Impact of synchrotron radiation on macromolecular crystallography: a personal view

This article, largely based on personal experiences of the authors, reviews the early history of the application of synchrotron radiation to structural biology, and particularly protein crystallography, to show the tremendous impact that this experimental innovation has had on these disciplines

Crystal Structure of S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine Hydrolase from Cytophaga hutchinsonii, a Case of Combination of Crystallographic and Non-crystallographic Symmetry

The majority of living organisms utilize S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase (SAHase) as a key regulator of cellular methylation reactions. The unusual evolution history of SAHase genes is reflected in the phylogeny of these proteins, which are grouped into two major domains: mainly archaeal and eukaryotic/bacterial. Such a phylogeny is in contradiction to the three-domain topology of the tree of life, commonly based on 16S rRNA sequences. Within the latter domain, SAHases are classified as eukaryotic-only or bacterial-only clades depending on their origin and sequence peculiarities. A rare exception in this classification is SAHase from a cellulose-utilizing soil bacterium Cytophaga hutchinsonii (ChSAHase), as the phylogenetic analyses indicate that ChSAHase belongs to the animal clade. Here, the P21212 crystal structure of recombinant ChSAHase in ternary complex with the oxidized form of the NAD+ cofactor and a reaction product/substrate (adenosine) is presented. Additionally, a sodium cation was identified in close proximity of the active site. The crystal contains two translational NCS-related intimate dimers of ChSAHase subunits in the asymmetric unit. Two complete tetrameric enzyme molecules are generated from these dimers within the crystal lattice through the operation of crystallographic twofold axes in the z direction. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Isostructurality in crystalline oxa-androgens: a case of C-O-···O and C-H···O interaction mimicry and solid solution formation

A C-H···O interaction in 2-oxa-4-androstene-3,17-dione is replaced by a C-O-H···O hydrogen bond in the isostructural 6a-hydroxy analogue, and these compounds form a binary solid solution, showing the similarity of these two crystal structures

Multiple molecules in the crystallographic asymmetric unit. Self host-guest and doubly interpenetrated hydrogen bond networks in a pair of keto-bisphenols

The presence of two molecules in the crystallographic asymmetric unit in a pair of closely related keto-bisphenols that differ by a methyl substituent only, leads to open frameworks that fill space through self-inclusion in one case, and through interpenetration in the other

Likelihood-based molecular-replacement solution for a highly pathological crystal with tetartohedral twinning and sevenfold translational noncrystallographic symmetry.

Translational noncrystallographic symmetry (tNCS) is a pathology of protein crystals in which multiple copies of a molecule or assembly are found in similar orientations. Structure solution is problematic because this breaks the assumptions used in current likelihood-based methods. To cope with such cases, new likelihood approaches have been developed and implemented in Phaser to account for the statistical effects of tNCS in molecular replacement. Using these new approaches, it was possible to solve the crystal structure of a protein exhibiting an extreme form of this pathology with seven tetrameric assemblies arrayed along the c axis. To resolve space-group ambiguities caused by tetartohedral twinning, the structure was initially solved by placing 56 copies of the monomer in space group P1 and using the symmetry of the solution to define the true space group, C2. The resulting structure of Hyp-1, a pathogenesis-related class 10 (PR-10) protein from the medicinal herb St John's wort, reveals the binding modes of the fluorescent probe 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS), providing insight into the function of the protein in binding or storing hydrophobic ligands

ANS complex of St John's wort PR-10 protein with 28 copies in the asymmetric unit: a fiendish combination of pseudosymmetry with tetartohedral twinning.

Hyp-1, a pathogenesis-related class 10 (PR-10) protein from St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), was crystallized in complex with the fluorescent probe 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS). The highly pseudosymmetric crystal has 28 unique protein molecules arranged in columns with sevenfold translational noncrystallographic symmetry (tNCS) along c and modulated X-ray diffraction with intensity crests at l = 7n and l = 7n ± 3. The translational NCS is combined with pseudotetragonal rotational NCS. The crystal was a perfect tetartohedral twin, although detection of twinning was severely hindered by the pseudosymmetry. The structure determined at 2.4 Å resolution reveals that the Hyp-1 molecules (packed as β-sheet dimers) have three novel ligand-binding sites (two internal and one in a surface pocket), which was confirmed by solution studies. In addition to 60 Hyp-1-docked ligands, there are 29 interstitial ANS molecules distributed in a pattern that violates the arrangement of the protein molecules and is likely to be the generator of the structural modulation. In particular, whenever the stacked Hyp-1 molecules are found closer together there is an ANS molecule bridging them.Financial support for this project was provided by the European Union within the European Regional Developmental Fund and by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (grant No. NN 301 003739) and National Science Center (2013/10/M/NZ1/00251). RJR was supported by a Principal Research Fellowship from theWellcome Trust (grant No. 082961/Z/07/Z). ZD was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute, Center for Cancer Research.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S1399004715001388

Is too ‘creative’ language acceptable in crystallography?

A brief comment is made on the need to use carefully selected, novel terms in crystallographic publications, especially publications addressing non-specialists

Prevention of domain swapping inhibits dimerization and amyloid fibril formation of cystatin C : use of engineered disulfide bridges, antibodies, and carboxymethylpapain to stabilize the monomeric form of cystatin C

Amyloidogenic proteins like cystatin C and prion proteins have been shown to form dimers by exchange of subdomains of the monomeric proteins. This process, called "three-dimensional domain swapping," has also been suggested to play a part in the generation of amyloid fibrils. One variant of cystatin C, L68Q cystatin C, is highly amyloidogenic, and persons carrying the corresponding gene suffer from massive cerebral amyloidosis leading to brain hemorrhage and death in early adult life. The present work describes the production of two variants of wild type and L68Q cystatin C with disulfide bridges at positions selected to inhibit domain swapping without affecting the biological function of the four cystatin C variants as cysteine protease inhibitors. The capacity of the four variant proteins to form dimers was tested and compared with that of wild type and L68Q cystatin C. In contrast to the latter two proteins, all four protein variants stabilized by disulfide bridges were resistant toward the formation of dimers. The capacity of the two stabilized variants of wild type cystatin C to form amyloid fibrils was investigated and found to be reduced by 80% compared with that of wild type cystatin C. In an effort to investigate whether exogenous agents could also suppress the formation of dimers of wild type and L68Q cystatin C, a monoclonal antibody or carboxymethylpapain, an inactivated form of a cysteine protease, was added to systems inducing dimerization of wild type and L68Q cystatin C. It was observed that catalytic amounts of both the monoclonal antibody and carboxymethylpapain could suppress dimerization

High regularity of Z-DNA revealed by ultra high-resolution crystal structure at 0.55 ņ

The crystal structure of a Z-DNA hexamer duplex d(CGCGCG)2 determined at ultra high resolution of 0.55 Å and refined without restraints, displays a high degree of regularity and rigidity in its stereochemistry, in contrast to the more flexible B-DNA duplexes. The estimations of standard uncertainties of all individually refined parameters, obtained by full-matrix least-squares optimization, are comparable with values that are typical for small-molecule crystallography. The Z-DNA model generated with ultra high-resolution diffraction data can be used to revise the stereochemical restraints applied in lower resolution refinements. Detailed comparisons of the stereochemical library values with the present accurate Z-DNA parameters, shows in general a good agreement, but also reveals significant discrepancies in the description of guanine-sugar valence angles and in the geometry of the phosphate groups

Likelihood-based molecular-replacement solution for a highly pathological crystal with tetartohedral twinning and sevenfold translational noncrystallographic symmetry

Translational noncrystallographic symmetry (tNCS) is a pathology of protein crystals in which multiple copies of a molecule or assembly are found in similar orientations. Structure solution is problematic because this breaks the assumptions used in current likelihood-based methods. To cope with such cases, new likelihood approaches have been developed and implemented in Phaser to account for the statistical effects of tNCS in molecular replacement. Using these new approaches, it was possible to solve the crystal structure of a protein exhibiting an extreme form of this pathology with seven tetrameric assemblies arrayed along the c axis. To resolve space-group ambiguities caused by tetartohedral twinning, the structure was initially solved by placing 56 copies of the monomer in space group P1 and using the symmetry of the solution to define the true space group, C2. The resulting structure of Hyp-1, a pathogenesis-related class 10 (PR-10) protein from the medicinal herb St John’s wort, reveals the binding modes of the fluorescent probe 8-­anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS), providing insight into the function of the protein in binding or storing hydrophobic ligands