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The possibilities to perform serial synchrotron crystallography at BioMAX, the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at MAX IV Laboratory in Lund, Sweden, are described, together with case studies from the synchrotron X-ray crystallography user program., Over the last decade, serial crystallography, a method to collect complete diffraction datasets from a large number of microcrystals delivered and exposed to an X-ray beam in random orientations at room temperature, has been successfully implemented at X-ray free-electron lasers and synchrotron radiation facility beamlines. This development relies on a growing variety of sample presentation methods, including different fixed target supports, injection methods using gas-dynamic virtual-nozzle injectors and high-viscosity extrusion injectors, and acoustic levitation of droplets, each with unique requirements. In comparison with X-ray free-electron lasers, increased beam time availability makes synchrotron facilities very attractive to perform serial synchrotron X-ray crystallography (SSX) experiments. Within this work, the possibilities to perform SSX at BioMAX, the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at MAX IV Laboratory in Lund, Sweden, are described, together with case studies from the SSX user program: an implementation of a high-viscosity extrusion injector to perform room temperature serial crystallography at BioMAX using two solid supports – silicon nitride membranes (Silson, UK) and XtalTool (Jena Bioscience, Germany). Future perspectives for the dedicated serial crystallography beamline MicroMAX at MAX IV Laboratory, which will provide parallel and intense micrometre-sized X-ray beams, are discussed.

BioMAX is the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at the first fourth-generation storage ring, the 3 GeV storage ring at MAX IV Laboratory. It is a highly automated, user-friendly, microfocus beamline that provides excellent performance for most macromolecular crystallography applications., BioMAX is the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at the MAX IV Laboratory 3 GeV storage ring, which is the first operational multi-bend achromat storage ring. Due to the low-emittance storage ring, BioMAX has a parallel, high-intensity X-ray beam, even when focused down to 20 µm × 5 µm using the bendable focusing mirrors. The beam is tunable in the energy range 5–25 keV using the in-vacuum undulator and the horizontally deflecting double-crystal monochromator. BioMAX is equipped with an MD3 diffractometer, an ISARA high-capacity sample changer and an EIGER 16M hybrid pixel detector. Data collection at BioMAX is controlled using the newly developed MXCuBE3 graphical user interface, and sample tracking is handled by ISPyB. The computing infrastructure includes data storage and processing both at MAX IV and the Lund University supercomputing center LUNARC. With state-of-the-art instrumentation, a high degree of automation, a user-friendly control system interface and remote operation, BioMAX provides an excellent facility for most macromolecular crystallography experiments. Serial crystallography using either a high-viscosity extruder injector or the MD3 as a fixed-target scanner is already implemented. The serial crystallography activities at MAX IV Laboratory will be further developed at the microfocus beamline MicroMAX, when it comes into operation in 2022. MicroMAX will have a 1 µm × 1 µm beam focus and a flux up to 1015 photons s−1 with main applications in serial crystallography, room-temperature structure determinations and time-resolved experiments.

The 25 nrad RMS, 1–2500 Hz, vibrational performance of a horizontal double-crystal monochromator is presented., The vibrational stability of a horizontally deflecting double-crystal monochromator (HDCM) is investigated. Inherently a HDCM will preserve the vertical beam stability better than a ‘normal’ vertical double-crystal monochromator as the vibrations of a HDCM will almost exclusively affect the horizontal stability. Here both the relative pitch vibration between the first and second crystal and the absolute pitch vibration of the second crystal are measured. All reported measurements are obtained under active cooling by means of flowing liquid nitrogen (LN2). It is found that it is favorable to circulate the LN2 at high pressures and low flow rates (up to 5.9 bar and down to 3 l min−1 is tested) to attain low vibrations. An absolute pitch stability of the second crystal of 18 nrad RMS, 2–2500 Hz, and a relative pitch stability between the two crystals of 25 nrad RMS, 1–2500 Hz, is obtained under cryocooling conditions that allow for 1516 W to be adsorbed by the LN2 before it vaporizes.

The MAX IV Laboratory in Lund is currently operating two storage rings, the 1.5GeV MAX II and the 700MeV MAX III, as well as constructing the new facility MAX IV, which will house a 1.5GeV and a 3GeV ring. At the MAX II synchrotron there are three hard X-ray beamlines at which crystallography can be performed: I711, I811 and I911. Beamline I711 is mainly used for powder diffraction. I811 is an EXAFS station at which surface XRD can also be carried out. I911 is a beamline with five experimental stations on a single superconducting wiggler source, of which two are currently used for macromolecular crystallography, namely the monochromatic station I911-2 and the tuneable station I911-3, which is equipped with a state-of-the-art goniometer and robotic sample changer. We will give an overview of the capabilities of these beamlines, focusing particularly on the macromolecular crystallography beamline I911 and some recent scientific highlights produced there. We will also give a brief overview of new beamlines for crystallography that are under construction or planned for the MAX IV facility.

International audience; Controlled dehydration of macromolecular crystals can lead to significant improvements in crystalline order, which often manifests itself in higher diffraction quality. Devices that can accurately control the humidity surrounding crystals on a beamline have led to this technique being increasingly adopted as experiments become easier and more reproducible. However, these experiments are often carried out by trial and error, and in order to facilitate and streamline them four European synchrotrons have established a collaboration around the HC1b dehydration device. The MAX IV Laboratory, Diamond Light Source, BESSY II, and the EMBL Grenoble Outstation/ESRF have pooled information gathered from user experiments, and on the use of the device, to propose a set of guidelines for these experiments. Here, we present the status and automation of the installations, advice on how best to perform experiments using the device, and an analysis of successful experiments that begins to show some trends in the type of protocols required by some systems. The dehydration methods shown are applicable to any device that allows control of the relative humidity of the air surrounding a macromolecular crystal

Absorption microspectrophotometry has been shown to be of considerable help to probe crystalline proteins containing chromophores, metal centres, or coloured substrates/co-factors. Absorption spectra contribute to the proper interpretation of crystallographic structures, especially when transient intermediate states are studied. Here it is shown that fluorescence microspectrophotometry might also be used for such purposes if endogenous fluorophores are present in the macromolecule or when exogenous fluorophores are added and either bind to the protein or reside in the solvent channels. An off-line microspectrophotometer that is able to perform low-temperature absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy on crystals mounted in cryo-loops is described. One-shot steady-state emission spectra of outstanding quality were routinely collected from several samples. In some cases, crystals with optical densities that are too low or too high for absorption studies can still be tackled with fluorescence microspectrophotometry. The technique may be used for simple controls such as checking the presence, absence or redox state of a fluorescent substrate/co-factor. Potential applications in the field of kinetic crystallography are numerous. In addition, the possibility to probe key physico-chemical parameters of the crystal, such as temperature, pH or solvent viscosity, could trigger new studies in protein dynamics.

Based on the Synchrotron Radiation (SR) beamline optical element-by-element alignment with analysis of the alignment results an optimized beamline alignment algorithm has been designed and developed. The alignment procedures have been designed and developed for the MAX-lab 1911-4 fixed energy beamline. It has been shown that the intermediate information received during the monochromator alignment stage can be used for the correction of both monochromator and mirror without the next stages of alignment of mirror, slits, sample holder, etc. Such an optimization of the beamline alignment procedures decreases the time necessary for the alignment and becomes useful and helpful in the case of any instability of the beamline optical elements, storage ring electron orbit or the wiggler insertion device. which could result in the instability of angular and positional parameters of the SR beam. A general purpose software package for manual, semi-automatic and automatic SR beamline alignment has been designed and developed using the developed algorithm. The TANGO control system is used as the middle-ware between the stand-alone beamline control applications BLTools, BPMonitor and the beamline equipment. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The gene encoding the superoxide dismutase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsSOD) was cloned and sequenced and its expression in Escherichia coli obtained. The chemicophysical properties of the recombinant SsSOD were identical with those of the native enzyme. The recombinant SsSOD possessed a covalent modification of Tyr41, already observed in native SsSOD [Ursby, T., Adinolfi, B.S., Al-Karadaghi, S., De Vendittis, E.Bocchini, V. (1999) J. Mol. Biol. 286, 189--205]. HPLC analysis of SsSOD samples prepared from cells treated or not with phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PhCH(2)SO(2)F), a protease inhibitor routinely added during the preparation of cell-free extracts, showed that the modification was caused by PhCH(2)SO(2)F. Refinement of the crystal model of SsSOD confirmed that a phenylmethanesulfonyl moiety was attached to the hydroxy group of Tyr41. PhCH(2)SO(2)F behaved as an irreversible inactivator of SsSOD; in fact, the specific activity of both native and recombinant enzyme decreased as the percentage of modification increased. The covalent modification caused by PhCH2SO2F reinforced the heat stability of SsSOD. These results show that Tyr41 plays an important role in the enzyme activity and the maintenance of the structural architecture of SsSOD.

A new X-ray crystallographic beamline is operational at the MAX II synchrotron in Lund. The beamline has been in regular use since August 1998 and is used both for macro- and small molecule diffraction as well as powder diffraction experiments. The radiation source is a 1.8 T multipole wiggler. The beam is focused vertically by a bendable mirror and horizontally by an asymmetrically cut Si(111) monochromator. The wavelength range is 0.8-1.55 A with a measured flux at 1 A of more than 10(11) photons s(-1) in 0.3 mm x 0.3 mm at the sample position. The station is currently equipped with a Mar345 imaging plate, a Bruker Smart 1000 area CCD detector and a Huber imaging-plate Guinier camera. An ADSC 210 area CCD detector is planned to be installed during 2000.

Photoactive yellow protein (PYP) is a member of the xanthopsin family of eubacterial blue-light photoreceptors. On absorption of light, PYP enters a photocycle that ultimately transduces the energy contained in a light signal into an altered biological response. Nanosecond time-resolved x-ray crystallography was used to determine the structure of the short-lived, red-shifted, intermediate state denoted [pR], which develops within 1 nanosecond after photoelectronic excitation of the chromophore of PYP by absorption of light. The resulting structural model demonstrates that the [pR] state possesses the cis conformation of the 4-hydroxyl cinnamic thioester chromophore, and that the process of trans to cis isomerization is accompanied by the specific formation of new hydrogen bonds that replace those broken upon excitation of the chromophore. Regions of flexibility that compose the chromophore-binding pocket serve to lower the activation energy barrier between the dark state, denoted pG, and [pR], and help initiate entrance into the photocycle. Direct structural evidence is provided for the initial processes of transduction of light energy, which ultimately translate into a physiological signal.

The updated macromolecular crystallography beamline I911-3 at the MAX II storage ring is described., The macromolecular crystallography beamline I911-3, part of the Cassiopeia/I911 suite of beamlines, is based on a superconducting wiggler at the MAX II ring of the MAX IV Laboratory in Lund, Sweden. The beamline is energy-tunable within a range between 6 and 18 keV. I911-3 opened for users in 2005. In 2010–2011 the experimental station was completely rebuilt and refurbished such that it has become a state-of-the-art experimental station with better possibilities for rapid throughput, crystal screening and work with smaller samples. This paper describes the complete I911-3 beamline and how it is embedded in the Cassiopeia suite of beamlines.

We have examined and compared the effects of mutating Y41 and H155 in the iron superoxide dismutase (SOD) from the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus (Ss). These two neighboring residues in the active site are known to have crucial functions in structurally related SODs from different sources. The metal analysis indicates a slightly lower iron content after either Y41F or H155Q replacement, without any significant substitution of iron for manganese. The specific activity of SsSOD referred to the iron content is 17-fold reduced in the Y41F mutant, whereas it is less than 2-fold reduced by the H155Q mutation. The noticeable pH dependence of the activity of SsSOD and H155Q-SsSOD, due to the ionization of Y41 (pK 8.4), is lost in Y41F-SsSOD. After H155Q and even more after the Y41F substitution, the archaeal enzyme acquires a moderate sensitivity to sodium azide inhibition. The hydrogen peroxide inactivation of SsSOD is significantly increased after H155Q replacement; however, both mutants are insensitive to the modification of residue 41 by phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride. Heat inactivation studies showed that the high stability of SsSOD is reduced by the H155Q mutation; hovewer, upon the addition of SDS, a much faster inactivation kinetics is observed both with wild-type and mutant SsSOD forms. The detergent is also required to follow thermal denaturation of the archaeal enzyme by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; these studies gave information about the effect of mutations and modification on flexibility and compactness of the protein structure. The crystal structure of Y41F mutant revealed an uninterrupted hydrogen bond network including three solvent molecules connecting the iron-ligating hydroxide ion via H155 with F41 and H37, which is not present in structures of the corresponding mutant SODs from other sources. These data suggest that Y41 and H155 are important for the structural and functional properties of SsSOD; in particular, Y41 seems to be a powerful regulator of the activity of SsSOD, whereas H155 is apparently involved in the organization of the active site of the enzyme. (Less)

A new beamline, Cassiopeia, at MAX II is about to come into operation. It consists of an energy‐tunable station and four side stations intended for macromolecular crystallography. The X‐ray source is a 3.5 T superconducting multipole wiggler installed in the 1.5 GeV MAX II storage ring. The energy‐tunable station use grazing incidence Rh‐coated silicon mirrors and an internally water‐cooled Si(111) double‐crystal monochromator while the four side stations use bent diamond and germanium monochromators and multilayer mirrors. This paper concentrates on the optics design of the energy‐tunable station and also briefly describes other beamline components.

A new 5-station beamline for protein crystallography is being commissioned at the Swedish synchrotron light source MAX-II at Lund University. Of the 2K/gamma = 14 mrad horizontal wiggler fan, the central 2 mrad are used and split in three parts. The central 1 mrad will be used for a station optimized for MAD experiments and on each side of the central fan, from 0.5 mrad to 1 mrad, there are two fixed energy stations using different energies of the same part of the beam. These, in total five stations, can be used simultaneously and independently for diffraction data collection. The two upstream monochromators for the side stations are meridionally bent asymmetric diamond(111) crystals in Laue transmission geometry. The monochromators for the downstream side stations are bent Ge(111) crystals in asymmetric Bragg reflection geometry. Curved multilayer mirrors inserted in the monochromatic beams provide focusing in the vertical plane. The first side station is under commissioning, and a preliminary test protein data set has been collected. ©2004 American Institute of Physics

International audience; Mycobacterium tuberculosis TMP kinase (TMPK(Mtub)) represents a promising target for developing drugs against tuberculosis because the configuration of its active site is unique in the TMPK family. To help elucidate the phosphorylation mechanism employed by this enzyme, structural changes occurring upon binding of substrates and subsequent catalysis were investigated by protein crystallography. Six new structures of TMPK(Mtub) were solved at a resolution better than 2.3A, including the first structure of an apo-TMPK, obtained by triggering catalysis in a crystal of a TMPK(Mtub)-TMP complex, which resulted in the release of the TDP product. A series of snapshots along the reaction pathway is obtained, revealing the closure of the active site in going from an empty to a fully occupied state, suggestive of an induced-fit mechanism typical of NMPKs. However, in TMPK(Mtub) the LID closure couples to the binding with an unusual location for a magnesium ion coordinating TMP in the active site. Our data suggest strongly that this ion is required for catalysis, acting as a clamp, possibly in concert with Arg95, to neutralise electrostatic repulsion between the anionic substrates, optimise their proper alignment and activate them through direct and water-mediated interactions. The 3'-hydroxyl moiety of TMP, critical to metal stabilisation, appears to be a target of choice for the design of potent inhibitors. On the other hand, the usual NTP-bound magnesium is not seen in our structures and Arg14, a P-loop residue unique to TMPK(Mtub), may take over its role. Therefore, TMPK(Mtub) seems to have swapped the use of a metal ion as compared with e.g. human TMPK. Finally, TTP was observed in crystals of TMPK(Mtub), locked by Arg14, thus providing a structural explanation for the observed inhibitory effect of TTP putatively involved in a mechanism of feedback regulation of the enzymatic activity.

We are conducting nanosecond time-resolved crystallographic studies at the ID9 beamline of the ESRF on two heme proteins: sperm whale myoglobin (Mb) and dimeric hemoglobin (HbI) from the clam Scapharca inaequivalvis. The goals of these studies are to understand the evolution of the photo-induced structural changes and their propagation from the active site through the protein and to determine the trajectories and the docking sites of the photo-dissociated ligand and how they are affected by mutations of side chains known to affect ligand binding properties. We use intense, focused, white, 150-ps and 1-/spl mu/s X-ray pulses in a pump-probe type of measurement to investigate structural changes in carbonmonoxy complexes of Mb and HbI. Changes are photo-initiated by 10-ns laser pulses. The complete reversibility of the reaction simplifies the use of the signal averaging to improve the data quality and allows us to obtain complete and even multiple data sets from one crystal. Departure of the CO ligand upon photolysis and its subsequent rebinding, and the iron atom displacement from the heme plane are clearly observed in both molecules. We also identify a possible docking site for the photo-dissociated CO molecule in the MbCO heme pocket.

International audience; Caged compounds in combination with protein crystallography represent a valuable tool in studies of enzyme reaction intermediates. To date, photochemical triggering of reactions has been performed close to room temperature. Synchronous reaction initiation has only been achieved with enzymes of relatively slow turnover (

Spectra are presented from a single 3D microcrystal of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) cooled to 170 K under various illumination conditions. This set is necessary and sufficient to assign the relevant crystal reference spectra. A spectral decomposition of the difference spectrum obtained following the trapping protocol of Royant et al. (2000) (Nature 406, 645‐648) is given, confirming that the low temperature L-intermediate was the species that dominated the structural rearrangements previously reported. Smaller contributions from the K and M spectral intermediates are also quantified. Mechanistic insights derived from the X-ray structures of the early bR intermediates are discussed.

A wide variety of mechanisms are used to generate a proton-motive potential across cell membranes, a function lying at the heart of bioenergetics. Bacteriorhodopsin, the simplest known proton pump1, provides a paradigm for understanding this process. Here we report, at 2.1 A resolution, the structural changes in bacteriorhodopsin immediately preceding the primary proton transfer event in its photocycle. The early structural rearrangements2 propagate from the protein's core towards the extracellular surface, disrupting the network of hydrogen-bonded water molecules that stabilizes helix C in the ground state. Concomitantly, a bend of this helix enables the negatively charged3 primary proton acceptor, Asp 85, to approach closer to the positively charged primary proton donor, the Schiff base. The primary proton transfer event would then neutralize these two groups, cancelling their electrostatic attraction and facilitating a relaxation of helix C to a less strained geometry. Reprotonation of the Schiff base by Asp 85 would thereby be impeded, ensuring vectorial proton transport. Structural rearrangements also occur near the protein's surface, aiding proton release to the extracellular medium.

The crystal structure of superoxide dismutase (SOD) from the hyper thermophile Sulfolobus solfataricus has been determined at 2.3 A resolution by molecular replacement and refined to a crystallographic R-factor of 16.8 % (Rfree 19.8 %). The crystals belong to the space group C2 (a=76.3 A, b=124.3 A, c=60.3 A, beta=128.8 degrees) with two identical monomers in the asymmetric unit. The monomer has a molecular weight of 24 kDa and consists of 210 amino acid residues of which 205 are visible in the electron density map. The overall fold of the monomer of S. solfataricus SOD is similar to that of the other known Fe or Mn-SODs. S. solfataricus SOD forms a very compact tetramer of a type similar to that of SOD from the hyperthermophile Aquifex pyrophilus. Both structures show an elevated number of inter-subunit ion-pairs compared with the mesophilic SOD from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the thermophilic SOD from Thermus thermophilus. However, in contrast to the A. pyrophilus SOD structure, the number of intra-subunit ion-pairs as well as inter- subunit hydrogen bonds is not higher than in the compared mesophilic and thermophilic SOD structures. The electron density also revealed an unexpected and unusual covalent modification of a conserved tyrosine in the active site. Its involvement in the specific activity of the enzyme is discussed.

This paper describes the preliminary design of the BioMAX beamline at the 3 GeV ring of the MAX IV facility, focusing on the optics and x-ray beam performance. The MAX IV facility will include two storage rings with 1.5 GeV and 3.0 GeV electron energy and a linac serving both as injector for the two rings and feeding a short pulse facility. BioMAX is one of the first seven beamlines funded at the MAX IV facility. It is a multipurpose high-throughput beamline for macromolecular crystallography. The beamline aims to be robust and simple to operate with a beam benefiting from the properties of the MAX IV 3 GeV ring. However it does not aim at the smallest beam or crystal sizes since it is foreseen that it will be complemented with a microfocus beamline aiming at a beam size of 1 mu m. The beamline experiment setup will be highly automated, both in terms of sample handling hardware and data analysis, including feedback to the data collection. The BioMAX beamline is planned to be in operation in 2016. (Less)