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- Niegowski, Damian, 1978-
(författare)
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Structural biology of integral membrane proteins - From methods to molecular mechanisms
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Membrane proteins are vital components in the cell and crucial for the proliferation of all living organisms. Unfortunately our collective knowledge of structures of membrane proteins is very limited, as compared to the information available on soluble proteins. This is to a large extent due to the outstanding challenge of working with membrane proteins and the relatively high cost associated with determining a membrane protein structure. Therefore, the establishment of efficient methods and means for the production and crystallization of membrane proteins is urgently needed. The two methods explored in this thesis are aimed to achieve rapid optimization of expression and purification conditions of membrane proteins, thereby allowing for the rapid production of more suitable samples for crystallization trials.Despite the challenges in membrane protein structure determination two structures are presented in the thesis:The first structure determined is of the CorA magnesium transporter from Thermotoga maritima will be the focus of this thesis. The CorA revealed a pentameric protein in a closed state. The presence of two regulatory metal binding sites is suggested, as well as a putative magnesium ion bound in the ion conductive pathway.The second structure is of the human enzyme LTC4-synthase, which catalyzes the pivotal step in eicosanoid synthesis by the conjugation of glutathione to LTA4, a reactive epoxide-containing derivative from arachidonic acid. The products of this step, the so-called cysteinyl leukotrienes are potent inflammatory mediators making this enzyme a potential drug target. The structure reveals a charged binding pocket for a horseshoe-shaped glutathione, and a hydrophobic binding pocket for a lipophilic LTA4 molecule. Based on the structure a key residue for catalysis has been identified, Arg 104, which is proposed to play a critical role in activating the thiol group of glutathione for the nucleophilic attack on LTA4.
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| 2. |
- Caleman, Carl, 1975-
(författare)
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Towards Single Molecule Imaging - Understanding Structural Transitions Using Ultrafast X-ray Sources and Computer Simulations
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- X-ray lasers bring us into a new world in photon science by delivering extraordinarily intense beams of x-rays in very short bursts that can be more than ten billion times brighter than pulses from other x-ray sources. These lasers find applications in sciences ranging from astrophysics to structural biology, and could allow us to obtain images of single macromolecules when these are injected into the x-ray beam. A macromolecule injected into vacuum in a microdroplet will be affected by evaporation and by the dynamics of the carrier liquid before being hit by the x-ray pulse. Simulations of neutral and charged water droplets were performed to predict structural changes and changes of temperature due to evaporation. The results are discussed in the aspect of single molecule imaging. Further studies show ionization caused by the intense x-ray radiation. These simulations reveal the development of secondary electron cascades in water. Other studies show the development of these cascades in KI and CsI where experimental data exist. The results are in agreement with observation, and show the temporal, spatial and energetic evolution of secondary electron cascades in the sample. X-ray diffraction is sensitive to structural changes on the length scale of chemical bonds. Using a short infrared pump pulse to trigger structural changes, and a short x-ray pulse for probing it, these changes can be studied with a temporal resolution similar to the pulse lengths. Time resolved diffraction experiments were performed on a phase transition during resolidification of a non-thermally molten InSb crystal. The experiment reveals the dynamics of crystal regrowth. Computer simulations were performed on the infrared laser-induced melting of bulk ice, giving a comprehension of the dynamics and the wavelength dependence of melting. These studies form a basis for planning experiments with x-ray lasers.
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| 3. |
- Daurer, Benedikt J.
(författare)
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Algorithms for Coherent Diffractive Imaging with X-ray Lasers
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) has become a very popular technique over the past two decades. CDI is a "lensless" imaging method which replaces the objective lens of a conventional microscope by a computational image reconstruction procedure. Its increase in popularity came together with the development of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) which produce extremely bright and coherent X-rays. By facilitating these unique properties, CDI enables structure determination of non-crystalline samples at nanometre resolution and has many applications in structural biology, material science and X-ray optics among others. This work focuses on two specific CDI techniques, flash X-ray diffractive imaging (FXI) on biological samples and X-ray ptychography.While the first FXI demonstrations using soft X-rays have been quite promising, they also revealed remaining technical challenges. FXI becomes even more demanding when approaching shorter wavelengths to allow subnanometre resolution imaging. We described one of the first FXI experiments using hard X-rays and characterized the most critical components of such an experiment, namely the properties of X-ray focus, sample delivery and detectors. Based on our findings, we discussed experimental and computational strategies for FXI to overcome its current difficulties and reach its full potential. We deposited the data in the Coherent X-ray Database (CXIDB) and made our data analysis code available in a public repository. We developed algorithms targeted towards the needs of FXI experiments and implemented a software package which enables the analysis of diffraction data in real time.X-ray ptychography has developed into a very useful tool for quantitative imaging of complex materials and has found applications in many areas. However, it involves a computational reconstruction step which can be slow. Therefore, we developed a fast GPU-based ptychographic solver and combined it with a framework for real-time data processing which already starts the ptychographic reconstruction process while data is still being collected. This provides immediate feedback to the user and allows high-throughput ptychographic imaging.Finally, we have used ptychographic imaging as a method to study the wavefront of a focused XFEL beam under typical FXI conditions. We are convinced that this work on developing strategies and algorithms for FXI and ptychography is a valuable contribution to the development of coherent diffractive imaging.
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