aug 2019
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Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[19832]
Open Access
Abstract: Quinol-dependent nitric oxide reductases (qNORs) are membrane-integrated, iron-containing enzymes of the denitrification pathway, which catalyze the reduction of nitric oxide (NO) to the major ozone destroying gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Cryo–electron microscopy structures of active qNOR from Alcaligenes xylosoxidans and an activity-enhancing mutant have been determined to be at local resolutions of 3.7 and 3.2 Å, respectively. They unexpectedly reveal a dimeric conformation (also confirmed for qNOR from Neisseria meningitidis) and define the active-site configuration, with a clear water channel from the cytoplasm. Structure-based mutagenesis has identified key residues involved in proton transport and substrate delivery to the active site of qNORs. The proton supply direction differs from cytochrome c–dependent NOR (cNOR), where water molecules from the cytoplasm serve as a proton source similar to those from cytochrome c oxidase.
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Aug 2019
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Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20975]
Open Access
Abstract: Nitrilases are helical enzymes that convert nitriles to acids and/or amides. All plants have a nitrilase 4 homolog specific for ß-cyanoalanine, while in some plants neofunctionalization has produced nitrilases with altered specificity. Plant nitrilase substrate size and specificity correlate with helical twist, but molecular details of this relationship are lacking. Here we determine, to our knowledge, the first close-to-atomic resolution (3.4 Å) cryo-EM structure of an active helical nitrilase, the nitrilase 4 from Arabidopsis thaliana. We apply site-saturation mutagenesis directed evolution to three residues (R95, S224, and L169) and generate a mutant with an altered helical twist that accepts substrates not catalyzed by known plant nitrilases. We reveal that a loop between α2 and α3 limits the length of the binding pocket and propose that it shifts position as a function of helical twist. These insights will allow us to start designing nitrilases for chemoenzymatic synthesis.
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Jul 2019
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Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Vasileios
Kargas
,
Pablo
Castro-hartmann
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Norberto
Escudero-urquijo
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Kyle
Dent
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Christine
Hilcenko
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Carolin
Sailer
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Gertrude
Zisser
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Maria J.
Marques-carvalho
,
Simone
Pellegrino
,
Leszek
Wawiórka
,
Stefan M. V.
Freund
,
Jane L.
Wagstaff
,
Antonina
Andreeva
,
Alexandre
Faille
,
Edwin
Chen
,
Florian
Stengel
,
Helmut
Bergler
,
Alan John
Warren
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[14359, 15368, 16940, 17057, 18078, 18328]
Abstract: During their final maturation in the cytoplasm, pre-60S ribosomal particles are converted to translation-competent large ribosomal subunits. Here, we present the mechanism of peptidyltransferase centre (PTC) completion that explains how integration of the last ribosomal proteins is coupled to release of the nuclear export adaptor Nmd3. Single-particle cryo-EM reveals that eL40 recruitment stabilises helix 89 to form the uL16 binding site. The loading of uL16 unhooks helix 38 from Nmd3 to adopt its mature conformation. In turn, partial retraction of the L1 stalk is coupled to a conformational switch in Nmd3 that allows the uL16 P-site loop to fully accommodate into the PTC where it competes with Nmd3 for an overlapping binding site (base A2971). Our data reveal how the central functional site of the ribosome is sculpted and suggest how the formation of translation-competent 60S subunits is disrupted in leukaemia-associated ribosomopathies.
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May 2019
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Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
Krios III-Titan Krios III at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[19865]
Open Access
Abstract: CRISPR and associated Cas proteins function as an adaptive immune system in prokaryotes to combat bacteriophage infection. During the immunization step, new spacers are acquired by the CRISPR machinery, but the molecular mechanism of spacer capture remains enigmatic. We show that the Cas9, Cas1, Cas2, and Csn2 proteins of a Streptococcus thermophilus type II-A CRISPR-Cas system form a complex and provide cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of three different assemblies. The predominant form, with the stoichiometry Cas18-Cas24-Csn28, referred to as monomer, contains ∼30 bp duplex DNA bound along a central channel. A minor species, termed a dimer, comprises two monomers that sandwich a further eight Cas1 and four Cas2 subunits and contains two DNA ∼30-bp duplexes within the channel. A filamentous form also comprises Cas18-Cas24-Csn28 units (typically 2–6) but with a different Cas1-Cas2 interface between them and a continuous DNA duplex running along a central channel.
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May 2019
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Krios I-Titan Krios I at Diamond
Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Chiara
Marabelli
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Biagina
Marrocco
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Simona
Pilotto
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Sagar
Chittori
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Sarah
Picaud
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Sara
Marchese
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Giuseppe
Ciossani
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Federico
Forneris
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Panagis
Filippakopoulos
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Guy
Schoehn
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Daniela
Rhodes
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Sriram
Subramaniam
,
Andrea
Mattevi
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[16082]
Open Access
Abstract: LSD1 and LSD2 are homologous histone demethylases with opposite biological outcomes related to chromatin silencing and transcription elongation, respectively. Unlike LSD1, LSD2 nucleosome-demethylase activity relies on a specific linker peptide from the multidomain protein NPAC. We used single-particle cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), in combination with kinetic and mutational analysis, to analyze the mechanisms underlying the function of the human LSD2/NPAC-linker/nucleosome complex. Weak interactions between LSD2 and DNA enable multiple binding modes for the association of the demethylase to the nucleosome. The demethylase thereby captures mono- and dimethyl Lys4 of the H3 tail to afford histone demethylation. Our studies also establish that the dehydrogenase domain of NPAC serves as a catalytically inert oligomerization module. While LSD1/CoREST forms a nucleosome docking platform at silenced gene promoters, LSD2/NPAC is a multifunctional enzyme complex with flexible linkers, tailored for rapid chromatin modification, in conjunction with the advance of the RNA polymerase on actively transcribed genes.
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Apr 2019
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Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[17434]
Abstract: AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs) mediate excitatory neurotransmission, and are central regulators of synaptic plasticity, a molecular mechanism underlying learning and memory. Although AMPARs act predominantly as heteromers, structural studies have focused on homomeric assemblies. Here we present a cryo-EM structure of the heteromeric GluA1/2 receptor associated with two TARP γ8 auxiliary subunits, the principle AMPAR complex at hippocampal synapses. Within the receptor, the core subunits arrange to give the GluA2 subunit dominant control of gating. This structure reveals the geometry of the Q/R-site controlling calcium flux, suggests association of TARP-stabilized lipids, and demonstrates that the extracellular loop of γ8 modulates gating by selectively interacting with the GluA2 ligand-binding domain. Collectively, this structure provides a blueprint for deciphering the signal transduction mechanisms of synaptic AMPARs.
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Mar 2019
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