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Abstract: Diamond Light Source is a 3 GeV electron storage ring, which has been successfully operating in top-up mode since October 2008, having previously operated in decay mode only. Although in the UK there is no legal requirement to submit a safety case to the relevant authority (the Health and Safety Executive) when implementing top-up operation for the first time, it is required to keep doses ALARP and within the 1 mSv annual dose limit which Diamond has set for all staff, users and visitors. Prior to operating Diamond in top- up mode, a study of the radiological safety implications was carried out to ensure that these requirements could be met. The study involved calculation using FLUKA of dose rates arising from accidental beam losses. These losses took the form of either continuous losses in a front end arising from poor injection, or loss of a single injected electron pulse into a beamline optics hutch. In addition to the calculations, dose rate measurements were made outside beamline hutches under conditions of deliberately engineered beam losses in front ends, intended to compare as closely as possible with those modelled. As a result of this study, a number of changes to Diamond’s radiation monitoring regime were proposed and implemented before top-up operation was permitted. The study also helped to define the limits within which top-up would be permitted to operate.

Open Access

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Abstract: Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) remove ubiquitin (Ub) from Ub-conjugated substrates to regulate the functional outcome of ubiquitylation. Here we report the discovery of a new family of DUBs, which we have named MINDY (motif interacting with Ub-containing novel DUB family). Found in all eukaryotes, MINDY-family DUBs are highly selective at cleaving K48-linked polyUb, a signal that targets proteins for degradation. We identify the catalytic activity to be encoded within a previously unannotated domain, the crystal structure of which reveals a distinct protein fold with no homology to any of the known DUBs. The crystal structure of MINDY-1 (also known as FAM63A) in complex with propargylated Ub reveals conformational changes that realign the active site for catalysis. MINDY-1 prefers cleaving long polyUb chains and works by trimming chains from the distal end. Collectively, our results reveal a new family of DUBs that may have specialized roles in regulating proteostasis.

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Abstract: A novel Nickel (II) complex of 2-hydroxypyridine-N-oxide has been prepared and characterized by X-ray crystal structure analysis, FT-IR, UV spectra and thermogravimetry. The X-ray diffraction study reveals that the nickel complex is a 1D linear polymer in space group Pī with a = 6.250(1), b = 8.746(2), c = 9.462(2) Å, α = 81.76(3)o, β = 79.55(3)o and γ = 81.17(3)o. Two nickel ions are present in the unit cell related by the crystallographic centre of symmetry at ½ ½ ½. There are two different short non-bonded Ni to Ni separations in the polymeric structure: 3.454 and 3.467 Å respectively. Both room temperature magnetic moment measurements, and theoretical calculations are in favor of a simple paramagnetic system. As a complementary study, plane wave pseudopotential DFT calculations were performed, utilizing eight different XC functionals. The PBE and PBE0 functionals reproduce well the X-ray crystal structure of the complex, while the HSE functional gives a band gap which corresponds reasonably to the experimentally estimated value. The results of antimicrobial properties and thermal analysis of the complex are also reported.

Open Access

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Abstract: MAP kinases act as an integration point for multiple biochemical signals and are involved in a wide variety of cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, regulation of transcription and development. As a member of the MAP kinase family, ERK5 (MAPK7) is involved in the downstream signalling pathways of various cell-surface receptors, including receptor tyrosine kinases and G protein-coupled receptors. In the current study, five structures of the ERK5 kinase domain co-crystallized with ERK5 inhibitors are reported. Interestingly, three of the compounds bind at a novel allosteric binding site in ERK5, while the other two bind at the typical ATP-binding site. Binding of inhibitors at the allosteric site is accompanied by displacement of the P-loop into the ATP-binding site and is shown to be ATP-competitive in an enzymatic assay of ERK5 kinase activity. Kinase selectivity data show that the most potent allosteric inhibitor exhibits superior kinase selectivity compared with the two inhibitors that bind at the canonical ATP-binding site. An analysis of these structures and comparison with both a previously published ERK5-inhibitor complex structure (PDB entry 4b99) and the structures of three other kinases (CDK2, ITK and MEK) in complex with allosteric inhibitors are presented.

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Abstract: Ebola viruses (EBOVs) are responsible for repeated outbreaks of fatal infections, including the recent deadly epidemic in West Africa. There are currently no approved therapeutic drugs or vaccines for the disease. EBOV has a membrane envelope decorated by trimers of a glycoprotein (GP, cleaved by furin to form GP1 and GP2 subunits), which is solely responsible for host cell attachment, endosomal entry and membrane fusion(1-7). GP is thus a primary target for the development of antiviral drugs. Here we report the first, to our knowledge, unliganded structure of EBOV GP, and high-resolution complexes of GP with the anticancer drug toremifene and the painkiller ibuprofen. The high-resolution apo structure gives a more complete and accurate picture of the molecule, and allows conformational changes introduced by antibody and receptor binding to be deciphered(8-10). Unexpectedly, both toremifene and ibuprofen bind in a cavity between the attachment (GP1) and fusion (GP2) subunits at the entrance to a large tunnel that links with equivalent tunnels from the other monomers of the trimer at the three-fold axis. Protein-drug interactions with both GP1 and GP2 are predominately hydrophobic. Residues lining the binding site are highly conserved among filoviruses except Marburg virus (MARV), suggesting that MARV may not bind these drugs. Thermal shift assays show up to a 14 degrees C decrease in the protein melting temperature after toremifene binding, while ibuprofen has only a marginal effect and is a less potent inhibitor. These results suggest that inhibitor binding destabilizes GP and triggers premature release of GP2, thereby preventing fusion between the viral and endosome membranes. Thus, these complex structures reveal the mechanism of inhibition and may guide the development of more powerful anti-EBOV drugs.