| 1. |
- Kovácsová, Gabriela, et al.
(författare)
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Cell-free expression of a functional pore-only sodium channel.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Protein expression and purification. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-0279 .- 1046-5928. ; 111, s. 42-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Voltage-gated sodium channels participate in the propagation of action potentials in excitable cells. Eukaryotic Navs are pseudo homotetrameric polypeptides, comprising four repeats of six transmembrane segments (S1-S6). The first four segments form the voltage-sensing domain and S5 and S6 create the pore domain with the selectivity filter. Prokaryotic Navs resemble these characteristics, but are truly tetrameric. They can typically be efficiently synthesized in bacteria, but production in vitro with cell-free synthesis has not been demonstrated. Here we report the cell-free expression and purification of a prokaryotic tetrameric pore-only sodium channel. We produced milligram quantities of the functional channel protein as characterized by size-exclusion chromatography, infrared spectroscopy and electrophysiological recordings. Cell-free expression enables advanced site-directed labelling, post-translational modifications, and special solubilization schemes. This enables next-generation biophysical experiments to study the principle of sodium ion selectivity and transport in sodium channels.
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| 2. |
- Peuker, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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Efficient Isotope Editing of Proteins for Site-Directed Vibrational Spectroscopy
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 138:7, s. 2312-2318
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Vibrational spectra contain unique information on protein structure and dynamics. However, this information is often obscured by spectral congestion, and site-selective information is not available. In principle, sites of interest can be spectrally identified by isotope shifts, but site-specific isotope labeling of proteins is today possible only for favorable amino acids or with prohibitively low yields. Here we present an efficient cell-free expression system for the site-specific incorporation of any isotope-labeled amino acid into proteins. We synthesized 1.6 mg of green fluorescent protein with an isotope-labeled tyrosine from 100 mL of cell free reaction extract. We unambiguously identified spectral features of the tyrosine in the fingerprint region of the time-resolved infrared absorption spectra. Kinetic analysis confirmed the existence of an intermediate state between photoexcitation and proton transfer that lives for 3 ps. Our method lifts vibrational spectroscopy of proteins to a higher level of structural specificity.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Hanna, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the Ability of Spectroscopic Methods to Determine the Difference in the Folding Propensities of Highly Similar beta-Hairpins
- 2017
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Ingår i: Acs Omega. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2470-1343. ; 2:2, s. 508-516
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have evaluated the ability of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies to describe the difference in the folding propensities of two structurally highly similar cyclic beta-hairpins, comparing the outcome to that of molecular dynamics simulations. NAMFIS-type NMR ensemble analysis and CD spectroscopy were observed to accurately describe the consequence of altering a single interaction site, whereas a single-site C-13 NMR chemical shift melting curve-based technique was not.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Structural Dynamics of Light-Driven Proton Pumps
- 2009
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Ingår i: Structure. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-2126 .- 1878-4186. ; 17:9, s. 1265-1275
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bacteriorhodopsin and proteorhodopsin are simple heptahelical proton pumps containing a retinal chromophore covalently bound to helix G via a protonated Schiff base. Following the absorption of a photon, all-trans retinal is isomerized to a 13-cis conformation, initiating a sequence of conformational changes driving vectorial proton transport. In this study we apply time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering to visualize in real time the helical motions associated with proton pumping by bacteriorhodopsin and proteorhodopsin. Our results establish that three conformational states are required to describe their photocycles. Significant motions of the cytoplasmic half of helix F and the extracellular half of helix C are observed prior to the primary proton transfer event, which increase in amplitude following proton transfer. These results both simplify the structural description to emerge from intermediate trapping studies of bacteriorhodopsin and reveal shared dynamical principles for proton pumping.
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| 5. |
- Arnlund, David, et al.
(författare)
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Visualizing a protein quake with time-resolved X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Methods. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1548-7091 .- 1548-7105. ; 11:9, s. 923-926
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe a method to measure ultrafast protein structural changes using time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering at an X-ray free-electron laser. We demonstrated this approach using multiphoton excitation of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction center, observing an ultrafast global conformational change that arises within picoseconds and precedes the propagation of heat through the protein. This provides direct structural evidence for a 'protein quake': the hypothesis that proteins rapidly dissipate energy through quake-like structural motions.
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| 6. |
- Berntsson, Oskar, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Photoactivation of Drosophila melanogaster cryptochrome through sequential conformational transitions
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 5:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cryptochromes are blue-light photoreceptor proteins, which provide input to circadian clocks. The cryptochrome from Drosophila melanogaster (DmCry) modulates the degradation of Timeless and itself. It is unclear how light absorption by the chromophore and the subsequent redox reactions trigger these events. Here, we use nano- to millisecond time-resolved x-ray solution scattering to reveal the light-activated conformational changes in DmCry and the related (6-4) photolyase. DmCry undergoes a series of structural changes, culminating in the release of the carboxyl-terminal tail (CTT). The photolyase has a simpler structural response. We find that the CTT release in DmCry depends on pH. Mutation of a conserved histidine, important for the biochemical activity of DmCry, does not affect transduction of the structural signal to the CTT. Instead, molecular dynamics simulations suggest that it stabilizes the CTT in the resting-state conformation. Our structural photocycle unravels the first molecular events of signal transduction in an animal cryptochrome.
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| 7. |
- Berntsson, Oskar, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Sequential conformational transitions and alpha-helical supercoiling regulate a sensor histidine kinase
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sensor histidine kinases are central to sensing in bacteria and in plants. They usually contain sensor, linker, and kinase modules and the structure of many of these components is known. However, it is unclear how the kinase module is structurally regulated. Here, we use nano- to millisecond time-resolved X-ray scattering to visualize the solution structural changes that occur when the light-sensitive model histidine kinase YF1 is activated by blue light. We find that the coiled coil linker and the attached histidine kinase domains undergo a left handed rotation within microseconds. In a much slower second step, the kinase domains rearrange internally. This structural mechanism presents a template for signal transduction in sensor histidine kinases.
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| 8. |
- Berntsson, Oskar, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Time-Resolved X-Ray Solution Scattering Reveals the Structural Photoactivation of a Light-Oxygen-Voltage Photoreceptor
- 2017
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Ingår i: Structure. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-2126. ; 25:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) receptors are sensory proteins controlling a wide range of organismal adaptations in multiple kingdoms of life. Because of their modular nature, LOV domains are also attractive for use as optogenetic actuators. A flavin chromophore absorbs blue light, forms a bond with a proximal cysteine residue, and induces changes in the surroundings. There is a gap of knowledge on how this initial signal is relayed further through the sensor to the effector module. To characterize these conformational changes, we apply time-resolved X-ray scattering to the homodimeric LOV domain from Bacillus subtilis YtvA. We observe a global structural change in the LOV dimer synchronous with the formation of the chromophore photoproduct state. Using molecular modeling, this change is identified as splaying apart and relative rotation of the two monomers, which leads to an increased separation at the anchoring site of the effector modules.
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| 9. |
- Björling, Alexander, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Deciphering solution scattering data with experimentally guided molecular dynamics simulations
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 11:2, s. 780-787
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering is an increasingly popular method to measure conformational changes in proteins. Extracting structural information from the resulting difference X-ray scattering data is a daunting task. We present a method in which the limited but precious information encoded in such scattering curves is combined with the chemical knowledge of molecular force fields. The molecule of interest is then refined toward experimental data using molecular dynamics simulation. Therefore, the energy landscape is biased toward conformations that agree with experimental data. We describe and verify the method, and we provide an implementation in GROMACS.
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| 10. |
- Björling, Alexander, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Structural photoactivation of a full-length bacterial phytochrome
- 2016
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 2:8
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytochromes are light sensor proteins found in plants, bacteria, and fungi. They function by converting a photon absorption event into a conformational signal that propagates from the chromophore through the entire protein. However, the structure of the photoactivated state and the conformational changes that lead to it are not known. We report time-resolved x-ray scattering of the full-length phytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans on micro-and millisecond time scales. We identify a twist of the histidine kinase output domains with respect to the chromophore-binding domains as the dominant change between the photoactivated and resting states. The time-resolved data further show that the structural changes up to the microsecond time scales are small and localized in the chromophore-binding domains. The global structural change occurs within a few milliseconds, coinciding with the formation of the spectroscopic meta-Rc state. Our findings establish key elements of the signaling mechanism of full-length bacterial phytochromes.
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| 11. |
- Björling, Alexander, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Ubiquitous Structural Signaling in Bacterial Phytochromes
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7185. ; 6:17, s. 3379-3383
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The phytochrome family of light-switchable proteins has long been studied by biochemical, spectroscopic and crystallographic means, while a direct probe for global conformational signal propagation has been lacking. Using solution X-ray scattering, we find that the photosensory cores of several bacterial phytochromes undergo similar large-scale structural changes upon red-light excitation. The data establish that phytochromes with ordinary and inverted photocycles share a structural signaling mechanism and that a particular conserved histidine, previously proposed to be involved in signal propagation, in fact tunes photoresponse.
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| 12. |
- Bukartė, Eglė, et al.
(författare)
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Dynamic band-shift signal in two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy: A case of bacterial reaction center
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-9606 .- 1089-7690. ; 154:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical nonlinear spectroscopies carry a high amount of information about the systems under investigation; however, as they report polarization signals, the resulting spectra are often congested and difficult to interpret. To recover the landscape of energy states and physical processes such as energy and electron transfer, a clear interpretation of the nonlinear signals is prerequisite. Here, we focus on the interpretation of the electrochromic band-shift signal, which is generated when an internal electric field is established in the system following optical excitation. Whereas the derivative shape of the band-shift signal is well understood in transient absorption spectroscopy, its emergence in two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) has not been discussed. In this work, we employed 2DES to follow the dynamic band-shift signal in reaction centers of purple bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides at 77 K. The prominent two-dimensional derivative-shape signal appears with the characteristic formation time of the charge separated state. To explain and characterize the band-shift signal, we use expanded double-sided Feynman diagram formalism. We propose to distinguish two types of Feynman diagrams that lead to signals with negative amplitude: excited state absorption and re-excitation. The presented signal decomposition and modeling analysis allows us to recover precise electrochromic shifts of accessory bacteriochlorophylls, identify additional signals in the B band range, and gain a further insight into the electron transfer mechanism. In a broader perspective, expanded Feynman diagram formalism will allow for interpretation of all 2D signals in a clearer and more intuitive way and therefore facilitate studying the underlying photophysics.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Cao, J. S., et al.
(författare)
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Quantum biology revisited
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 6:14
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photosynthesis is a highly optimized process from which valuable lessons can be learned about the operating principles in nature. Its primary steps involve energy transport operating near theoretical quantum limits in efficiency. Recently, extensive research was motivated by the hypothesis that nature used quantum coherences to direct energy transfer. This body of work, a cornerstone for the field of quantum biology, rests on the interpretation of small-amplitude oscillations in two-dimensional electronic spectra of photosynthetic complexes. This Review discusses recent work reexamining these claims and demonstrates that interexciton coherences are too short lived to have any functional significance in photosynthetic energy transfer. Instead, the observed long-lived coherences originate from impulsively excited vibrations, generally observed in femtosecond spectroscopy. These efforts, collectively, lead to a more detailed understanding of the quantum aspects of dissipation. Nature, rather than trying to avoid dissipation, exploits it via engineering of exciton-bath interaction to create efficient energy flow.
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| 15. |
- Carrillo, M., et al.
(författare)
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High-resolution crystal structures of transient intermediates in the phytochrome photocycle
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Structure. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-2126. ; 29:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytochromes are red/far-red light photoreceptors in bacteria to plants, which elicit a variety of important physiological responses. They display a reversible photocycle between the resting Pr state and the light-activated Pfr state. Light signals are transduced as structural change through the entire protein to modulate its activity. It is unknown how the Pr-to-Pfr interconversion occurs, as the structure of intermediates remains notoriously elusive. Here, we present short-lived crystal structures of the photosensory core modules of the bacteriophytochrome from myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca captured by an X-ray free electron laser 5 ns and 33 ms after light illumination of the Pr state. We observe large structural displacements of the covalently bound bilin chromophore, which trigger a bifurcated signaling pathway that extends through the entire protein. The snapshots show with atomic precision how the signal progresses from the chromophore, explaining how plants, bacteria, and fungi sense red light.
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| 16. |
- Cellini, Andrea, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Directed ultrafast conformational changes accompany electron transfer in a photolyase as resolved by serial crystallography.
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Nature chemistry. - : Springer Nature. - 1755-4349 .- 1755-4330.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Charge-transfer reactions in proteins are important for life, such as in photolyases which repair DNA, but the role of structural dynamics remains unclear. Here, using femtosecond X-ray crystallography, we report the structural changes that take place while electrons transfer along a chain of four conserved tryptophans in the Drosophila melanogaster (6-4) photolyase. At femto- and picosecond delays, photoreduction of the flavin by the first tryptophan causes directed structural responses at a key asparagine, at a conserved salt bridge, and by rearrangements of nearby water molecules. We detect charge-induced structural changes close to the second tryptophan from 1 ps to 20 ps, identifying a nearby methionine as an active participant in the redox chain, and from 20 ps around the fourth tryptophan. The photolyase undergoes highly directed and carefully timed adaptations of its structure. This questions the validity of the linear solvent response approximation in Marcus theory and indicates that evolution has optimized fast protein fluctuations for optimal charge transfer.
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| 17. |
- Cellini, Andrea, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Structural basis of the radical pair state in photolyases and cryptochromes
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Chemical Communications. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1359-7345 .- 1364-548X. ; , s. 4889-4892
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the structure of a photoactivated animal (6-4) photolyase in its radical pair state, captured by serial crystallography. We observe how a conserved asparigine moves towards the semiquinone FAD chromophore and stabilizes it by hydrogen bonding. Several amino acids around the final tryptophan radical rearrange, opening it up to the solvent. The structure explains how the protein environment stabilizes the radical pair state, which is crucial for function of (6-4) photolyases and cryptochromes.
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| 18. |
- Cellini, Andrea, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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The three-dimensional structure of Drosophila melanogaster (6-4) photolyase at room temperature
- 2021
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Ingår i: Acta Crystallographica Section D-Structural Biology. - : International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). - 2059-7983. ; 77, s. 1001-1009
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- (6-4) photolyases are flavoproteins that belong to the photolyase/cryptochrome family. Their function is to repair DNA lesions using visible light. Here, crystal structures of Drosophila melanogaster (6-4) photolyase [Dm(6-4)photolyase] at room and cryogenic temperatures are reported. The room-temperature structure was solved to 2.27 angstrom resolution and was obtained by serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using an X-ray free-electron laser. The crystallization and preparation conditions are also reported. The cryogenic structure was solved to 1.79 angstrom resolution using conventional X-ray crystallography. The structures agree with each other, indicating that the structural information obtained from crystallography at cryogenic temperature also applies at room temperature. Furthermore, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy confirms that Dm(6-4)photolyase is photoactive in the crystals, giving a green light to time-resolved SFX studies on the protein, which can reveal the structural mechanism of the photoactivated protein in DNA repair.
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| 19. |
- Chenchiliyan, Manoop, et al.
(författare)
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Ground-state heterogeneity and vibrational energy redistribution in bacterial phytochrome observed with femtosecond 2D IR spectroscopy
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-9606 .- 1089-7690. ; 158:8
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytochromes belong to a group of photoreceptor proteins containing a covalently bound biliverdin chromophore that inter-converts between two isomeric forms upon photoexcitation. The existence and stability of the photocycle products are largely determined by the protein sequence and the presence of conserved hydrogen-bonding interactions in the vicinity of the chromophore. The vibrational signatures of biliverdin, however, are often weak and obscured under more intense protein bands, limiting spectroscopic studies of its non-transient signals. In this study, we apply isotope-labeling techniques to isolate the vibrational bands from the protein-bound chromophore of the bacterial phytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans. We elucidate the structure and ultrafast dynamics of the chromophore with 2D infra-red (IR) spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. The carbonyl stretch vibrations of the pyrrole rings show the heterogeneous distribution of hydrogen-bonding structures, which exhibit distinct ultrafast relaxation dynamics. Moreover, we resolve a previously undetected 1678 cm(-1) band that is strongly coupled to the A- and D-ring of biliverdin and demonstrate the presence of complex vibrational redistribution pathways between the biliverdin modes with relaxation-assisted measurements of 2D IR cross peaks. In summary, we expect 2D IR spectroscopy to be useful in explaining how point mutations in the protein sequence affect the hydrogen-bonding structure around the chromophore and consequently its ability to photoisomerize to the light-activated states.
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| 20. |
- Claesson, Elin, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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The primary structural photoresponse of phytochrome proteins captured by a femtosecond X-ray laser
- 2020
-
Ingår i: eLife. - 2050-084X. ; 9
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytochrome proteins control the growth, reproduction, and photosynthesis of plants, fungi, and bacteria. Light is detected by a bilin cofactor, but it remains elusive how this leads to activation of the protein through structural changes. We present serial femtosecond X-ray crystallographic data of the chromophore-binding domains of a bacterial phytochrome at delay times of 1 ps and 10 ps after photoexcitation. The data reveal a twist of the D-ring, which leads to partial detachment of the chromophore from the protein. Unexpectedly, the conserved so-called pyrrole water is photodissociated from the chromophore, concomitant with movement of the A-ring and a key signaling aspartate. The changes are wired together by ultrafast backbone and water movements around the chromophore, channeling them into signal transduction towards the output domains. We suggest that the observed collective changes are important for the phytochrome photoresponse, explaining the earliest steps of how plants, fungi and bacteria sense red light.
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| 21. |
- Dods, Robert, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Ultrafast structural changes within a photosynthetic reaction centre.
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 589:7841, s. 310-314
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photosynthetic reaction centres harvest the energy content of sunlight by transporting electrons across an energy-transducing biological membrane. Here we use time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography1 using an X-ray free-electron laser2 to observe light-induced structural changes in the photosynthetic reaction centre of Blastochloris viridis on a timescale of picoseconds. Structural perturbations first occur at the special pair of chlorophyll molecules of the photosynthetic reaction centre that are photo-oxidized by light. Electron transfer to the menaquinone acceptor on the opposite side of the membrane induces a movement of this cofactor together with lower amplitude protein rearrangements. These observations reveal how proteins use conformational dynamics to stabilize the charge-separation steps of electron-transfer reactions.
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| 22. |
- Edlund, Petra, et al.
(författare)
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The room temperature crystal structure of a bacterial phytochrome determined by serial femtosecond crystallography
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytochromes are a family of photoreceptors that control light responses of plants, fungi and bacteria. A sequence of structural changes, which is not yet fully understood, leads to activation of an output domain. Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) can potentially shine light on these conformational changes. Here we report the room temperature crystal structure of the chromophore-binding domains of the Deinococcus radiodurans phytochrome at 2.1 angstrom resolution. The structure was obtained by serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography from microcrystals at an X-ray free electron laser. We find overall good agreement compared to a crystal structure at 1.35 angstrom resolution derived from conventional crystallography at cryogenic temperatures, which we also report here. The thioether linkage between chromophore and protein is subject to positional ambiguity at the synchrotron, but is fully resolved with SFX. The study paves the way for time-resolved structural investigations of the phytochrome photocycle with time-resolved SFX.
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| 23. |
- Gustavsson, Emil, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Modulation of Structural Heterogeneity Controls Phytochrome Photoswitching
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Biophysical Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3495 .- 1542-0086. ; 118:2, s. 415-421
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytochromes sense red/far-red light and control many biological processes in plants, fungi, and bacteria. Although the crystal structures of dark- and light-adapted states have been determined, the molecular mechanisms underlying photoactivation remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that the conserved tongue region of the PHY domain of a 57-kDa photosensory module of Deinococcus radiodurans phytochrome changes from a structurally heterogeneous dark state to an ordered, light-activated state. The results were obtained in solution by utilizing a laser-triggered activation approach detected on the atomic level with high-resolution protein NMR spectroscopy. The data suggest that photosignaling of phytochromes relies on careful modulation of structural heterogeneity of the PHY tongue.
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| 24. |
- Henry, Léocadie, et al.
(författare)
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New Light on the Mechanism of Phototransduction in Phototropin
- 2020
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Ingår i: Biochemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0006-2960 .- 1520-4995. ; 59:35, s. 3206-3215
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phototropins are photoreceptor proteins that regulate blue light-dependent biological processes for efficient photosynthesis in plants and algae. The proteins consist of a photosensory domain that responds to the ambient light and an output module that triggers cellular responses. The photosensory domain of phototropin from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii contains two conserved LOV (light-oxygen-voltage) domains with flavin chromophores. Blue light triggers the formation of a covalent cysteine-flavin adduct and upregulates the phototropin kinase activity. Little is known about the structural mechanism that leads to kinase activation and how the two LOV domains contribute to this. Here, we investigate the role of the LOV1 domain from C. reinhardtii phototropin by characterizing the structural changes occurring after blue light illumination with nano- to millisecond time-resolved X-ray solution scattering. By structurally fitting the data with atomic models generated by molecular dynamics simulations, we find that adduct formation induces a rearrangement of the hydrogen bond network from the buried chromophore to the protein surface. In particular, the change in conformation and the associated hydrogen bonding of the conserved glutamine 120 induce a global movement of the beta-sheet, ultimately driving a change in the electrostatic potential on the protein surface. On the basis of the change in the electrostatics, we propose a structural model of how LOV1 and LOV2 domains interact and regulate the full-length phototropin from C. reinhardtii. This provides a rationale for how LOV photosensor proteins function and contributes to the optimal design of optogenetic tools based on LOV domains.
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| 25. |
- Henry, Léocadie, et al.
(författare)
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Real-time tracking of protein unfolding with time-resolved x-ray solution scattering
- 2020
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Ingår i: Structural Dynamics. - : AIP Publishing. - 2329-7778. ; 7:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The correct folding of proteins is of paramount importance for their function, and protein misfolding is believed to be the primary cause of a wide range of diseases. Protein folding has been investigated with time-averaged methods and time-resolved spectroscopy, but observing the structural dynamics of the unfolding process in real-time is challenging. Here, we demonstrate an approach to directly reveal the structural changes in the unfolding reaction. We use nano- to millisecond time-resolved x-ray solution scattering to probe the unfolding of apomyoglobin. The unfolding reaction was triggered using a temperature jump, which was induced by a nanosecond laser pulse. We demonstrate a new strategy to interpret time-resolved x-ray solution scattering data, which evaluates ensembles of structures obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. We find that apomyoglobin passes three states when unfolding, which we characterize as native, molten globule, and unfolded. The molten globule dominates the population under the conditions investigated herein, whereas native and unfolded structures primarily contribute before the laser jump and 30 mu s after it, respectively. The molten globule retains much of the native structure but shows a dynamic pattern of inter-residue contacts. Our study demonstrates a new strategy to directly observe structural changes over the cause of the unfolding reaction, providing time- and spatially resolved atomic details of the folding mechanism of globular proteins. (C) 2020 Author(s).
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