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Light makes light work of fatty acids Photosynthetic organisms are notable for their ability to capture light energy and use it to power biosynthesis. Some algae have gone a step beyond photosynthesis and can use light to initiate enzymatic photodecarboxylation of fatty acids, producing long-chain hydrocarbons. To understand this transformation, Sorigué et al. brought to bear an array of structural, computational, and spectroscopic techniques and fully characterized the catalytic cycle of the enzyme. These experiments are consistent with a mechanism starting with electron transfer from the fatty acid to a photoexcited oxidized flavin cofactor. Decarboxylation yields an alkyl radical, which is then reduced by back electron transfer and protonation rather than hydrogen atom transfer. The wealth of experimental data explains how algae harness light energy to produce alka(e)nes and provides an appealing model system for understanding enzyme-catalyzed photochemistry more generally. Science , this issue p. eabd5687

Fatty Acid Photodecarboxylase (FAP) is a recently discovered photoenzyme that catalyzes the conversion of fatty acids into alkane and CO2 under light, with potential importance in green chemistry applications [1]. Its mechanism was still not fully understood and partly relied on a low-resolution crystal structure obtained from crystals with a twinning default [1]. Here, we present high-resolution crystal structures of FAP obtained in the dark and after light illumination at cryogenic temperatures (Figure 1). Combined with structural, computational, and spectroscopic techniques we are now able to provide a detailed reaction cycle of FAP. The reaction mechanism starts with an electron transfer from the fatty acid to a photoexcited oxidized flavin cofactor. Decarboxylation yields an alkyl radical, which is then reduced by back electron transfer and protonation rather than hydrogen atom transfer. Along with flavin reoxidation by the alkyl radical intermediate, a major fraction of the cleaved CO2 unexpectedly transforms in 100 ns, most likely into bicarbonate. This is orders of magnitude faster than in solution, which indicates a catalytic step. FT-IR, structural and functional studies on variants centered on two conserved active site residues (R451 and C432) showed that R451 is essential for substrate stabilization and proton transfer. Altogether this study provides a detailed characterization of this unique enzyme and reveals a striking and unanticipated mechanistic complexity [2].

Significant improvements to the sample-location, characterization and data-collection algorithms on the autonomous ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 are described. The workflows now include dynamic beam-diameter adjustment and multi-position and multi-crystal data collections., Macromolecular crystallography is now a mature and widely used technique that is essential in the understanding of biology and medicine. Increases in computing power combined with robotics have not only enabled large numbers of samples to be screened and characterized but have also enabled better decisions to be taken on data collection itself. This led to the development of MASSIF-1 at the ESRF, the first beamline in the world to run fully automatically while making intelligent decisions taking user requirements into account. Since opening in late 2014, the beamline has processed over 42 000 samples. Improvements have been made to the speed of the sample-handling robotics and error management within the software routines. The workflows initially put into place, while highly innovative at the time, have been expanded to include increased complexity and additional intelligence using the information gathered during characterization; this includes adapting the beam diameter dynamically to match the diffraction volume within the crystal. Complex multi-position and multi-crystal data collections have now also been integrated into the selection of experiments available. This has led to increased data quality and throughput, allowing even the most challenging samples to be treated automatically.

ID30B, a versatile macromolecular crystallography beamline at the ESRF, is presented., ID30B is an undulator-based high-intensity, energy-tuneable (6.0–20 keV) and variable-focus (20–200 µm in diameter) macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamline at the ESRF. It was the last of the ESRF Structural Biology Group’s beamlines to be constructed and commissioned as part of the ESRF’s Phase I Upgrade Program and has been in user operation since June 2015. Both a modified microdiffractometer (MD2S) incorporating an in situ plate screening capability and a new flexible sample changer (the FlexHCD) were specifically developed for ID30B. Here, the authors provide the current beamline characteristics and detail how different types of MX experiments can be performed on ID30B (http://www.esrf.eu/id30b).

International audience; Enzymatic regulations are central processes for the adaptation to changing environments. In the particular case of metallophore-dependent metal uptake, there is a need to quickly adjust the production of these metallophores to the metal level outside the cell, to avoid metal shortage or overload, as well as waste of metallophores. In Staphylococcus aureus, CntM catalyzes the last biosynthetic step in the production of staphylopine, a broad-spectrum metallophore, through the reductive condensation of a pathway intermediate (xNA) with pyruvate. Here, we describe the chemical synthesis of this intermediate, which was instrumental in the structural and functional characterization of CntM and confirmed its opine synthase properties. The three-dimensional structure of CntM was obtained in an "open" form, in the apo state or as a complex with substrate or product. The xNA substrate appears mainly stabilized by its imidazole ring through a pi-pi interaction with the side chain of Tyr240. Intriguingly, we found that metals exerted various and sometime antagonistic effects on the reaction catalyzed by CntM: zinc and copper are moderate activators at low concentration and then total inhibitors at higher concentration, whereas manganese is only an activator and cobalt and nickel are only inhibitors. We propose a model in which the relative affinity of a metal toward xNA and an inhibitory binding site on the enzyme controls activation, inhibition, or both as a function of metal concentration. This metal-dependent regulation of a metallophore-producing enzyme might also take place in vivo, which could contribute to the adjustment of metallophore production to the internal metal level.

High-brilliance X-ray beams coupled with automation have led to the use of synchrotron-based macromolecular X-ray crystallography (MX) beamlines for even the most challenging projects in structural biology. However, most facilities still require the presence of a scientist on site to perform the experiments. A new generation of automated beamlines dedicated to the fully automatic characterization of, and data collection from, crystals of biological macromolecules has recently been developed. These beamlines represent a new tool for structural biologists to screen the results of initial crystallization trials and/or the collection of large numbers of diffraction data sets, without users having to control the beamline themselves. Here we show how to set up an experiment for automatic screening and data collection, how an experiment is performed at the beamline, how the resulting data sets are processed, and how, when possible, the crystal structure of the biological macromolecule is solved.

International audience; Automation is beginning to transform the way data are collected in almost all scientific disciplines. The combination of robotics and software now allows data to be collected consistently and reproducibly, eliminating human error and boredom. This approach has been applied to macromolecular crystallography at MASSIF-1, a fully automated beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). Considerable human effort is still dedicated to evaluating protein crystals in order to find the few crystals that diffract well or collecting hundreds of data sets to screen potential new drug candidates. The combination of ESRF-developed robotic sample handling and advanced software protocols now provides a new tool to structural biologists. Not only is the beamline used efficiently, running 24h a day without getting tired, data collection is also performed consistently by an expert system, often better than with a human operator. In this review, we will focus on the impact this level of automation has had on the optimum acquisition of data from crystals of biological macromolecules

The automatic processing of over 56 000 crystals by the autonomous ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 has provided a data set of crystal characteristics and properties that allows many theoretical proposals and assumptions to be evaluated experimentally., The fully automatic processing of crystals of macromolecules has presented a unique opportunity to gather information on the samples that is not usually recorded. This has proved invaluable in improving sample-location, characterization and data-collection algorithms. After operating for four years, MASSIF-1 has now processed over 56 000 samples, gathering information at each stage, from the volume of the crystal to the unit-cell dimensions, the space group, the quality of the data collected and the reasoning behind the decisions made in data collection. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to analyse these data together, providing a detailed landscape of macromolecular crystals, intimate details of their contents and, importantly, how the two are related. The data show that mosaic spread is unrelated to the size or shape of crystals and demonstrate experimentally that diffraction intensities scale in proportion to crystal volume and molecular weight. It is also shown that crystal volume scales inversely with molecular weight. The results set the scene for the development of X-ray crystallography in a changing environment for structural biology.

Macromolecular crystallography (MX) is now a mature and widely used technique essential in the understanding of biology and medicine. Increases in computing power combined with robotics have enabled not only large numbers of samples to be screened and characterised but also for better decisions to be taken on data collection itself. This led to the development of MASSIF-1 at the ESRF, the world’s first beamline to run fully automatically while making intelligent decisions taking user requirements into account. Since opening in late 2014 the beamline has now processed over 39,000 samples. Improvements have been made to the speed of the sample handling robotics and error management within the software routines. The workflows initially put in place, while highly innovative at the time, have been expanded to include increased complexity and additional intelligence using the information gathered during characterisation, this includes adapting the beam diameter dynamically to match the diffraction volume within the crystal. Complex multi-position and multi-crystal data collections are now also integrated into the selection of experiments available. This has led to increased data quality and throughput allowing even the most challenging samples to be treated automatically.SynopsisSignificant improvements in the sample location, characterisation and data collection algorithms on the autonomous ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 are described. The workflows now include dynamic beam diameter adjustment and multi-position and multi-crystal data collections.

Algal enzyme driven by blue light Microalgae make hydrocarbons. In searching for the enzyme responsible, Sorigué et al. found a glucose-methanolcholine oxidoreductase (see the Perspective by Scrutton). Expression of the enzyme in Escherichia coli showed that hydrocarbon production requires visible light. In fact, the enzyme requires a constant input of blue photons to carry out its catalytic reaction. A long hydrophobic tunnel in the enzyme stabilizes the fatty acid substrates in proximity to the flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor. Science , this issue p. 903 ; see also p. 872

Bacteria from the human gut are equipped with an arsenal of carbohydrate-active enzymes that degrade dietary and host-derived glycans. In this study, we present the 2.5 A resolution crystal structure of a member (GH39wh2) from the human gut bacteria Bacteroides cellulosilyticus WH2 representative of a new subgroup within family GH39. Together with 6 other GHs, GH39wh2 belongs to a polysaccharide utilization locus (PUL) that could be involved in detecting, binding and hydrolysing a specific carbohydrate species from the intestinal tract. GH39wh2 shares a similar architecture as other members of family GH39 dominated by a typical (β/α)8-barrel fold harboring the catalytic residues and decorated by β-sandwich accessory domains. The GH39wh2 structure unveils an atypical shallow groove rather than a deep pocket due to drastic rearrangements in surface loops surrounding the catalytic interface. These structural adaptations seem to favour recognition of large branched substrates and may explain the lack of activity of GH39wh2 toward small xylose-based and other typical substrates from GH39 members, emphasizing the molecular diversity within the GH39 family. A phylogenetic analysis of the entire GH39 family assigns GH39wh2 as a new subgroup, consistent with the extensive remodelling of the active site region that may confer new substrate specificity toward a complex glycan chain.

International audience; Members of the GH73 glycosidase family cleave the β-1,4-glycosidic bond between the N-acetylglucosaminyl (GlcNAc) and N-acetylmuramyl (MurNAc) moieties in bacterial peptidoglycan. A catalytic mechanism has been proposed for members FlgJ, Auto, AcmA and Atl(WM) and the structural analysis of FlgJ and Auto revealed a conserved α/β fold reminiscent of the distantly related GH23 lysozyme. Comparison of the active site residues reveals variability in the nature of the catalytic general base suggesting two distinct catalytic mechanisms: an inverting mechanism involving two distant glutamate residues and a substrate-assisted mechanism involving anchimeric assistance by the C2-acetamido group of the GlcNAc moiety. Herein, we present the biochemical characterization and crystal structure of TM0633 from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima. TM0633 adopts the α/β fold of the family and displays β-N-acetylglucosaminidase activity on intact peptidoglycan sacculi. Site-directed mutagenesis identifies Glu34, Glu65 and Tyr118 as important residues for catalysis. A thorough bioinformatic analysis of the GH73 sequences identified five phylogenetic clusters. TM0633, FlgJ and Auto belong to a group of three clusters that conserve two carboxylate residues involved in a classical inverting acid-base mechanism. Members of the other two clusters lack a conserved catalytic general base supporting a substrate-assisted mechanism. Molecular modeling of representative members from each cluster suggests that variability in length of the β-hairpin region above the active site confers ligand-binding specificity and modulates the catalytic mechanisms within the GH73 family.

Ces trois dernieres decennies ont vu un bouleversement complet de la biologie structurale grâce a l’utilisation du rayonnement synchrotron. De nombreuses structures de macromolecules biologiques, inconnues jusqu’a ce jour, ont ainsi ete determinees. L’automatisation des mesures de diffraction et le developpement des techniques d’analyse et de modelisation ont facilite l’exploitation de ce nouvel outil. Ces etudes structurales ont ainsi pu donner acces aux details du fonctionnement des proteines et des molecules medicamenteuses qui interagissent avec elles, par exemple dans les combats contre les cancers ou le VIH, et ont influence le developpement de nouvelles therapies.

MxCuBE is a beamline control environment optimized for the needs of macromolecular crystallography. This paper describes the design of the software and the features that MxCuBE currently provides., The design and features of a beamline control software system for macromolecular crystallography (MX) experiments developed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) are described. This system, MxCuBE, allows users to easily and simply interact with beamline hardware components and provides automated routines for common tasks in the operation of a synchrotron beamline dedicated to experiments in MX. Additional functionality is provided through intuitive interfaces that enable the assessment of the diffraction characteristics of samples, experiment planning, automatic data collection and the on-line collection and analysis of X-ray emission spectra. The software can be run in a tandem client-server mode that allows for remote control and relevant experimental parameters and results are automatically logged in a relational database, ISPyB. MxCuBE is modular, flexible and extensible and is currently deployed on eight macromolecular crystallography beamlines at the ESRF. Additionally, the software is installed at MAX-lab beamline I911-3 and at BESSY beamline BL14.1.

The improvement of the X-ray beam quality achieved on ID14-4 by the installation of new X-ray optical elements is described., ID14-4 at the ESRF is the first tunable undulator-based macromolecular crystallography beamline that can celebrate a decade of user service. During this time ID14-4 has not only been instrumental in the determination of the structures of biologically important molecules but has also contributed significantly to the development of various instruments, novel data collection schemes and pioneering radiation damage studies on biological samples. Here, the evolution of ID14-4 over the last decade is presented, and some of the major improvements that were carried out in order to maintain its status as one of the most productive macromolecular crystallography beamlines are highlighted. The experimental hutch has been upgraded to accommodate a high-precision diffractometer, a sample changer and a large CCD detector. More recently, the optical hutch has been refurbished in order to improve the X-ray beam quality on ID14-4 and to incorporate the most modern and robust optical elements used at other ESRF beamlines. These new optical elements will be described and their effect on beam stability discussed. These studies may be useful in the design, construction and maintenance of future X-ray beamlines for macromolecular crystallography and indeed other applications, such as those planned for the ESRF upgrade.

In order to prolong the life-time of crystals in an X-ray beam, modern macromolecular crystallography is mainly performed using cryogenically cooled samples. However, in many cases flash cooling can degrade crystal quality if cryoprotection conditions are not ideal. Annealing or tempering of samples adversely affected by cryocooling can often, at least partially, restore diffraction quality and is now considered a standard technique in macromolecular crystallography. A small, inexpensive, automatically operated annealing device that is installed on all ESRF macromolecular crystallography beamlines is presented here. The device allows,viathe beamline control graphical user interface mxCuBE, the flash annealing of samples either from the beamline control cabin or by users accessing the beamline remotely.

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility has a long standing history in the automation of experiments in Macromolecular Crystallography. MASSIF-1 (Massively Automated Sample Screening and evaluation Integrated Facility), a beamline constructed as part of the ESRF Upgrade Phase I program, has been open to the external user community since July 2014 and offers a unique completely automated data collection service to both academic and industrial structural biologists.

An industrial six-axis robot has been combined with a high-accuracy air-bearing rotation axis to create a single device with the capabilities of both transferring cryocooled protein crystals from a sample-containing dewar and collecting complete X-ray diffraction data sets., Automation of the mounting of cryocooled samples is now a feature of the majority of beamlines dedicated to macromolecular crystallography (MX). Robotic sample changers have been developed over many years, with the latest designs increasing capacity, reliability and speed. Here, the development of a new sample changer deployed at the ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 (ID30A-1), based on an industrial six-axis robot, is described. The device, named RoboDiff, includes a high-capacity dewar, acts as both a sample changer and a high-accuracy goniometer, and has been designed for completely unattended sample mounting and diffraction data collection. This aim has been achieved using a high level of diagnostics at all steps of the process from mounting and characterization to data collection. The RoboDiff has been in service on the fully automated endstation MASSIF-1 at the ESRF since September 2014 and, at the time of writing, has processed more than 20 000 samples completely automatically.

During the last twenty years macromolecular crystallography (MX) has become the predominant tool for the investigation of structure/function relationships in biology. This is due to many technological advances and, in particular, improved access to synchrotron radiation (SR) sources, data from which has lead to ∼80% of the macromolecular crystal structures currently being deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) (Figure 1, http://www.rcsb.org). The demand for synchrotron beam-time is also being fuelled by the funding of a number of structural genomics programmes [1], which, following an initial investment in protein production technology, have now contributed ∼1000 new structures to the PDB.

Iron uptake by humans depends on the ability of the serum protein transferrin (Tf) to bind iron as Fe(3+) with high affinity but reversibly. Iron release into cells occurs through receptor-mediated endocytosis, aided by the lower endosomal pH of about 5.5. The protonation of a hydrogen-bonded pair of lysines, Lys206 and Lys296, adjacent to the N-lobe iron site of Tf has been proposed to create a repulsive interaction that stimulates domain opening and iron release. The crystal structures of two mutants, K206E (in which Lys206 is mutated to Glu) and K206E/K296E (in which both lysines are mutated to Glu), have been determined. The K206E structure (2.6 A resolution; R = 0.213, R(free) = 0.269) shows that a salt bridge is formed between Glu206 and Lys296, thus explaining the drastically slower iron release by this mutant. The K206E/K296E double-mutant structure (2.8 A resolution; R = 0.232, R(free) = 0.259) shows that the Glu296 side chain moves away from Glu206, easing any repulsive interaction and instead interacting with the iron ligand His249. The evident conformational flexibility is consistent with an alternative model for the operation of the dilysine pair in iron release in which it facilitates concerted proton transfer to the tyrosine ligand Tyr188 as one step in the weakening of iron binding.

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is the oldest and most powerful 3rd generation synchrotron in Europe, providing X-rays to more than 40 experimental stations welcoming several thousand researchers per year. A major success story has been the ESRF's facilities for macromolecular crystallography (MX). These are grouped around 3 straight sections: On ID23 canted undulators accommodate ID23-1, a mini-focus tuneable energy end station and ID23-2, the world's first micro-focus beamline dedicated to MX; ID29 houses a single, mini-focus, tuneable energy end station; ID30 will provide three end stations for MX due in operation from mid-2014 to early 2015. Here, one branch of a canted X-ray source feeds two fixed-energy end stations (MASSIF-1, MASSIF-3). The second feeds ID30B, a variable focus, tuneable energy beamline. MASSIF-1 is optimised for automatic high-throughput experiments requiring a relatively large beam size at the sample position, MASSIF-3 is a high-intensity, micro-focus facility designed to complement ID23-2. All end stations are highly automated, equipped with sample mounting robots and large area, fast-readout photon-counting detectors. Experiment control and tracking is achieved via a combination of the MXCuBE2 graphical user interface and the ISPyB database, the former allowing user-friendly control of all beamline components, the latter providing data tracking before, after and during experiments.

The demand for access to macromolecular crystallography synchrotron beam time continues to increase. To meet this demand the ESRF has constructed a dual station beamline using a canted undulator system as the X-ray source. The first phase of the beamline to be constructed is ID23-1, a tunable MAD-capable station with a mini-focus X-ray beam. The beamline makes use of well characterized optical elements: a channel-cut monochromator with a high-precision toroidal mirror to focus the X-ray beam. The beamline has been conceived with the aim of providing high levels of automation to create an industrial-like environment for protein crystallography. A new software suite has been developed to permit reliable easy operation for the beamline users and beamline staff. High levels of diagnostics are built in to allow rapid trouble-shooting. These developments are now being exported to the ESRF macromolecular crystallography beamline complex and have been made in a modular fashion to facilitate transportability to other synchrotrons.

Structural proteomics has promoted the rapid development of automated protein structure determination using X-ray crystallography. Robotics are now routinely used along the pipeline from genes to protein structures. However, a bottleneck still remains. At synchrotron beamlines, the success rate of automated sample alignment along the X-ray beam is limited by difficulties in visualization of protein crystals, especially when they are small and embedded in mother liquor. Despite considerable improvement in optical microscopes, the use of visible light transmitted or reflected by the sample may result in poor or misleading contrast. Here, the endogenous fluorescence from aromatic amino acids has been used to identify even tiny or weakly fluorescent crystals with a high success rate. The use of a compact laser at 266 nm in combination with non-fluorescent sample holders provides an efficient solution to collect high-contrast fluorescence images in a few milliseconds and using standard camera optics. The best image quality was obtained with direct illumination through a viewing system coaxial with the UV beam. Crystallographic data suggest that the employed UV exposures do not generate detectable structural damage.

The recycling of photosynthetically fixed carbon, by the action of microbial plant cell wall hydrolases, is integral to one of the major geochemical cycles and is of considerable industrial importance. Non-catalytic carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) play a key role in this degradative process by targeting hydrolytic enzymes to their cognate substrate within the complex milieu of polysaccharides that comprise the plant cell wall. Family 29 CBMs have, thus far, only been found in an extracellular multienzyme plant cell wall-degrading complex from the anaerobic fungus Piromyces equi, where they exist as a CBM29-1:CBM29-2 tandem. Here we present both the structure of the CBM29-1 partner, at 1.5 A resolution, and examine the importance of hydrophobic stacking interactions as well as direct and solvent-mediated hydrogen bonds in the binding of CBM29-2 to different polysaccharides. CBM29 domains display unusual binding properties, exhibiting specificity for both beta-manno- and beta-gluco-configured ligands such as mannan, cellulose, and glucomannan. Mutagenesis reveals that "stacking" of tryptophan residues in the n and n+2 subsites plays a critical role in ligand binding, whereas the loss of tyrosine-mediated stacking in the n+4 subsite reduces, but does not abrogate, polysaccharide recognition. Direct hydrogen bonds to ligand, such as those provided by Arg-112 and Glu-78, play a pivotal role in the interaction with both mannan and cellulose, whereas removal of water-mediated interactions has comparatively little effect on carbohydrate binding. The interactions of CBM29-2 with the O2 of glucose or mannose contribute little to binding affinity, explaining why this CBM displays dual gluco/manno specificity.

The C-terminal 176 amino acids of a Thermotoga maritima mannanase (Man5) constitute a carbohydrate binding module (CBM) that has been classified into CBM family 27. The isolated CBM27 domain, named Tm CBM27, binds tightly (K a s 10 5 –10 6 M −1 ) to β-1, 4-mannooligosaccharides, carob galactomannan, and konjac glucomannan, but not to cellulose (insoluble and soluble) or soluble birchwood xylan. The X-ray crystal structures of native Tm CBM27, a Tm CBM27-mannohexaose complex, and a Tm CBM27-6 3 ,6 4 -α-D-galactosyl-mannopentaose complex at 2.0 A, 1.6 A, and 1.35 A, respectively, reveal the basis of Tm CBM27's specificity for mannans. In particular, the latter complex, which is the first structure of a CBM in complex with a branched plant cell wall polysaccharide, illustrates how the architecture of the binding site can influence the recognition of naturally substituted polysaccharides.

alpha-Glucuronidases are key components of the ensemble of enzymes that degrade the plant cell wall. They hydrolyze the alpha1,2-glycosidic bond between 4-O-methyl-d-glucuronic acid (4-O-MeGlcA) and the xylan or xylooligosaccharide backbone. Here we report the crystal structure of an inactive mutant (E292A) of the alpha-glucuronidase, GlcA67A, from Cellvibrio japonicus in complex with its substrate. The data show that the 4-O-methyl group of the substrate is accommodated within a hydrophobic sheath flanked by Val-210 and Trp-160, whereas the carboxylate moiety is located within a positively charged region of the substrate-binding pocket. The carboxylate side chains of Glu-393 and Asp-365, on the "beta-face" of 4-O-MeGlcA, form hydrogen bonds with a water molecule that is perfectly positioned to mount a nucleophilic attack at the anomeric carbon of the target glycosidic bond, providing further support for the view that, singly or together, these amino acids function as the catalytic base. The capacity of reaction products and product analogues to inhibit GlcA67A shows that the 4-O-methyl group, the carboxylate, and the xylose sugar of aldobiouronic acid all play an important role in substrate binding. Site-directed mutagenesis informed by the crystal structure of enzyme-ligand complexes was used to probe the importance of highly conserved residues at the active site of GlcA67A. The biochemical properties of K288A, R325A, and K360A show that a constellation of three basic amino acids (Lys-288, Arg-325, and Lys-360) plays a critical role in binding the carboxylate moiety of 4-O-MeGlcA. Disruption of the apolar nature of the pocket created by Val-210 (V210N and V210S) has a detrimental effect on substrate binding, although the reduction in affinity is not reflected by an inability to accommodate the 4-O-methyl group. Replacing the two tryptophan residues that stack against the sugar rings of the substrate with alanine (W160A and W543A) greatly reduced activity.

A major factor in the emergence of antibiotic resistance is the existence of enzymes that chemically modify common antibiotics. The genes for these enzymes are commonly carried on mobile genetic elements, facilitating their spread. One such class of enzymes is the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase (APH) family, which uses ATP-mediated phosphate transfer to chemically modify and inactivate aminoglycoside antibiotics such as streptomycin and kanamycin. As part of a program to define the molecular basis for aminoglycoside recognition and inactivation by such enzymes, we have determined the high resolution (2.1 A) crystal structure of aminoglycoside-3′-phosphotransferase-IIa (APH(3′)-IIa) in complex with kanamycin. The structure was solved by molecular replacement using multiple models derived from the related aminoglycoside-3′-phosphotransferase-III enzyme (APH(3′)-III), and refined to an R factor of 0.206 (Rfree 0.238). The bound kanamycin molecule is very well defined and occupies a highly negatively charged cleft formed by the C-terminal domain of the enzyme. Adjacent to this is the binding site for ATP, which can be modeled on the basis of nucleotide complexes of APH(3′)-III; only one change is apparent with a loop, residues 28–34, in a position where it could fold over an incoming nucleotide. The three rings of the kanamycin occupy distinct sub-pockets in which a highly acidic loop, residues 151–166, and the C-terminal residues 260–264 play important parts in recognition. The A ring, the site of phosphoryl transfer, is adjacent to the catalytic base Asp190. These results give new information on the basis of aminoglycoside recognition, and on the relationship between this phosphotransferase family and the protein kinases.

Carbohydrate–protein recognition is central to many biological processes. Enzymes that act on polysaccharide substrates frequently contain noncatalytic domains, “carbohydrate-binding modules” (CBMs), that target the enzyme to the appropriate substrate. CBMs that recognize specific plant structural polysaccharides are often able to accommodate both the variable backbone and the side-chain decorations of heterogeneous ligands. “CBM29” modules, derived from a noncatalytic component of the Piromyces equi cellulase/hemicellulase complex, provide an example of this selective yet flexible recognition. They discriminate strongly against some polysaccharides while remaining relatively promiscuous toward both β-1,4-linked manno- and cello-oligosaccharides. This feature may reflect preferential, but flexible, targeting toward glucomannans in the plant cell wall. The three-dimensional structure of CBM29-2 and its complexes with cello- and mannohexaose reveal a β-jelly-roll topology, with an extended binding groove on the concave surface. The orientation of the aromatic residues complements the conformation of the target sugar polymer while accommodation of both manno- and gluco-configured oligo- and polysaccharides is conferred by virtue of the plasticity of the direct interactions from their axial and equatorial 2-hydroxyls, respectively. Such flexible ligand recognition targets the anaerobic fungal complex to a range of different components in the plant cell wall and thus plays a pivotal role in the highly efficient degradation of this composite structure by the microbial eukaryote.

Alpha-glucuronidases, components of an ensemble of enzymes central to the recycling of photosynthetic biomass, remove the alpha-1,2 linked 4-O-methyl glucuronic acid from xylans. The structure of the alpha-glucuronidase, GlcA67A, from Pseudomonas cellulosa reveals three domains, the central of which is a (beta/alpha)(8) barrel housing the catalytic apparatus. Complexes of the enzyme with the individual reaction products, either xylobiose or glucuronic acid, and the ternary complex of both glucuronic acid and xylotriose reveal a "blind" pocket which selects for short decorated xylooligosaccharides substituted with the uronic acid at their nonreducing end, consistent with kinetic data. The catalytic center reveals a constellation of carboxylates; Glu292 is poised to provide protonic assistance to leaving group departure with Glu393 and Asp365 both appropriately positioned to provide base-catalyzed assistance for inverting nucleophilic attack by water.

Afamin, a human plasma glycoprotein and putative transporter of hydrophobic molecules, has been shown to act as extracellular chaperone for poorly soluble, acylated Wnt proteins, forming a stable, soluble complex with functioning Wnt proteins. The 2.1-Å crystal structure of glycosylated human afamin reveals an almost exclusively hydrophobic binding cleft capable of harboring large hydrophobic moieties. Lipid analysis confirms the presence of lipids, and density in the primary binding pocket of afamin was modeled as palmitoleic acid, presenting the native O-acylation on serine 209 in human Wnt3a. The modeled complex between the experimental afamin structure and a Wnt3a homology model based on the XWnt8-Fz8-CRD fragment complex crystal structure is compelling, with favorable interactions comparable with the crystal structure complex. Afamin readily accommodates the conserved palmitoylated serine 209 of Wnt3a, providing a structural basis how afamin solubilizes hydrophobic and poorly soluble Wnt proteins.

Cyanide binding to fully reduced Pseudomonas aeruginosa cd(1) nitrite reductase (Pa cd(1) NiR) has been investigated for the wild-type enzyme and a site-directed mutant in which the active-site His369 was replaced by Ala. This mutation reduces the affinity toward cyanide (by approximately 13-fold) and especially decreases the rate of binding of cyanide to the reduced d(1) heme (by approximately 100-fold). The crystal structure of wild-type reduced Pa cd(1) NiR saturated with cyanide was determined to a resolution of 2.7 A. Cyanide binds to the iron of the d(1) heme, with an Fe-C-N angle of 168 degrees for both subunits of the dimer and only His369 is within hydrogen bonding distance of the nitrogen atom of the ligand. These results suggest that in Pa cd(1) NiR the invariant distal residue His369 plays a dominant role in controlling the binding of anionic ligands and allow the discussion of the mechanism of cyanide binding to the wild- type enzyme. (c)2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

The NADP(H)-dependent enzyme glucose-fructose oxidoreductase (GFOR) is a classic example of a redox protein that is translocated across a membrane in fully folded form. GFOR is synthesized in the cytoplasm with a 52-residue signal peptide, giving a precursor form, preGFOR, that is fully active and has its cofactor tightly bound. A twin-arginine motif in the signal peptide directs it to a Sec-independent pathway by which it is translocated, in fully folded form, into the periplasm where it functions to produce sorbitol for osmoprotection. We have determined the crystal structures of four different forms of preGFOR, (i) oxidized preGFOR, with succinate bound in the active site, (ii) oxidized preGFOR with glycerol bound, (iii) reduced preGFOR in 0.3 M glucose, and (iv) reduced preGFOR in 1.5 M sorbitol, at resolutions of 2.2, 2.05, 2.5, and 2.6 A, respectively. In all four crystal structures, the signal peptide is disordered, implying a flexibility that may be important for its interaction with the translocation apparatus; a factor contributing to this disorder may be the high positive charge of the protein surface in the region where the signal peptide emerges. This may disfavor a stable association between the signal peptide and the rest of the protein. The crystal structures show that the mature enzyme portion of preGFOR is identical to native GFOR, in structure and cofactor binding, explaining the enzymatic activity of the precursor form. In the glycerol complex, preGFOR(gll), a bound glycerol molecule models the binding of the glucose substrate, with its O1 atom hydrogen bonded to the essential acid/base catalyst, Tyr269, and C1 only 3 A from C4 of the nicotinamide. In the glucose-soaked structure, preGFOR(glu), we identify a conformational change of the nearby Lys181 that probably results from the oxidation of glucose to gluconolactone, and functions to prevent rebinding of glucose prior to the binding of fructose. In this conformational change, the Lys181 side chain moves closer to the nicotinamide ring, stabilized by its increased negative charge.

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurements on solutions or crystals of biological macromolecules provide additional information that can be used in structure determination and/or refinement protocols. Here details are presented of an experimental setup, employed on all the ESRF Macromolecular Crystallography Group beamlines, that allows the online collection and qualitative analysis of XRF spectra. This experimental setup uses a highly attenuated beam and short exposures, meaning it is minimally destructive but retains high sensitivity.

Nitrite reductase (NiR) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (EC 1.9.3.2) (NiR-Pa) is a soluble enzyme catalyzing the reduction of nitrite (NO2-) to nitric oxide (NO). The enzyme is a 120 kDa homodimer, in which each monomer carries one c and one d1 heme. The oxidized and reduced forms of NiR from Paracoccus denitrificans GB17 (previously called Thiosphaera pantotropha) (NiR-Pd) have been described [Fülop, V., et al. (1995) Cell 81, 369-377; Williams, P. A., et al. (1997) Nature 389, 406-412], and we recently reported on the structure of oxidized NiR-Pa at 2.15 A [Nurizzo, D., et al. (1997) Structure 5, 1157-1171]. Although the domains carrying the d1 heme are almost identical in both NiR-Pa and NiR-Pd oxidized and reduced structures, the c heme domains show a different pattern of c heme coordination, depending on the species and the redox state. The sixth d1 heme ligand in oxidized NiR-Pd was found to be Tyr25, whereas in NiR-Pa, the homologuous Tyr10 does not interact directly with Fe3+, but via a hydroxide ion. Furthermore, upon reduction, the axial ligand of the c heme of NiR-Pd changes from His17 to Met108. Finally, in the oxidized NiR-Pa structure, the N-terminal stretch of residues (1-29) of one monomer interacts with the other monomer (domain swapping), which does not occur in NiR-Pd. Here the structure of reduced NiR-Pa is described both in the unbound form and with the physiological product, NO, bound at the d1 heme active site. Although both structures are similar to that of reduced NiR-Pd, significant differences with respect to oxidized NiR-Pd were observed in two regions: (i) a loop in the c heme domain (residues 56-62) is shifted 6 A away and (ii) the hydroxide ion, which is the sixth coordination ligand of the heme, is removed upon reduction and NO binding and the Tyr10 side chain rotates away from the position adopted in the oxidized form. The conformational changes observed in NiR-Pa as the result of reduction are less extensive than those occurring in NiR-Pd. Starting with oxidized structures that differ in many respects, the two enzymes converge, yielding reduced conformations which are very similar to each other, which indicates that the conformational changes involved in catalysis are considerably diverse.

New software for the integration of weak and/or spatially overlapped diffraction patterns is presented. The program, named PROW (profile fitting for overlapped and weak data), uses box integration with an optimized summation area for strong nonoverlapped spots, and profile fitting with an optimized fitting area for weak and/or overlapped spots. The sizes of the integration areas are dynamically adjusted to find the best compromise between minimal bias resulting from statistical fluctuations of the X-ray background and maximal use of the information content in each diffraction spot. Deconvolution of spatially overlapped spots is performed by a standard least-squares procedure. The program is compatible with the Daresbury Laue software suite and with the DENZO package. It has been tested on several data-sets recorded on image-plate and CCD (charge-coupled device) detectors. Intensities extracted from very weak Laue data-sets containing as many as 60% overlapped spots were shown to be of sufficient quality to lead to an accurate structure refinement. Difficult monochromatic data-sets were also processed successfully, leading to a generally better compromise between reliability factors, redundancy and completeness than previously achieved. Concomitant improvement in atomic model refinement was also observed.

Background: Nitrite reductase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NiR-Pa) is a dimer consisting of two identical 60 kDa subunits, each of which contains one c and one d1 heme group. This enzyme, a soluble component of the electron-transfer chain that uses nitrate as a source of energy, can be induced by the addition of nitrate to the bacterial growth medium. NiR-Pa catalyzes the reduction of nitrite (NO2−) to nitric oxide (NO); in vitro, both cytochrome c551 and azurin are efficient electron donors in this reaction. NiR is a key denitrification enzyme, which controls the rate of the production of toxic nitric oxide (NO) and ultimately regulates the release of NO into the atmosphere.Results: The structure of the orthorhombic form (P21212) of oxidized NiR-Pa was solved at 2.15 Å resolution, using molecular replacement with the coordinates of the NiR from Thiosphaera pantotropha (NiR-Tp) as the starting model. Although the d1-heme domains are almost identical in both enzyme structures, the c domain of NiR-Pa is more like the classical class I cytochrome-c fold because it has His51 and Met88 as heme ligands, instead of His17 and His69 present in NiR-Tp. In addition, the methionine-bearing loop, which was displaced by His17 of the NiR-Tp N-terminal segment, is back to normal in our structure. The N-terminal residues (5/6–30) of NiR-Pa and NiR-Tp have little sequence identity. In Nir-Pa, this N-terminal segment of one monomer crosses the dimer interface and wraps itself around the other monomer. Tyr10 of this segment is hydrogen bonded to an hydroxide ion – the sixth ligand of the d1-heme Fe, whereas the equivalent residue in NiR-Tp, Tyr25, is directly bound to the Fe.Conclusions: Two ligands of hemes c and d1 differ between the two known NiR structures, which accounts for the fact that they have quite different spectroscopic and kinetic features. The unexpected domain-crossing by the N-terminal segment of NiR-Pa is comparable to that of ‘domain swapping’ or ‘arm exchange’ previously observed in other systems and may explain the observed cooperativity between monomers of dimeric NiR-Pa. In spite of having similar sequence and fold, the different kinetic behaviour and the spectral features of NiR-Pa and NiR-Tp are tuned by the N-terminal stretch of residues. A further example of this may come from another NiR, from Pseudomonas stutzeri, which has an N terminus very different from that of the two above mentioned NiRs.

International audience; X-ray crystallography is the main tool for macromolecular structure solution at atomic resolution. It provides key information for the understanding of protein function, opening opportunities for the modulation of enzymatic mechanisms, and protein-ligand interactions. As a consequence, macromolecular crystallography plays an essential role in drug design, as well as in the a posteriori validation of drug mechanisms. The demand for method developments and also tools for macromolecular crystallography has significantly increased over the past 10 years. As a consequence, access to the facilities required for these investigations, such as synchrotron beamlines, became more difficult and significant efforts were dedicated to the automation of the experimental setup in laboratories. In this article, the authors describe how this was accomplished and how robot-based systems contribute to the enhancement of the macromolecular structure solution pipeline. The evolution in robot technology, together with progress in X-ray beam performance and software developments, contributes to a new era in macromolecular X-ray crystallography. Highly integrated experimental environments open new possibilities for crystallography experiments. It is likely that it will also change the way this technique will be used in the future, opening the field to a larger community.

International audience; The microbial deconstruction of the plant cell wall is a critical biological process, which also provides important substrates for environmentally sustainable industries. Enzymes that hydrolyze the plant cell wall generally contain non-catalytic carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) that contribute to plant cell wall degradation. Here we report the biochemical properties and crystal structure of a family of CBMs (CBM60) that are located in xylanases. Uniquely, the proteins display broad ligand specificity, targeting xylans, galactans, and cellulose. Some of the CBM60s display enhanced affinity for their ligands through avidity effects mediated by protein dimerization. The crystal structure of vCBM60, displays a β-sandwich with the ligand binding site comprising a broad cleft formed by the loops connecting the two β-sheets. Ligand recognition at site 1 is, exclusively, through hydrophobic interactions, whereas binding at site 2 is conferred by polar interactions between a protein-bound calcium and the O2 and O3 of the sugar. The observation, that ligand recognition at site 2 requires only a β-linked sugar that contains equatorial hydroxyls at C2 and C3, explains the broad ligand specificity displayed by vCBM60. The ligand-binding apparatus of vCBM60 displays remarkable structural conservation with a family 36 CBM (CBM36); however, the residues that contribute to carbohydrate recognition are derived from different regions of the two proteins. Three-dimensional structure-based sequence alignments reveal that CBM36 and CBM60 are related by circular permutation. The biological and evolutionary significance of the mechanism of ligand recognition displayed by family 60 CBMs is discussed.

An automatic data-collection system has been implemented and installed on seven insertion-device beamlines and a bending-magnet beamline at the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) as part of the SPINE (Structural Proteomics In Europe) development of an automated structure-determination pipeline. The system allows remote interaction with beamline-control systems and automatic sample mounting, alignment, characterization, data collection and processing. Reports of all actions taken are available for inspection via database modules and web services.

The production of three-dimensional crystallographic structural information of macromolecules can now be thought of as a pipeline which is being streamlined at every stage from protein cloning, expression and purification, through crystallisation to data collection and structure solution. Synchrotron X-ray beamlines are a key section of this pipeline as it is at these that the X-ray diffraction data that ultimately leads to the elucidation of macromolecular structures are collected. The burgeoning number of macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines available worldwide may be enhanced significantly with the automation of both their operation and of the experiments carried out on them. This paper reviews the current situation and provides a glimpse of how a MX beamline may look in the not too distant future.

Enzymes acting on polymeric substrates are frequently classified as exo or endo, reflecting their preference for, or ignorance of, polymer chain ends. Most biotechnological applications, especially in the field of polysaccharide degradation, require either endo- or exo-acting hydrolases, or they harness the essential synergy between these two modes of action. Here, we have used genomic data in tandem with structure to modify, radically, the chain-end specificity of the Cellvibrio japonicus exo -arabinanase Cj Arb43A. The structure of Bacillus subtilis endo -arabinanase 43A ( Bs Arb43A) in harness with chain-end recognition kinetics of Cj Arb43A directed a rational design approach that led to the conversion of the Cellvibrio enzyme from an exo to an endo mode of action. One of the exo-acting mutants, D35L/Q316A, displays similar activity to WT Cj Arb43A and the removal of the steric block mediated by the side chains of Gln-316 and Asp-53 at the –3 subsite confers its capacity to attack internal glycoside bonds. This study provides a template for the production of tailored industrial catalysts. The introduction of subtle changes informed by comparative 3D structural and genomic data can lead to fundamental changes in the mode of action of these enzymes.

Natural cellulose exists as a composite of different forms, which have historically been broadly characterized as “crystalline” or “amorphous”. The recognition of both of these forms of cellulose by the carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM) of microbial glycoside hydrolases is central to natural and efficient biotechnological conversion of plant cell wall biomass. There is increasing evidence that, at least some, individual binding modules target distinct and different regions of non-crystalline “amorphous” cellulose. Competition experiments show that CBM28 modules do not compete with CBM17 modules when binding to non-crystalline cellulose. The structure of the BspCBM28 ( http://afmb.cnrs-mrs.fr/CAZY/ ) module from the Bacillus sp. 1139 family GH5 endoglucanase, comprising a 191 amino acid protein, has therefore been determined at 1.4 A resolution using single isomorphous replacement with anomalous scattering methods. The structure reveals a “β-jelly roll” topology, with high degree of similarity to the structure of CBM17 domains. Sequence and structural conservation strongly suggests that these two families of domains have evolved through gene duplication and subsequent divergence. The ligand-binding site “topographies” of CBMs from families 28, 17 and 4 begins to shed light on the differential recognition of non-crystalline cellulose by multi-modular plant cell wall-degrading enzymes.