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LAT1 (SLC7A5) transports large neutral amino acids and plays pivotal roles in cancer proliferation, immune response and drug delivery. Despite recent advances in structural understanding of LAT1, how it discriminates substrates and inhibitors including the clinically relevant drugs remains elusive. Here we report six structures of LAT1 across three conformations with bound ligands, elucidating its substrate transport and inhibitory mechanisms. JPH203 (also known as nanvuranlat or KYT-0353), an anticancer drug in clinical trials, traps LAT1 in an outward-facing state with a U-shaped conformer, with its amino-phenylbenzoxazol moiety pushing against transmembrane helix 3 (TM3) and bending TM10. Physiological substrates like ʟ-Phe lack such effects, whereas melphalan poses steric hindrance, explaining its inhibitory activity. The "classical" system L inhibitor BCH induces an occluded state critical for transport, confirming its substrate-like behavior. These findings provide a structural basis for substrate recognition and inhibition of LAT1, guiding future drug design., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Y.L. receives research funding from J-Pharma. O.N. is a co-founder and scientific advisor of Curreio. All the other authors declare no competing interest., (© 2025. The Author(s).) more...

Metals are essential components for the structure and function of many proteins. However, accurate modelling of their coordination environments remains a challenge due to the complexity and diversity of metal-coordination geometries. To address this, a method is presented for extracting and analysing coordination information, including bond lengths and angles, from the Crystallography Open Database. By using these data, comprehensive descriptions of metal-containing components are generated. A stereochemical information generator for a particular component within a specific macromolecule leverages an example PDB/mmCIF file containing the component to account for the actual surrounding environment. A matching process has been developed and implemented to align the derived metal structures with idealized coordinates from a coordination geometry library. Additionally, various strategies, depending on the quality of the matches, were employed to compile distance and angle statistics for the refinement of macromolecular structures. The developed methods were implemented in a new program, MetalCoord, that classifies and utilizes the metal-coordination geometry. The effectiveness of the developed algorithms was tested using metal-containing components from the PDB. As a result, metal-containing components from the CCP4 monomer library have been updated. The updated monomer dictionaries, in concert with the derived restraints, can be used in most structural biology computations, including macromolecular crystallography, single-particle cryo-EM and even molecular mechanics., (open access.) more...

The RNA-guided DNA endonuclease Cas9 cleaves double-stranded DNA targets complementary to an RNA guide, and is widely used as a powerful genome-editing tool. Here, we report the crystal structure of Brevibacillus laterosporus Cas9 (BlCas9, also known as BlatCas9), in complex with a guide RNA and its target DNA at 2.4-Å resolution. The structure reveals that the BlCas9 guide RNA adopts an unexpected architecture containing a triple-helix, which is specifically recognized by BlCas9, and that BlCas9 recognizes a unique N 4 CNDN protospacer adjacent motif through base-specific interactions on both the target and non-target DNA strands. Based on the structure, we rationally engineered a BlCas9 variant that exhibits enhanced genome- and base-editing activities with an expanded target scope in human cells. This approach may further improve the performance of the enhanced BlCas9 variant to generate useful genome-editing tools that require only a single C PAM nucleotide and can be packaged into a single AAV vector for in vivo gene therapy., (© 2024. The Author(s).) more...

The EMDataResource Ligand Model Challenge aimed to assess the reliability and reproducibility of modeling ligands bound to protein and protein-nucleic acid complexes in cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) maps determined at near-atomic (1.9-2.5 Å) resolution. Three published maps were selected as targets: Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase with inhibitor, SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase with covalently bound nucleotide analog and SARS-CoV-2 virus ion channel ORF3a with bound lipid. Sixty-one models were submitted from 17 independent research groups, each with supporting workflow details. The quality of submitted ligand models and surrounding atoms were analyzed by visual inspection and quantification of local map quality, model-to-map fit, geometry, energetics and contact scores. A composite rather than a single score was needed to assess macromolecule+ligand model quality. These observations lead us to recommend best practices for assessing cryo-EM structures of liganded macromolecules reported at near-atomic resolution., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.) more...

Insertion sequence (IS) elements are the simplest autonomous transposable elements found in prokaryotic genomes 1 . We recently discovered that IS110 family elements encode a recombinase and a non-coding bridge RNA (bRNA) that confers modular specificity for target DNA and donor DNA through two programmable loops 2 . Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy structures of the IS110 recombinase in complex with its bRNA, target DNA and donor DNA in three different stages of the recombination reaction cycle. The IS110 synaptic complex comprises two recombinase dimers, one of which houses the target-binding loop of the bRNA and binds to target DNA, whereas the other coordinates the bRNA donor-binding loop and donor DNA. We uncovered the formation of a composite RuvC-Tnp active site that spans the two dimers, positioning the catalytic serine residues adjacent to the recombination sites in both target and donor DNA. A comparison of the three structures revealed that (1) the top strands of target and donor DNA are cleaved at the composite active sites to form covalent 5'-phosphoserine intermediates, (2) the cleaved DNA strands are exchanged and religated to create a Holliday junction intermediate, and (3) this intermediate is subsequently resolved by cleavage of the bottom strands. Overall, this study reveals the mechanism by which a bispecific RNA confers target and donor DNA specificity to IS110 recombinases for programmable DNA recombination., (© 2024. The Author(s).) more...

The EMDataResource Ligand Model Challenge aimed to assess the reliability and reproducibility of modeling ligands bound to protein and protein/nucleic-acid complexes in cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) maps determined at near-atomic (1.9-2.5 Å) resolution. Three published maps were selected as targets: E. coli beta-galactosidase with inhibitor, SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase with covalently bound nucleotide analog, and SARS-CoV-2 ion channel ORF3a with bound lipid. Sixty-one models were submitted from 17 independent research groups, each with supporting workflow details. We found that (1) the quality of submitted ligand models and surrounding atoms varied, as judged by visual inspection and quantification of local map quality, model-to-map fit, geometry, energetics, and contact scores, and (2) a composite rather than a single score was needed to assess macromolecule+ligand model quality. These observations lead us to recommend best practices for assessing cryo-EM structures of liganded macromolecules reported at near-atomic resolution., Competing Interests: Competing Interests S. Noreng, A. Gobbi, A. Rohou, B. Sellers and Y. Yang are current or former employees of Genentech. The remaining authors declare no competing interests. Additional Declarations: Yes there is potential Competing Interest. S. Noreng, A. Gobbi, A. Rohou, B. Sellers and Y. Yang are current or former employees of Genentech. The remaining authors declare no competing interests. more...

In-cell protein crystals which spontaneously crystallize in living cells, have recently been analyzed in investigations of their structures and biological functions. The crystals have been challenging to analyze structurally because of their small size. Therefore, the number of in-cell protein crystals in which the native structure has been determined is limited because most of the structures of in-cell crystals have been determined by recrystallization after dissolution. Some proteins have been reported to form intermolecular disulfide bonds in natural protein crystals that stabilize the crystals. Here, we focus on Cry1Aa, a cysteine-rich protein that crystallizes in Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and forms disulfide bonds. Previously, the full-length structure of 135 kDa Cry1Ac, which is the same size as Cry1Aa, was determined by recrystallization of dissolved protein from crystals purified from Bt cells. However, the formation of disulfide bonds has not been investigated because it was necessary to replace cysteine residues to prevent aggregation of the soluble protein. In this work, we succeeded in direct X-ray crystallographic analysis using crystals purified from Bt cells and characterized the cross-linked network of disulfide bonds within Cry1Aa crystals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

Electron cryomicroscopy can, in principle, determine the structures of most biological molecules but is currently limited by access, specimen preparation difficulties, and cost. We describe a purpose-built instrument operating at 100 keV-including advances in electron optics, detection, and processing-that makes structure determination fast and simple at a fraction of current costs. The instrument attains its theoretical performance limits, allowing atomic resolution imaging of gold test specimens and biological molecular structure determination in hours. We demonstrate its capabilities by determining the structures of eleven different specimens, ranging in size from 140 kDa to 2 MDa, using a fraction of the data normally required. CryoEM with a microscope designed specifically for high-efficiency, on-the-spot imaging of biological molecules will expand structural biology to a wide range of previously intractable problems., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:T.W. and M.M.E.-G. are employees of YPS, Ltd. J.D. was an employee of JEOL, UK during this work. M.M. and C.S.-B. are employees of DECTRIS, Ltd. G.M., R.H., and C.J.R. are inventors on a patent application EP No. 20789961.8 filed by UKRI related to this work. more...

Hydrogen (H) atoms are abundant in macromolecules and often play critical roles in enzyme catalysis, ligand-recognition processes and protein-protein interactions. However, their direct visualization by diffraction techniques is challenging. Macromolecular X-ray crystallography affords the localization of only the most ordered H atoms at (sub-)atomic resolution (around 1.2 Å or higher). However, many H atoms of biochemical significance remain undetectable by this method. In contrast, neutron diffraction methods enable the visualization of most H atoms, typically in the form of deuterium ( 2 H) atoms, at much more common resolution values (better than 2.5 Å). Thus, neutron crystallography, although technically demanding, is often the method of choice when direct information on protonation states is sought. REFMAC5 from the Collaborative Computational Project No. 4 (CCP4) is a program for the refinement of macromolecular models against X-ray crystallographic and cryo-EM data. This contribution describes its extension to include the refinement of structural models obtained from neutron crystallographic data. Stereochemical restraints with accurate bond distances between H atoms and their parent atom nuclei are now part of the CCP4 Monomer Library, the source of prior chemical information used in the refinement. One new feature for neutron data analysis in REFMAC5 is refinement of the protium/deuterium ( 1 H/ 2 H) fraction. This parameter describes the relative 1 H/ 2 H contribution to neutron scattering for hydrogen isotopes. The newly developed REFMAC5 algorithms were tested by performing the (re-)refinement of several entries available in the PDB and of one novel structure (FutA) using either (i) neutron data only or (ii) neutron data supplemented by external restraints to a reference X-ray crystallographic structure. Re-refinement with REFMAC5 afforded models characterized by R-factor values that are consistent with, and in some cases better than, the originally deposited values. The use of external reference structure restraints during refinement has been observed to be a valuable strategy, especially for structures at medium-low resolution., (open access.) more...

KCR channelrhodopsins (K + -selective light-gated ion channels) have received attention as potential inhibitory optogenetic tools but more broadly pose a fundamental mystery regarding how their K + selectivity is achieved. Here, we present 2.5-2.7 Å cryo-electron microscopy structures of HcKCR1 and HcKCR2 and of a structure-guided mutant with enhanced K + selectivity. Structural, electrophysiological, computational, spectroscopic, and biochemical analyses reveal a distinctive mechanism for K + selectivity; rather than forming the symmetrical filter of canonical K + channels achieving both selectivity and dehydration, instead, three extracellular-vestibule residues within each monomer form a flexible asymmetric selectivity gate, while a distinct dehydration pathway extends intracellularly. Structural comparisons reveal a retinal-binding pocket that induces retinal rotation (accounting for HcKCR1/HcKCR2 spectral differences), and design of corresponding KCR variants with increased K + selectivity (KALI-1/KALI-2) provides key advantages for optogenetic inhibition in vitro and in vivo. Thus, discovery of a mechanism for ion-channel K + selectivity also provides a framework for next-generation optogenetics., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The KCR variants are described in pending patent application material; these tools and all methods, protocols, clones, and sequences are freely available to nonprofit institutions and investigators. K.D. is a member of the Cell Advisory Board, a co-founder and Scientific Advisory Board member of Stellaromics and Maplight Therapeutics, and a Scientific Advisory Board member of BrightMinds Biosciences., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

AMPA glutamate receptors (AMPARs), the primary mediators of excitatory neurotransmission in the brain, are either GluA2 subunit-containing and thus Ca 2+ -impermeable, or GluA2-lacking and Ca 2+ -permeable 1 . Despite their prominent expression throughout interneurons and glia, their role in long-term potentiation and their involvement in a range of neuropathologies 2 , structural information for GluA2-lacking receptors is currently absent. Here we determine and characterize cryo-electron microscopy structures of the GluA1 homotetramer, fully occupied with TARPγ3 auxiliary subunits (GluA1/γ3). The gating core of both resting and open-state GluA1/γ3 closely resembles GluA2-containing receptors. However, the sequence-diverse N-terminal domains (NTDs) give rise to a highly mobile assembly, enabling domain swapping and subunit re-alignments in the ligand-binding domain tier that are pronounced in desensitized states. These transitions underlie the unique kinetic properties of GluA1. A GluA2 mutant (F231A) increasing NTD dynamics phenocopies this behaviour, and exhibits reduced synaptic responses, reflecting the anchoring function of the AMPAR NTD at the synapse. Together, this work underscores how the subunit-diverse NTDs determine subunit arrangement, gating properties and ultimately synaptic signalling efficiency among AMPAR subtypes., (© 2023. The Author(s).) more...

Soluble oligomers of amyloid β-protein (Aβ) have been defined as aggregates in supernatants following ultracentrifugation of aqueous extracts from Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains and are believed to be upstream initiators of synaptic dysfunction, but little is known about their structures. We now report the unexpected presence of Aβ fibrils in synaptotoxic high-speed supernatants from AD brains extracted by soaking in an aqueous buffer. The fibrils did not appear to form during preparation, and their counts by EM correlated with Aβ ELISA quantification. Cryo-EM structures of aqueous Aβ fibrils were identical to those from sarkosyl-insoluble homogenates. The fibrils in aqueous extracts were labeled by lecanemab, an Aβ aggregate-directed antibody reported to improve AD cognitive outcomes. Lecanemab provided protection against aqueous fibril synaptotoxicity. We conclude that fibrils are abundant in aqueous extracts from AD brains and have the same structures as those from plaques. These findings have implications for AD pathogenesis and drug design., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests D.J.S. is a founding director and consultant of Prothena Biosciences. L.L. is a consultant for Korro Bio., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

The Collaborative Computational Project No. 4 (CCP4) is a UK-led international collective with a mission to develop, test, distribute and promote software for macromolecular crystallography. The CCP4 suite is a multiplatform collection of programs brought together by familiar execution routines, a set of common libraries and graphical interfaces. The CCP4 suite has experienced several considerable changes since its last reference article, involving new infrastructure, original programs and graphical interfaces. This article, which is intended as a general literature citation for the use of the CCP4 software suite in structure determination, will guide the reader through such transformations, offering a general overview of the new features and outlining future developments. As such, it aims to highlight the individual programs that comprise the suite and to provide the latest references to them for perusal by crystallographers around the world., (open access.) more...

β-Galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) hydrolyzes β-D-galactosidic linkages at the non-reducing end of substrates to produce β-D-galactose. Lacticaseibacillus casei is one of the most widely utilized probiotic species of lactobacilli. It possesses a putative β-galactosidase belonging to glycoside hydrolase family 35 (GH35). This enzyme is encoded by the gene included in the gene cluster for utilization of lacto- N -biose I (LNB; Galβ1-3GlcNAc) and galacto- N -biose (GNB; Galβ1-3GalNAc) via the phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system. The GH35 protein (GnbG) from L. casei BL23 is predicted to be 6-phospho-β-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.85). However, its 6-phospho-β-galactosidase activity has not yet been examined, whereas its hydrolytic activity against LNB and GNB has been demonstrated. In this study, L. casei JCM1134 LBCZ_0230, homologous to GnbG, was characterized enzymatically and structurally. A recombinant LBCZ_0230, produced in Escherichia coli , exhibited high hydrolytic activity toward o -nitrophenyl β-D-galactopyranoside, p -nitrophenyl β-D-galactopyranoside, LNB, and GNB, but not toward o -nitrophenyl 6-phospho-β-D-galactopyranoside. Crystal structure analysis indicates that the structure of subsite -1 of LBCZ_0230 is very similar to that of Streptococcus pneumoniae β-galactosidase BgaC and not suitable for binding to 6-phospho-β-D-galactopyranoside. These biochemical and structural analyses indicate that LBCZ_0230 is a β-galactosidase. According to the prediction of LNB's binding mode, aromatic residues, Trp190, Trp240, Trp243, Phe244, and Tyr458, form hydrophobic interactions with N -acetyl-D-glucosamine residue of LNB at subsite +1., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (2023 by The Japanese Society of Applied Glycoscience.) more...

Macromolecular refinement uses experimental data together with prior chemical knowledge (usually digested into geometrical restraints) to optimally fit an atomic structural model into experimental data, while ensuring that the model is chemically plausible. In the CCP4 suite this chemical knowledge is stored in a Monomer Library, which comprises a set of restraint dictionaries. To use restraints in refinement, the model is analysed and template restraints from the dictionary are used to infer (i) restraints between concrete atoms and (ii) the positions of riding hydrogen atoms. Recently, this mundane process has been overhauled. This was also an opportunity to enhance the Monomer Library with new features, resulting in a small improvement in REFMAC5 refinement. Importantly, the overhaul of this part of CCP4 has increased flexibility and eased experimentation, opening up new possibilities., (open access.) more...

Deinococcus radiodurans is an atypical diderm bacterium with a remarkable ability to tolerate various environmental stresses, due in part to its complex cell envelope encapsulated within a hyperstable surface layer (S-layer). Despite decades of research on this cell envelope, atomic structural details of the S-layer have remained obscure. In this study, we report the electron cryomicroscopy structure of the D. radiodurans S-layer, showing how it is formed by the Hexagonally Packed Intermediate-layer (HPI) protein arranged in a planar hexagonal lattice. The HPI protein forms an array of immunoglobulin-like folds within the S-layer, with each monomer extending into the adjacent hexamer, resulting in a highly interconnected, stable, sheet-like arrangement. Using electron cryotomography and subtomogram averaging from focused ion beam-milled D. radiodurans cells, we have obtained a structure of the cellular S-layer, showing how this HPI S-layer coats native membranes on the surface of cells. Our S-layer structure from the diderm bacterium D. radiodurans shows similarities to immunoglobulin-like domain-containing S-layers from monoderm bacteria and archaea, highlighting common features in cell surface organization across different domains of life, with connotations on the evolution of immunoglobulin-based molecular recognition systems in eukaryotes. more...

Protein crystals can be utilized as porous scaffolds to capture exogenous molecules. Immobilization of target proteins using protein crystals is expected to facilitate X-ray structure analysis of proteins that are difficult to be crystallized. One of the advantages of scaffold-assisted structure determination is the analysis of metastable structures that are not observed in solution. However, efforts to fix target proteins within the pores of scaffold protein crystals have been limited due to the lack of strategies to control protein-protein interactions formed in the crystals. In this study, we analyze the metastable structure of the miniprotein, CLN025, which forms a β-hairpin structure in solution, using a polyhedra crystal (PhC), an in-cell protein crystal. CLN025 is successfully fixed within the PhC scaffold by replacing the original loop region. X-ray crystal structure analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation reveal that CLN025 is fixed as a helical structure in a metastable state by non-covalent interactions in the scaffold crystal. These results indicate that modulation of intermolecular interactions can trap various protein conformations in the engineered PhC and provides a new strategy for scaffold-assisted structure determination. more...

Outer hair cell elecromotility, driven by prestin, is essential for mammalian cochlear amplification. Here, we report the cryo-EM structures of thermostabilized prestin (Pres TScript> ), complexed with chloride, sulfate, or salicylate at 3.52-3.63 Å resolutions. The central positively-charged cavity allows flexible binding of various anion species, which likely accounts for the known distinct modulations of nonlinear capacitance (NLC) by different anions. Comparisons of these Pres TS structures with recent prestin structures suggest rigid-body movement between the core and gate domains, and provide mechanistic insights into prestin inhibition by salicylate. Mutations at the dimeric interface severely diminished NLC, suggesting that stabilization of the gate domain facilitates core domain movement, thereby contributing to the expression of NLC. These findings advance our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying mammalian cochlear amplification., (© 2022. The Author(s).) more...

Signaling by single-pass transmembrane receptors often involves a formation of ligand-induced receptor dimers with particular conformation, and bivalent receptor binders can modulate receptor functions by inducing different receptor dimer conformations, although such agents are difficult to design. Here, we describe the generation of both antagonistic and agonistic receptor dimerizers toward PlexinB1 (PlxnB1), a receptor for semaphorin 4D (Sema4D), by grafting two different PlxnB1-binding peptides onto the human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) Fc protein. The function-modulating activity of a peptide Fc was strongly dependent on the type of the peptide as well as the grafting site, with the best variants showing activity at an nM concentration range. Structural analysis of each peptide-PlxnB1 complex revealed that the agonistic Fc dimerizes PlxnB1 in a face-to-face fashion similar to that induced by Sema4D, whereas antagonistic Fc would induce signaling-incompetent PlxnB1 dimer conformation, enforcing the idea that plexin activation is primarily controlled by the receptor orientation within the dimer., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests S.H. and J.T. are inventors on patent application submitted by Osaka University and The University of Tokyo that cover the use of lasso-grafted Fc proteins. S.H. and J.T. are co-founders and shareholders of MiraBiologics, Inc. All other authors declare no financial and non-financial competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.) more...

In-cell protein crystallization (ICPC) has been investigated as a technique to support the advancement of structural biology because it does not require protein purification and a complicated crystallization process. However, only a few protein structures have been reported because these crystals formed incidentally in living cells and are insufficient in size and quality for structure analysis. Here, we have developed a cell-free protein crystallization (CFPC) method, which involves direct protein crystallization using cell-free protein synthesis. We have succeeded in crystallization and structure determination of nano-sized polyhedra crystal (PhC) at a high resolution of 1.80 Å. Furthermore, nanocrystals were synthesized at a reaction scale of only 20 μL using the dialysis method, enabling structural analysis at a resolution of 1.95 Å. To further demonstrate the potential of CFPC, we attempted to determine the structure of crystalline inclusion protein A (CipA), whose structure had not yet been determined. We added chemical reagents as a twinning inhibitor to the CFPC solution, which enabled us to determine the structure of CipA at 2.11 Å resolution. This technology greatly expands the high-throughput structure determination method of unstable, low-yield, fusion, and substrate-biding proteins that have been difficult to analyze with conventional methods., (© 2022. The Author(s).) more...

T cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) plays a central role in stress granule (SG) formation by self-assembly via the prion-like domain (PLD). In the TIA-1 PLD, amino acid mutations associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Welander distal myopathy (WDM), have been identified. However, how these mutations affect PLD self-assembly properties has remained elusive. In this study, we uncovered the implicit pathogenic structures caused by the mutations. NMR analysis indicated that the dynamic structures of the PLD are synergistically determined by the physicochemical properties of amino acids in units of five residues. Molecular dynamics simulations and three-dimensional electron crystallography, together with biochemical assays, revealed that the WDM mutation E384K attenuated the sticky properties, whereas the ALS mutations P362L and A381T enhanced the self-assembly by inducing β-sheet interactions and highly condensed assembly, respectively. These results suggest that the P362L and A381T mutations increase the likelihood of irreversible amyloid fibrillization after phase-separated droplet formation, and this process may lead to pathogenicity. more...

Endogenous parathyroid hormone (PTH) and PTH-related peptide (PTHrP) bind to the parathyroid hormone receptor 1 (PTH1R) and activate the stimulatory G-protein (Gs) signaling pathway. Intriguingly, the two ligands have distinct signaling and physiological properties: PTH evokes prolonged Gs activation, whereas PTHrP evokes transient Gs activation with reduced bone-resorption effects. The distinct molecular actions are ascribed to the differences in ligand recognition and dissociation kinetics. Here, we report cryoelectron microscopic structures of six forms of the human PTH1R-Gs complex in the presence of PTH or PTHrP at resolutions of 2.8 -4.1 Å. A comparison of the PTH-bound and PTHrP-bound structures reveals distinct ligand-receptor interactions underlying the ligand affinity and selectivity. Furthermore, five distinct PTH-bound structures, combined with computational analyses, provide insights into the unique and complex process of ligand dissociation from the receptor and shed light on the distinct durations of signaling induced by PTH and PTHrP., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests O.N. is a co-founder and an external director of Curreio Inc., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

Type VI CRISPR-Cas13 effector enzymes catalyze RNA-guided RNA cleavage and have been harnessed for various technologies, such as RNA detection, targeting, and editing. Recent studies identified Cas13bt3 (also known as Cas13X.1) as a miniature Cas13 enzyme, which can be used for knockdown and editing of target transcripts in mammalian cells. However, the action mechanism of the compact Cas13bt3 remains unknown. Here, we report the structures of the Cas13bt3-guide RNA complex and the Cas13bt3-guide RNA-target RNA complex. The structures revealed how Cas13bt3 recognizes the guide RNA and its target RNA and provided insights into the activation mechanism of Cas13bt3, which is distinct from those of the other Cas13a/d enzymes. Furthermore, we rationally engineered enhanced Cas13bt3 variants and ultracompact RNA base editors. Overall, this study improves our mechanistic understanding of the CRISPR-Cas13 enzymes and paves the way for the development of efficient Cas13-mediated transcriptome modulation technologies., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests F.Z. is a co-founder of Editas Medicine, Beam Therapeutics, Pairwise Plants, Arbor Biotechnologies, and Sherlock Biosciences. O.N. is a co-founder, board member, and scientific advisor of Curreio. R.N., S.K., H.A.-T., F.Z., H.N., and O.N. have filed a patent application related to this work., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

Glutamate is a pivotal excitatory neurotransmitter in mammalian brains, but excessive glutamate causes numerous neural disorders. Almost all extracellular glutamate is retrieved by the glial transporter, Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2 (EAAT2), belonging to the SLC1A family. However, in some cancers, EAAT2 expression is enhanced and causes resistance to therapies by metabolic disturbance. Despite its crucial roles, the detailed structural information about EAAT2 has not been available. Here, we report cryo-EM structures of human EAAT2 in substrate-free and selective inhibitor WAY213613-bound states at 3.2 Å and 2.8 Å, respectively. EAAT2 forms a trimer, with each protomer consisting of transport and scaffold domains. Along with a glutamate-binding site, the transport domain possesses a cavity that could be disrupted during the transport cycle. WAY213613 occupies both the glutamate-binding site and cavity of EAAT2 to interfere with its alternating access, where the sensitivity is defined by the inner environment of the cavity. We provide the characterization of the molecular features of EAAT2 and its selective inhibition mechanism that may facilitate structure-based drug design for EAAT2., (© 2022. The Author(s).) more...

RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas nucleases are widely used as versatile genome-engineering tools. Recent studies identified functionally divergent type V Cas12 family enzymes. Among them, Cas12c2 binds a CRISPR RNA (crRNA) and a trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA) and recognizes double-stranded DNA targets with a short TN PAM. Here, we report the cryo-electron microscopy structures of the Cas12c2-guide RNA binary complex and the Cas12c2-guide RNA-target DNA ternary complex. The structures revealed that the crRNA and tracrRNA form an unexpected X-junction architecture, and that Cas12c2 recognizes a single T nucleotide in the PAM through specific hydrogen-bonding interactions with two arginine residues. Furthermore, our biochemical analyses indicated that Cas12c2 processes its precursor crRNA to a mature crRNA using the RuvC catalytic site through a unique mechanism. Collectively, our findings improve the mechanistic understanding of diverse type V CRISPR-Cas effectors., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests O.N. is a co-founder, board member, and scientific advisor for Modalis and Curreio., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

In the light reaction of plant photosynthesis, modulation of electron transport chain reactions is important to maintain the efficiency of photosynthesis under a broad range of light intensities. VCCN1 was recently identified as a voltage-gated chloride channel residing in the thylakoid membrane, where it plays a key role in photoreaction tuning to avoid the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here, we present the cryo-EM structures of Malus domestica VCCN1 (MdVCCN1) in nanodiscs and detergent at 2.7 Å and 3.0 Å resolutions, respectively, and the structure-based electrophysiological analyses. VCCN1 structurally resembles its animal homolog, bestrophin, a Ca 2+ -gated anion channel. However, unlike bestrophin channels, VCCN1 lacks the Ca 2+ -binding motif but instead contains an N-terminal charged helix that is anchored to the lipid membrane through an additional amphipathic helix. Electrophysiological experiments demonstrate that these structural elements are essential for the channel activity, thus revealing the distinct activation mechanism of VCCN1., (© 2022. The Author(s).) more...

An open-source Python library EMDA for cryo-EM map and model manipulation is presented with a specific focus on validation. The use of several functionalities in the library is presented through several examples. The utility of local correlation as a metric for identifying map-model differences and unmodeled regions in maps, and how it is used as a metric of map-model validation is demonstrated. The mapping of local correlation to individual atoms, and its use to draw insights on local signal variations are discussed. EMDA's likelihood-based map overlay is demonstrated by carrying out a superposition of two domains in two related structures. The overlay is carried out first to bring both maps into the same coordinate frame and then to estimate the relative movement of domains. Finally, the map magnification refinement in EMDA is presented with an example to highlight the importance of adjusting the map magnification in structural comparison studies., (Copyright © 2021 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

ChRmine, a recently discovered pump-like cation-conducting channelrhodopsin, exhibits puzzling properties (large photocurrents, red-shifted spectrum, and extreme light sensitivity) that have created new opportunities in optogenetics. ChRmine and its homologs function as ion channels but, by primary sequence, more closely resemble ion pump rhodopsins; mechanisms for passive channel conduction in this family have remained mysterious. Here, we present the 2.0 Å resolution cryo-EM structure of ChRmine, revealing architectural features atypical for channelrhodopsins: trimeric assembly, a short transmembrane-helix 3, a twisting extracellular-loop 1, large vestibules within the monomer, and an opening at the trimer interface. We applied this structure to design three proteins (rsChRmine and hsChRmine, conferring further red-shifted and high-speed properties, respectively, and frChRmine, combining faster and more red-shifted performance) suitable for fundamental neuroscience opportunities. These results illuminate the conduction and gating of pump-like channelrhodopsins and point the way toward further structure-guided creation of channelrhodopsins for applications across biology., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The ChRmine antibody (Fab02) and ChRmine variants are described in the pending patent application material; these tools and all methods, protocols, clones, and sequences are freely available to nonprofit institutions and investigators. K.D. is a member of the Cell advisory board., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

The cytoplasmic polyamine maintains cellular homeostasis by chelating toxic metal cations, regulating transcriptional activity, and protecting DNA. ATP13A2 was identified as a lysosomal polyamine exporter responsible for polyamine release into the cytosol, and its dysfunction is associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neural degradation diseases. ATP13A2 belongs to the P5 subfamily of the P-type ATPase family, but its mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we report the cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of human ATP13A2 under four different conditions, revealing the structural coupling between the polyamine binding and the dephosphorylation. Polyamine is bound at the luminal tunnel and recognized through numerous electrostatic and π-cation interactions, explaining its broad specificity. The unique N-terminal domain is anchored to the lipid membrane to stabilize the E2P conformation, thereby accelerating the E1P-to-E2P transition. These findings reveal the distinct mechanism of P5B ATPases, thereby paving the way for neuroprotective therapy by activating ATP13A2., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests O.N. is a co-founder and scientific advisor for Curreio. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

In 2020, cryo-EM single-particle analysis achieved true atomic resolution thanks to technological developments in hardware and software. The number of high-resolution reconstructions continues to grow, increasing the importance of the accurate determination of atomic coordinates. Here, a new Python package and program called Servalcat is presented that is designed to facilitate atomic model refinement. Servalcat implements a refinement pipeline using the program REFMAC5 from the CCP4 package. After the refinement, Servalcat calculates a weighted F o - F c difference map, which is derived from Bayesian statistics. This map helps manual and automatic model building in real space, as is common practice in crystallography. The F o - F c map helps in the visualization of weak features including hydrogen densities. Although hydrogen densities are weak, they are stronger than in the electron-density maps produced by X-ray crystallography, and some H atoms are even visible at ∼1.8 Å resolution. Servalcat also facilitates atomic model refinement under symmetry constraints. If point-group symmetry has been applied to the map during reconstruction, the asymmetric unit model is refined with the appropriate symmetry constraints., (open access.) more...

The mTORC1 kinase complex regulates cell growth, proliferation, and survival. Because mis-regulation of DEPTOR, an endogenous mTORC1 inhibitor, is associated with some cancers, we reconstituted mTORC1 with DEPTOR to understand its function. We find that DEPTOR is a unique partial mTORC1 inhibitor that may have evolved to preserve feedback inhibition of PI3K. Counterintuitively, mTORC1 activated by RHEB or oncogenic mutation is much more potently inhibited by DEPTOR. Although DEPTOR partially inhibits mTORC1, mTORC1 prevents this inhibition by phosphorylating DEPTOR, a mutual antagonism that requires no exogenous factors. Structural analyses of the mTORC1/DEPTOR complex showed DEPTOR's PDZ domain interacting with the mTOR FAT region, and the unstructured linker preceding the PDZ binding to the mTOR FRB domain. The linker and PDZ form the minimal inhibitory unit, but the N-terminal tandem DEP domains also significantly contribute to inhibition., Competing Interests: MH, AB, JW, MA, OP, SM, SM, CY, GM, AB, XN, KY, GM, MS, SF, RW No competing interests declared, (© 2021, Heimhalt et al.) more...

The β 3 -adrenergic receptor (β 3 AR) is predominantly expressed in adipose tissue and urinary bladder and has emerged as an attractive drug target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and overactive bladder (OAB). Here, we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of the β 3 AR-G s signaling complex with the selective agonist mirabegron, a first-in-class drug for OAB. Comparison of this structure with the previously reported β 1 AR and β 2 AR structures reveals a receptor activation mechanism upon mirabegron binding to the orthosteric site. Notably, the narrower exosite in β 3 AR creates a perpendicular pocket for mirabegron. Mutational analyses suggest that a combination of both the exosite shape and the amino-acid-residue substitutions defines the drug selectivity of the βAR agonists. Our findings provide a molecular basis for βAR subtype selectivity, allowing the design of more-selective agents with fewer adverse effects., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests O.N. is a cofounder and an external director of Curreio., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

Melatonin receptors (MT 1 and MT 2 ) transduce inhibitory signaling by melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), which is associated with sleep induction and circadian rhythm modulation. Although recently reported crystal structures of ligand-bound MT 1 and MT 2 elucidated the basis of ligand entry and recognition, the ligand-induced MT 1 rearrangement leading to G i -coupling remains unclear. Here we report a cryo-EM structure of the human MT 1 -G i signaling complex at 3.3 Å resolution, revealing melatonin-induced conformational changes propagated to the G-protein-coupling interface during activation. In contrast to other G i -coupled receptors, MT 1 exhibits a large outward movement of TM6, which is considered a specific feature of G s -coupled receptors. Structural comparison of G i and G s complexes demonstrated conformational diversity of the C-terminal entry of the G i protein, suggesting loose and variable interactions at the end of the α5 helix of G i protein. These notions, together with our biochemical and computational analyses, highlight variable binding modes of Gα i and provide the basis for the selectivity of G-protein signaling., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.) more...

Oxygen activation in all heme enzymes requires the formation of high oxidation states of iron, usually referred to as ferryl heme. There are two known intermediates: Compound I and Compound II. The nature of the ferryl heme-and whether it is an Fe IV =O or Fe IV -OH species-is important for controlling reactivity across groups of heme enzymes. The most recent evidence for Compound I indicates that the ferryl heme is an unprotonated Fe IV =O species. For Compound II, the nature of the ferryl heme is not unambiguously established. Here, we report 1.06 Å and 1.50 Å crystal structures for Compound II intermediates in cytochrome c peroxidase (C c P) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), collected using the X-ray free electron laser at SACLA. The structures reveal differences between the two peroxidases. The iron-oxygen bond length in C c P (1.76 Å) is notably shorter than in APX (1.87 Å). The results indicate that the ferryl species is finely tuned across Compound I and Compound II species in closely related peroxidase enzymes. We propose that this fine-tuning is linked to the functional need for proton delivery to the heme., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.) more...

Oxygen activation in all heme enzymes requires the formation of high oxidation states of iron, usually referred to as ferryl heme. There are two known intermediates: Compound I and Compound II. The nature of the ferryl heme-and whether it is an Fe IV =O or Fe IV -OH species-is important for controlling reactivity across groups of heme enzymes. The most recent evidence for Compound I indicates that the ferryl heme is an unprotonated Fe IV =O species. For Compound II, the nature of the ferryl heme is not unambiguously established. Here, we report 1.06 Å and 1.50 Å crystal structures for Compound II intermediates in cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), collected using the X-ray free electron laser at SACLA. The structures reveal differences between the two peroxidases. The iron-oxygen bond length in CcP (1.76 Å) is notably shorter than in APX (1.87 Å). The results indicate that the ferryl species is finely tuned across Compound I and Compound II species in closely related peroxidase enzymes. We propose that this fine-tuning is linked to the functional need for proton delivery to the heme., (© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.) more...

Protein assemblies can be designed for development of nano-bio materials. This has been achieved by modulating protein-protein interactions. However, fabrication of highly ordered protein assemblies remains challenging. Protein crystals, which have highly ordered arrangements of protein molecules, provide useful source matrices for synthesizing artificial protein assemblies. Here, we describe construction of a supramolecular filament structure by engineering covalent and non-covalent interactions in a protein crystal. Performing in-cell crystallization of Trypanosoma brucei cysteine protease cathepsin B (TbCatB), we achieved a precise arrangement of protein molecules while suppressing random aggregation due to disulfide bonds. We succeeded in synthesizing bundled filament from the crystals by autoxidation of cysteinyl thiols after the isolation of the crystals from living cells., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.) more...

Nitric oxide (NO) reductase from the fungus Fusarium oxysporum is a P450-type enzyme (P450nor) that catalyzes the reduction of NO to nitrous oxide (N 2 O) in the global nitrogen cycle. In this enzymatic reaction, the heme-bound NO is activated by the direct hydride transfer from NADH to generate a short-lived intermediate ( I ), a key state to promote N-N bond formation and N-O bond cleavage. This study applied time-resolved (TR) techniques in conjunction with photolabile-caged NO to gain direct experimental results for the characterization of the coordination and electronic structures of I TR freeze-trap crystallography using an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) reveals highly bent Fe-NO coordination in I , with an elongated Fe-NO bond length (Fe-NO = 1.91 Å, Fe-N-O = 138°) in the absence of NAD + TR-infrared (IR) spectroscopy detects the formation of I with an N-O stretching frequency of 1,290 cm -1 upon hydride transfer from NADH to the Fe 3+ -NO enzyme via the dissociation of NAD + from a transient state, with an N-O stretching of 1,330 cm -1 and a lifetime of ca. 16 ms. Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations, based on these crystallographic and IR spectroscopic results, demonstrate that the electronic structure of I is characterized by a singly protonated Fe 3+ -NHO •- radical. The current findings provide conclusive evidence for the N 2 O generation mechanism via a radical-radical coupling of the heme nitroxyl complex with the second NO molecule., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest. more...

In stacking-based supramolecular polymerization, chiral hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) monomers often prefer to adapt a homochiral monomer sequence. Herein, we investigated the polymerization of a chiral thiophene-fused cyclooctatetraene ( COT ) as a novel nonplanar-core monomer and found the first example of the formation of an alternating heterochiral supramolecular copolymer. Although single enantiomer (-) or (+)- COT alone did not polymerize, when (-) and (+)- COT were mixed together, supramolecular polymerization took place to give a stereochemically alternating copolymer. By means of the microcrystal electron crystallography of a shorter side-chained COT analogue, we found that the resulting heterochiral supramolecular copolymer adapted an alternating arrangement of H-bonded and polar π-stacked parts. A computational study using density-functional theory (DFT) suggested that such an alternating heterochiral preference occurs because it allows two thiophene amide moieties facing each other to effectively cancel their in-plane dipole moments. more...

Channelrhodopsins (ChRs) are microbial light-gated ion channels utilized in optogenetics to control neural activity with light . Light absorption causes retinal chromophore isomerization and subsequent protein conformational changes visualized as optically distinguished intermediates, coupled with channel opening and closing. However, the detailed molecular events underlying channel gating remain unknown. We performed time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallographic analyses of ChR by using an X-ray free electron laser, which revealed conformational changes following photoactivation. The isomerized retinal adopts a twisted conformation and shifts toward the putative internal proton donor residues, consequently inducing an outward shift of TM3, as well as a local deformation in TM7. These early conformational changes in the pore-forming helices should be the triggers that lead to opening of the ion conducting pore., Competing Interests: KO, TN, TN, KY, KI, SI, JV, KH, AM, KK, TI, II, TI, RU, RE, SO, GK, TK, TK, WS, HS, TT, MT, RT, AT, RN, MF, HM, YL, EN, RT, TT, MS, TK, TS, TF, YY, SO, YJ, KT, RI, SH, HK, PH, SI, MK, TN, ON No competing interests declared, (© 2021, Oda et al.) more...

RNA-guided DNA endonucleases derived from CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems are widely used as powerful genome-engineering tools. Among the diverse CRISPR-Cas nucleases, the type V-F Cas12f (also known as Cas14) proteins are exceptionally compact and associate with a guide RNA to cleave single- and double-stranded DNA targets. Here, we report the cryo-electron microscopy structure of Cas12f1 (also known as Cas14a) in complex with a guide RNA and its target DNA. Unexpectedly, the structure revealed that two Cas12f1 molecules assemble with the single guide RNA to recognize the double-stranded DNA target. Each Cas12f1 protomer adopts a different conformation and plays distinct roles in nucleic acid recognition and DNA cleavage, thereby explaining how the miniature Cas12f1 enzyme achieves RNA-guided DNA cleavage as an "asymmetric homodimer." Our findings augment the mechanistic understanding of diverse CRISPR-Cas nucleases and provide a framework for the development of compact genome-engineering tools critical for therapeutic genome editing., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests O.N. is a co-founder, board member, and scientific advisor for Modalis and Curreio. S.N.T., H.N., and O.N. have filed a patent application related to this work., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

Copper-containing nitrite reductases (CuNiRs), encoded by nirK gene, are found in all kingdoms of life with only 5% of CuNiR denitrifiers having two or more copies of nirK Recently, we have identified two copies of nirK genes in several α-proteobacteria of the order Rhizobiales including Bradyrhizobium sp. ORS 375, encoding a four-domain heme-CuNiR and the usual two-domain CuNiR ( Br 2D NiR). Compared with two of the best-studied two-domain CuNiRs represented by the blue ( Ax NiR) and green ( Ac NiR) subclasses, Br 2D NiR, a blue CuNiR, shows a substantially lower catalytic efficiency despite a sequence identity of ~70%. Advanced synchrotron radiation and x-ray free-electron laser are used to obtain the most accurate (atomic resolution with unrestrained SHELX refinement) and damage-free (free from radiation-induced chemistry) structures, in as-isolated, substrate-bound, and product-bound states. This combination has shed light on the protonation states of essential catalytic residues, additional reaction intermediates, and how catalytic efficiency is modulated., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).) more...

Microbial rhodopsins comprise an opsin protein with seven transmembrane helices and a retinal as the chromophore. An all-trans retinal is covalently bonded to a lysine residue through the retinal Schiff base (RSB) and stabilized by a negatively charged counterion. The distance between the RSB and counterion is closely related to the light energy absorption. However, in heliorhodopsin-48C12 (HeR-48C12), while E107 acts as the counterion, E107D mutation exhibits an identical absorption spectrum to the wild-type, suggesting that the distance does not affect its absorption spectra. Here we present the 2.6 Å resolution crystal structure of the Thermoplasmatales archaeon HeR E108D mutant, which also has an identical absorption spectrum to the wild-type. The structure revealed that D108 does not form a hydrogen bond with the RSB, and its counterion interaction becomes weaker. Alternatively, the serine cluster, S78, S112, and S238 form a distinct interaction network around the RSB. The absorption spectra of the E to D and S to A double mutants suggested that S112 influences the spectral shift by compensating for the weaker counterion interaction. Our structural and spectral studies have revealed the unique spectral shift mechanism of HeR and clarified the physicochemical properties of HeRs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) more...

System x c - is an amino acid antiporter that imports L-cystine into cells and exports intracellular L-glutamate, at a 1:1 ratio. As L-cystine is an essential precursor for glutathione synthesis, system x c - supports tumor cell growth through glutathione-based oxidative stress resistance and is considered as a potential therapeutic target for cancer treatment. System x c - consists of two subunits, the light chain subunit SLC7A11 (xCT) and the heavy chain subunit SLC3A2 (also known as CD98hc or 4F2hc), which are linked by a conserved disulfide bridge. Although the recent structures of another SLC7 member, L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) in complex with CD98hc, have provided the structural basis toward understanding the amino acid transport mechanism, the detailed molecular mechanism of xCT remains unknown. To revealthe molecular mechanism, we performed single-particle analyses of the xCT-CD98hc complex. As wild-type xCT-CD98hc displayed poor stability and could not be purified to homogeneity, we applied a consensus mutagenesis approach to xCT. The consensus mutated construct exhibited increased stability as compared to the wild-type, and enabled the cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) map to be obtained at 6.2 Å resolution by single-particle analysis. The cryo-EM map revealed sufficient electron density to assign secondary structures. In the xCT structure, the hash and arm domains are well resolved, whereas the bundle domain shows some flexibility. CD98hc is positioned next to the xCT transmembrane domain. This study provides the structural basis of xCT, and our consensus-based strategy could represent a good choice toward solving unstable protein structures., (© 2020 The Authors. Protein Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Protein Society.) more...

In meso crystallization of membrane proteins relies on the use of lipids capable of forming a lipidic cubic phase (LCP). However, almost all previous crystallization trials have used monoacylglycerols, with 1-(cis-9-octadecanoyl)-rac-glycerol (MO) being the most widely used lipid. We now report that EROCOC 17+4 mixed with 10% (w/w) cholesterol (Fig. 1) serves as a new matrix for crystallization and a crystal delivery medium in the serial femtosecond crystallography of Adenosine A 2A receptor (A 2A R). The structures of EROCOC 17+4 -matrix grown A 2A R crystals were determined at 2.0 Å resolution by serial synchrotron rotation crystallography at a cryogenic temperature, and at 1.8 Å by LCP-serial femtosecond crystallography, using an X-ray free-electron laser at 4 and 20 °C sample temperatures, and are comparable to the structure of the MO-matrix grown A 2A R crystal (PDB ID: 4EIY). Moreover, X-ray scattering measurements indicated that the EROCOC 17+4 /water system did not form the crystalline L C phase at least down to - 20 °C, in marked contrast to the equilibrium MO/water system, which transforms into the crystalline L C phase below about 17 °C. As the L C phase formation within the LCP-matrix causes difficulties in protein crystallography experiments in meso, this feature of EROCOC 17+4 will expand the utility of the in meso method. more...

Rhodopsin phosphodiesterase (Rh-PDE) is an enzyme rhodopsin belonging to a recently discovered class of microbial rhodopsins with light-dependent enzymatic activity. Rh-PDE consists of the N-terminal rhodopsin domain and C-terminal phosphodiesterase (PDE) domain, connected by 76-residue linker, and hydrolyzes both cAMP and cGMP in a light-dependent manner. Thus, Rh-PDE has potential for the optogenetic manipulation of cyclic nucleotide concentrations, as a complementary tool to rhodopsin guanylyl cyclase and photosensitive adenylyl cyclase. Here we present structural and functional analyses of the Rh-PDE derived from Salpingoeca rosetta. The crystal structure of the rhodopsin domain at 2.6 Å resolution revealed a new topology of rhodopsins, with 8 TMs including the N-terminal extra TM, TM0. Mutational analyses demonstrated that TM0 plays a crucial role in the enzymatic photoactivity. We further solved the crystal structures of the rhodopsin domain (3.5 Å) and PDE domain (2.1 Å) with their connecting linkers, which showed a rough sketch of the full-length Rh-PDE. Integrating these structures, we proposed a model of full-length Rh-PDE, based on the HS-AFM observations and computational modeling of the linker region. These findings provide insight into the photoactivation mechanisms of other 8-TM enzyme rhodopsins and expand the definition of rhodopsins. more...

Linearly conjugated systems have long served as an archetype of conjugated materials, but suffer from two intrinsic structural problems: potential instability due to intermolecular interactions and the flexibility of the C-C bonds connecting C═C bonds. Efforts to solve these problems have included the insertion of aromatic units as a part of the conjugation and the introduction of carbon bridges to stop the bond rotation. We report here B/N-doped p -arylenevinylene chromophores synthesized through the incorporation of a cyclopenta[ c ][1,2]azaborole framework as a part of the conjugated system. The ring strain intrinsic to this new skeleton both flattens and rigidifies the conjugation, and the B - -N + dative bond is much easier to form than a C-C bond, which simplifies the synthetic design. The B-N dative bond also reduces the HOMO-LUMO gap, thereby causing a significant redshift of the absorption and emission compared with their all-carbon congeners while retaining high photostability and high fluorescence quantum yield in both solution and film states. A doubly B/N-doped compound showed emission peaks at 540 nm with a small Stokes shift of 20 nm and a fluorescence quantum yield of 98%. The molecules serve as excellent lipophilic fluorescent dyes for live-cell imaging, showing a higher photostability than that of commercially available BODIPY-based dyes. more...

Calcium homeostasis modulator (CALHM) family proteins are Ca 2+ -regulated adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-release channels involved in neural functions including neurotransmission in gustation. Here, we present the cryo-electron microscopy (EM) structures of killifish CALHM1, human CALHM2, and Caenorhabditis elegans CLHM-1 at resolutions of 2.66, 3.4, and 3.6 Å, respectively. The CALHM1 octamer structure reveals that the N-terminal helix forms the constriction site at the channel pore in the open state and modulates the ATP conductance. The CALHM2 undecamer and CLHM-1 nonamer structures show the different oligomeric stoichiometries among CALHM homologs. We further report the cryo-EM structures of the chimeric construct, revealing that the intersubunit interactions at the transmembrane domain (TMD) and the TMD-intracellular domain linker define the oligomeric stoichiometry. These findings advance our understanding of the ATP conduction and oligomerization mechanisms of CALHM channels., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).) more...

PIWI-clade Argonaute proteins associate with PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), and silence transposons in animal gonads. Here, we report the crystal structure of the Drosophila PIWI-clade Argonaute Piwi in complex with endogenous piRNAs, at 2.9 Å resolution. A structural comparison of Piwi with other Argonautes highlights the PIWI-specific structural features, such as the overall domain arrangement and metal-dependent piRNA recognition. Our structural and biochemical data reveal that, unlike other Argonautes including silkworm Siwi, Piwi has a non-canonical DVDK tetrad and lacks the RNA-guided RNA cleaving slicer activity. Furthermore, we find that the Piwi mutant with the canonical DEDH catalytic tetrad exhibits the slicer activity and readily dissociates from less complementary RNA targets after the slicer-mediated cleavage, suggesting that the slicer activity could compromise the Piwi-mediated co-transcriptional silencing. We thus propose that Piwi lost the slicer activity during evolution to serve as an RNA-guided RNA-binding platform, thereby ensuring faithful co-transcriptional silencing of transposons. more...

Photosynthetic water oxidation is catalyzed by the Mn 4 CaO 5 cluster of photosystem II (PSII) with linear progression through five S-state intermediates (S 0 to S 4 ). To reveal the mechanism of water oxidation, we analyzed structures of PSII in the S 1 , S 2 , and S 3 states by x-ray free-electron laser serial crystallography. No insertion of water was found in S 2 , but flipping of D1 Glu 189 upon transition to S 3 leads to the opening of a water channel and provides a space for incorporation of an additional oxygen ligand, resulting in an open cubane Mn 4 CaO 6 cluster with an oxyl/oxo bridge. Structural changes of PSII between the different S states reveal cooperative action of substrate water access, proton release, and dioxygen formation in photosynthetic water oxidation., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.) more...