| 1. |
- Akiyama, Tomoko, et al.
(författare)
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Influence of Ionization on the Dynamics of Hydrocarbons
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The structural changes of four hydrocarbons induced by ionization was investigated using molecular dynamics simulations based on density functional theory within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Bond lengths, bond breaking and proton rearrangement was analysed for propane, propene, propyne and propadiene at charges ranging from 0 to +3. Similar to the case of amino acids, the back-bone of linear hydrocarbons is stabilized by reducing theeffectiv elevel of ionization through dropping protons. Subsequent iniozations, up the the level of 3+, do not break thelinear carbon chain within 250 fs, however the bond-orderis reduced, and bond-distances approach that of a single-bond
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| 2. |
- Akiyama, Tomoko
(författare)
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Ionization Influence on the Dynamics of Simple Organic Molecules
- 2023
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis is devoted to the investigation of how bonding in simple organic molecules are affected by X-ray beam irradiation. The investigation targets molecules with three carbons as their main-chain structure. The stability of the bonds under ionization are simulated using the SIESTA package. SIESTA is a simulation package that provides molecular dynamics simulations based on density functional theory within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The aim of this study is to understand statistically the damaging process and selectivity among different types of bond. As the first targets, 4 hydrocarbons are investigated. They are propane, propene, propyne and propadiene, which have different combinations of single, double and triple bonds as their main-chain structures. Depending on the combinations, the structures can be either symmetric around the central atom or not. The structure of the symmetric molecules propane and propadiene are stable until charge +3. In contrast, the asymmetric molecules propene and propyne, the main-chain bonds show a tendency towards a more similar bond-distance as the level of ionization increases. In addition, hydrogens relocation occurs in propene, leading to a symmetric structure. Secondly, the bond fluctuations are investigated among 4 types of three-carbon molecules which have functional parts. Alcohol and carboxyl groups molecules show the stable bond integrities at charging 0 to +2. On the other hand, the carbon-carbon bonds in molecules with acetyl and ketone groups are broken by ionization. Comparing the 8 kinds of bond breaking processes in these molecules, this statistical study gives an insight to organic molecules bonding systems.
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| 3. |
- André, Tomas, et al.
(författare)
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Macromolecule classification using X-ray laser induced fragmentation simulated with hybrid Monte Carlo/Molecular Dynamics
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We have developed a hybrid Monte Carlo and classical molecular dynamics code to follow the ultrafast atomic dynamics in biological macromolecules induced by a femtosecond X-ray laser. Our model for fragmentation shows good qualitative agreement with ab-initio simulations of small molecules, while being computationally faster. We applied the code for macromolecules and simulated the Coulomb explosion dynamics due to the fast ionization in six proteins with different physical properties. The trajectories of the ions are followed and projected onto a detector, where the particular pattern depends on the protein, providing a unique footprint. We utilize algorithms such as principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding to classify the fragmentation pattern. The results show that the classification algorithms are able to separate the explosion patterns into distinct groups. We envision that this method could be used to provide additional class information, like particle mass or shape, in structural determination experiments using X-ray lasers.
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| 4. |
- Andreasson, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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Saturated ablation in metal hydrides and acceleration of protons and deuterons to keV energies with a soft-x-ray laser
- 2011
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Ingår i: Physical Review E. Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics. - 1539-3755 .- 1550-2376. ; 83:1, s. 016403-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies of materials under extreme conditions have relevance to a broad area of research, including planetary physics, fusion research, materials science, and structural biology with x-ray lasers. We study such extreme conditions and experimentally probe the interaction between ultrashort soft x-ray pulses and solid targets (metals and their deuterides) at the FLASH free-electron laser where power densities exceeding 1017 W/cm2 were reached. Time-of-flight ion spectrometry and crater analysis were used to characterize the interaction. The results show the onset of saturation in the ablation process at power densities above 1016 W/cm2. This effect can be linked to a transiently induced x-ray transparency in the solid by the femtosecond x-ray pulse at high power densities. The measured kinetic energies of protons and deuterons ejected from the surface reach several keV and concur with predictions from plasma-expansion models. Simulations of the interactions were performed with a nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium code with radiation transfer. These calculations return critical depths similar to the observed crater depths and capture the transient surface transparency at higher power densities.
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| 5. |
- Aquila, Andrew, et al.
(författare)
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Time-resolved protein nanocrystallography using an X-ray free-electron laser
- 2012
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 20:3, s. 2706-2716
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate the use of an X-ray free electron laser synchronized with an optical pump laser to obtain X-ray diffraction snapshots from the photoactivated states of large membrane protein complexes in the form of nanocrystals flowing in a liquid jet. Light-induced changes of Photosystem I-Ferredoxin co-crystals were observed at time delays of 5 to 10 µs after excitation. The result correlates with the microsecond kinetics of electron transfer from Photosystem I to ferredoxin. The undocking process that follows the electron transfer leads to large rearrangements in the crystals that will terminally lead to the disintegration of the crystals. We describe the experimental setup and obtain the first time-resolved femtosecond serial X-ray crystallography results from an irreversible photo-chemical reaction at the Linac Coherent Light Source. This technique opens the door to time-resolved structural studies of reaction dynamics in biological systems.
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| 6. |
- Barty, A., et al.
(författare)
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Self-terminating diffraction gates femtosecond X-ray nanocrystallography measurements
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature Photonics. - 1749-4885 .- 1749-4893. ; 6:1, s. 35-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers have enabled new approaches to the structural determination of protein crystals that are too small or radiation-sensitive for conventional analysis1. For sufficiently short pulses, diffraction is collected before significant changes occur to the sample, and it has been predicted that pulses as short as 10 fs may be required to acquire atomic-resolution structural information1, 2, 3, 4. Here, we describe a mechanism unique to ultrafast, ultra-intense X-ray experiments that allows structural information to be collected from crystalline samples using high radiation doses without the requirement for the pulse to terminate before the onset of sample damage. Instead, the diffracted X-rays are gated by a rapid loss of crystalline periodicity, producing apparent pulse lengths significantly shorter than the duration of the incident pulse. The shortest apparent pulse lengths occur at the highest resolution, and our measurements indicate that current X-ray free-electron laser technology5 should enable structural determination from submicrometre protein crystals with atomic resolution.
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| 7. |
- Bergh, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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A Validation Study of the General Amber Force Field Applied to Energetic Molecular Crystals
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Energetic Materials. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0737-0652 .- 1545-8822. ; 34:1, s. 62-75
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecula dynamics is a well-established tool to computationally study molecules. However, to reach predictive capability at the level required for applied research and design, extensive validation of the available force fields is pertinent. Here we present a study of density, isothermal compressibility and coefficients of thermal expansion of four energetic materials (FOX-7, RDX, CL-20 and HMX) based on molecular dynamics simulations with the General Amber Force Field (GAFF), and compare the results to experimental measurements from the literature. Furthermore, we quantify the accuracy of the calculated properties through hydrocode simulation of a typical impact scenario. We find that molecular dynamics simulations with generic and computationally efficient force fields may be used to understand and estimate important physical properties of nitramine-like energetic materials.
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| 8. |
- Beyerlein, Kenneth, et al.
(författare)
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Ultrafast non-thermal heating of water initiated by an X-ray laser
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 115:22, s. 5652-5657
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray Free-Electron Lasers have opened the door to a new era in structural biology, enabling imaging of biomolecules and dynamics that were impossible to access with conventional methods. A vast majority of imaging experiments, including Serial Femtosecond Crystallography, use a liquid jet to deliver the sample into the interaction region. We have observed structural changes in the carrying water during X-ray exposure, showing how it transforms from the liquid phase to a plasma. This ultrafast phase transition observed in water provides evidence that any biological structure exposed to these X-ray pulses is destroyed during the X-ray exposure.The bright ultrafast pulses of X-ray Free-Electron Lasers allow investigation into the structure of matter under extreme conditions. We have used single pulses to ionize and probe water as it undergoes a phase transition from liquid to plasma. We report changes in the structure of liquid water on a femtosecond time scale when irradiated by single 6.86 keV X-ray pulses of more than 106 J/cm2. These observations are supported by simulations based on molecular dynamics and plasma dynamics of a water system that is rapidly ionized and driven out of equilibrium. This exotic ionic and disordered state with the density of a liquid is suggested to be structurally different from a neutral thermally disordered state.
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| 9. |
- Boutet, S., et al.
(författare)
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High-Resolution Protein Structure Determination by Serial Femtosecond Crystallography
- 2012
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 337:6092, s. 362-364
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Structure determination of proteins and other macromolecules has historically required the growth of high-quality crystals sufficiently large to diffract x-rays efficiently while withstanding radiation damage. We applied serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) to obtain high-resolution structural information from microcrystals (less than 1 micrometer by 1 micrometer by 3 micrometers) of the well-characterized model protein lysozyme. The agreement with synchrotron data demonstrates the immediate relevance of SFX for analyzing the structure of the large group of difficult-to-crystallize molecules.
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| 10. |
- Brodmerkel, Maxim N., et al.
(författare)
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Collision induced unfolding and molecular dynamics simulations of norovirus capsid dimers reveal strain-specific stability profiles
- 2024
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Collision induced unfolding is method used with ion mobility mass spectrometry to examine protein structures and their stability. Such experiments yield information about higher order protein structures, yet are unable to provide details about the underlying processes. That information can however be provided using molecular dynamics simulations. Here, we investigate the collision induced unfolding of norovirus capsid dimers from the Norwalk and Kawasaki strains by employing molecular dynamics simulations over a range of temperatures, representing different levels of activation. The dimers have highly similar structures, but the activation reveals differences in the dynamics that arises in response to the activation.
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| 11. |
- Brodmerkel, Maxim N., et al.
(författare)
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Rehydration Post-orientation : Investigating Field-Induced Structural Changes via Computational Rehydration
- 2023
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Ingår i: The Protein Journal. - : Springer Nature. - 1572-3887 .- 1875-8355. ; 42:3, s. 205-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proteins can be oriented in the gas phase using strong electric fields, which brings advantages for structure determination using X-ray free electron lasers. Both the vacuum conditions and the electric-field exposure risk damaging the protein structures. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations to rehydrate and relax vacuum and electric-field exposed proteins in aqueous solution, which simulates a refinement of structure models derived from oriented gas-phase proteins. We find that the impact of the strong electric fields on the protein structures is of minor importance after rehydration, compared to that of vacuum exposure and ionization in electrospraying. The structures did not fully relax back to their native structure in solution on the simulated timescales of 200 ns, but they recover several features, including native-like intra-protein contacts, which suggests that the structures remain in a state from which the fully native structure is accessible. Our fndings imply that the electric fields used in native mass spectrometry are well below a destructive level, and suggest that structures inferred from X-ray difraction from gas-phase proteins are relevant for solution and in vivo conditions, at least after in silico rehydration.
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| 12. |
- Brodmerkel, Maxim N., et al.
(författare)
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Stability and conformational memory of electrosprayed and rehydrated bacteriophage MS2 virus coat proteins
- 2022
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Ingår i: Current Research in Structural Biology. - : Elsevier. - 2665-928X. ; 4, s. 338-348
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proteins are innately dynamic, which is important for their functions, but which also poses significant challenges when studying their structures. Gas-phase techniques can utilise separation and a range of sample manipulations to transcend some of the limitations of conventional techniques for structural biology in crystalline or solution phase, and isolate different states for separate interrogation. However, the transfer from solution to the gas phase risks affecting the structures, and it is unclear to what extent different conformations remain distinct in the gas phase, and if resolution in silico can recover the native conformations and their differences. Here, we use extensive molecular dynamics simulations to study the two distinct conformations of dimeric capsid protein of the MS2 bacteriophage. The protein undergoes notable restructuring of its peripheral parts in the gas phase, but subsequent simulation in solvent largely recovers the native structure. Our results suggest that despite some structural loss due to the experimental conditions, gas-phase structural biology techniques provide meaningful data that inform not only about the structures but also conformational dynamics of proteins.
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| 13. |
- Brodmerkel, Maxim N.
(författare)
-
Theoretical and Biochemical : Advancing Protein Structure Investigations with Complementing Computations
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Life as we know it today would not exist without proteins. The functions of proteins for us and other organisms are linked to their three-dimensional structures. As such, protein structure investigations are a crucial contribution for understanding proteins and the molecular basis of life. Some methods probe the structure of proteins in the gas phase, which brings various advantages as well as complications. Amongst them is mass spectrometry, a powerful method that provides a multitude of information on gaseous protein structures. Whilst mass spectrometry shines in obtaining data of the higher-order structures, atomistic details are out of reach. Molecular dynamics simulations on the other hand allow the interrogation of proteins in high-resolution, which makes it an ideal method for their structural research, be it in or out of solution.This thesis aims to advance the understanding of protein structures and the methods for their study utilising classic molecular dynamics simulations. The research presented in this thesis can be divided into two themes, comprising the rehydration of vacuum-exposed structures and the interrogation of the induced unfolding process of proteins. Out of their native environment, proteins undergo structural changes when exposed to vacuum. Investigating the ability to revert those potential vacuum-induced structural changes by means of computational rehydration provided detailed information on the underlying protein dynamics and how much of the structure revert back to their solution norm. We have further shown through rehydration simulations that applying an external electric field for dipole-orientation purposes does not induce irreversible changes to the protein structures. Our investigations on the induced unfolding of protein structures allowed a detailed look into the process of unfolding, accurately pinpointing areas within the proteins that unfolded first. The details provided by our simulations enabled us to describe potential mechanisms of the unfolding processes of different proteins on an atomistic level. The obtained results thus provide a potent theoretical basis for current and future experiments, where it will be very interesting to see MD compared with or complemented to experiments.
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| 14. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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A Perspective on Molecular Structure and Bond-Breaking in Radiation Damage in Serial Femtosecond Crystallography
- 2020
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Ingår i: Crystals. - : MDPI. - 2073-4352. ; 10:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have a unique capability for time-resolved studies of protein dynamics and conformational changes on femto- and pico-second time scales. The extreme intensity of X-ray pulses can potentially cause significant modifications to the sample structure during exposure. Successful time-resolved XFEL crystallography depends on the unambiguous interpretation of the protein dynamics of interest from the effects of radiation damage. Proteins containing relatively heavy elements, such as sulfur or metals, have a higher risk for radiation damage. In metaloenzymes, for example, the dynamics of interest usually occur at the metal centers, which are also hotspots for damage due to the higher atomic number of the elements they contain. An ongoing challenge with such local damage is to understand the residual bonding in these locally ionized systems and bond-breaking dynamics. Here, we present a perspective on radiation damage in XFEL experiments with a particular focus on the impacts for time-resolved protein crystallography. We discuss recent experimental and modelling results of bond-breaking and ion motion at disulfide bonding sites in protein crystals.
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| 15. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Atomistic simulation of ion solvation in water explains surface preference of halides
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 108:17, s. 6838-6842
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Water is a demanding partner. It strongly attracts ions, yet some halide anions-chloride, bromide, and iodide-are expelled to the air/water interface. This has important implications for chemistry in the atmosphere, including the ozone cycle. We present a quantitative analysis of the energetics of ion solvation based on molecular simulations of all stable alkali and halide ions in water droplets. The potentials of mean force for Cl-, Br-, and I-have shallow minima near the surface. We demonstrate that these minima derive from more favorable water-water interaction energy when the ions are partially desolvated. Alkali cations are on the inside because of the favorable ion-water energy, whereas F-is driven inside by entropy. Models attempting to explain the surface preference based on one or more ion properties such as polarizability or size are shown to lead to qualitative and quantitative errors, prompting a paradigm shift in chemistry away from such simplifications.
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| 16. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Evaporation from water clusters containing singly charged ions
- 2007
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 9:37, s. 5105-5111
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the evaporation from water clusterscontaining either ClÀ, H2PO4À, Na+ or NH4+ ions. The simulations ranged between 10 and500 ns, and were performed in vacuum starting at 275 K. A number of different models were usedincluding polarizable models. The clusters contain 216 or 512 molecules, 0, 4 or 8 of which wereions. The ions with hydrogen bonding properties do not affect evaporation, even though thephosphate ions have a pronounced ion–ion structure and tend to be inside the cluster whereasammonium shows little ion–ion structure and has a distribution within the cluster similar to thatof the water molecules. Since the individual ion–water interactions are much stronger in the caseof Na+–water and ClÀ–water clusters, evaporation is somewhat slower for clusters containingthese ions. It seems therefore that the main determinant of the evaporation rate in ion–waterclusters is the strength of the interaction. Fission of droplets that contain more ions than allowedaccording to the Rayleigh limit seems to occur more rapidly in clusters containing ammoniumand sodium ions.
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| 17. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Force Field Benchmark of Organic Liquids : Density, Enthalpy of Vaporization, Heat Capacities, Surface Tension, Isothermal Compressibility, Volumetric Expansion Coefficient, and Dielectric Constant
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 8:1, s. 61-74
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The chemical composition of small organic molecules is often very similar to amino acid side chains or the bases in nucleic acids, and hence there is no a priori reason why a molecular mechanics force field could not describe both organic liquids and biomolecules with a single parameter set. Here, we devise a benchmark for force fields in order to test the ability of existing force fields to reproduce some key properties of organic liquids, namely, the density, enthalpy of vaporization, the surface tension, the heat capacity at constant volume and pressure, the isothermal compressibility, the volumetric expansion coefficient, and the static dielectric constant. Well over 1200 experimental measurements were used for comparison to the simulations of 146 organic liquids. Novel polynomial interpolations of the dielectric constant (32 molecules), heat capacity at constant pressure (three molecules), and the isothermal compressibility (53 molecules) as a function of the temperature have been made, based on experimental data, in order to be able to compare simulation results to them. To compute the heat capacities, we applied the two phase thermodynamics method (Lin et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2003, 119, 11792), which allows one to compute thermodynamic properties on the basis of the density of states as derived from the velocity autocorrelation function. The method is implemented in a new utility within the GROMACS molecular simulation package, named g_dos, and a detailed expose of the underlying equations is presented. The purpose of this work is to establish the state of the art of two popular force fields, OPLS/AA (all-atom optimized potential for liquid simulation) and GAFF (generalized Amber force field), to find common bottlenecks, i.e., particularly difficult molecules, and to serve as a reference point for future force field development. To make for a fair playing field, all molecules were evaluated with the same parameter settings, such as thermostats and barostats, treatment of electrostatic interactions, and system size (1000 molecules). The densities and enthalpy of vaporization from an independent data set based on simulations using the CHARMM General Force Field (CGenFF) presented by Vanommeslaeghe et al. (J. Comput. Chem. 2010, 31, 671) are included for comparison. We find that, overall, the OPLS/AA force field performs somewhat better than GAFF, but there are significant issues with reproduction of the surface tension and dielectric constants for both force fields.
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| 18. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Modeling of XFEL induced ionization and atomic displacement in protein nanocrystals
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE. - : SPIE. - 9780819492210 ; , s. 85040H-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers enable high-resolution imaging of biological materials by using short enough pulses to outrun many of the effects of radiation damage. Experiments conducted at the LCLS have obtained diffraction data from single particles and protein nanocrystals at doses to the sample over 3 GGy. The details of the interaction of the X-ray FEL pulse with the sample determine the limits of this new paradigm for imaging. Recent studies suggest that in the case of crystalline samples, such as protein nanocrystals, the atomic displacements and loss of bound electrons in the crystal (due to the high X- ray intensity) has the effect of gating the diffraction signal, and hence making the experiment less radiation sensitive. Only the incident photon intensity in the first part of the pulse, before the Bragg diffraction has died out, is relevant to acquiring signal and the rest of the pulse will mainly contribute to a diffuse background. In this work we use a plasma based non-local thermodynamic equilibrium code to explore the displacement and the ionization of a protein nanocrystal at various X-ray wavelengths and intensities.
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| 19. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Nanocrystal imaging using intense and ultrashort X-ray pulses
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Annan publikation (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Structural studies of biological macromolecules are severely limited by radiation damage. Traditional crystallography curbs the effects of damage by spreading damage over many copies of the molecule of interest in the crystal. X-ray lasers offer an additional opportunity for limiting damage by out-running damage processes with ultrashort and very intense X-ray pulses. Such pulses may allow the imaging of single molecules, clusters or nanoparticles, but coherent flash imaging will also open up new avenues for structural studies on nano- and micro-crystalline substances. This paper addresses the potentials and limitations of nanocrystallography with extremely intense coherent X-ray pulses. We use urea nanocrystals as a model for generic biological substances, and simulate the primary and secondary ionization dynamics in the crystalline sample. The results establish conditions for diffraction experiments as a function of X-ray fluence, pulse duration, and the size of nanocrystals.
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| 20. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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On the Feasibility of Nanocrystal Imaging Using Intense and Ultrashort X-ray Pulses
- 2011
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Ingår i: ACS Nano. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1936-0851 .- 1936-086X. ; 5:1, s. 139-146
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Structural studies of biological macromolecules are severely limited by radiation damage. Traditional crystallography curbs the effects of damage by spreading damage over many copies of the molecule of interest in the crystal. X-ray lasers offer an additional opportunity for limiting damage by out-running damage processes with ultrashort and very intense X-ray pulses Such pulses may allow the imaging of single molecules, clusters; Or nanoparticles: Coherent flash Imaging Will also open up new avenues for structural studies on nano- and microcrystalline substances. This paper addresses the theoretical potentials and limitations of nanocrystallography with extremely intense coherent X-ray pulses. We use urea nanocrystals as a model for generic biological substances and simulate the primary and secondary ionization dynamics in the crystalline sample. The results establish conditions for ultrafast single shot nanocrystallography diffraction experiments as a function of X-ray fluence, pulse duration, and the size of nanocrystals. Nanocrystallography using ultrafast X-ray pulses has the potential to open up a new route in protein crystallography to solve atomic structures of many systems that remain Inaccessible using conventional X-ray sources.
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| 21. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Picosecond Melting of Ice by an Infrared Laser Pulse
- 2008
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Ingår i: Angewandte Chemie International Edition. - : Wiley. - 1433-7851 .- 1521-3773. ; 47:8, s. 1417-1420
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cold as ice: Molecular dynamics simulation provides snapshots of a melting ice crystal (see picture). The laser pulse heats up the system, and the energy is absorbed in the OH bonds. After a few picoseconds, the energy is transferred to rotational and translational energy, causing the crystal to melt. The melting starts as a nucleation process, and even long after the first melting is initialized, pockets of crystalline structures can be found.
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| 22. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Radiation damage in biological material : electronic properties and electron impact ionization in urea
- 2009
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Ingår i: Europhysics letters. - : IOP. - 0295-5075 .- 1286-4854. ; 85:1, s. 18005-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Radiation damage is an unavoidable process when performing structural investigations of biological macromolecules with X-rays. In crystallography this process can be limited through damage distribution in a crystal, while for single molecular imaging it can be outrun by employing short intense pulses. Secondary electron generation is crucial during damage formation and we present a study of urea, as model for biomaterial. From first principles we calculate the band structure and energy loss function, and subsequently the inelastic electron cross-section in urea. Using Molecular Dynamics simulations, we quantify the damage and study the magnitude and spatial extent of the electron cloud coming from an incident electron, as well as the dependence with initial energy.
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| 23. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Simulations of radiation damage in biomolecular nanocrystals induced by femtosecond X-ray pulses
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Modern Optics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0950-0340 .- 1362-3044. ; 58:16, s. 1486-1497
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is the first X-ray free electron laser to achieve lasing at subnanometer wavelengths (6 angstrom). LCLS is poised to reach even shorter wavelengths (1.5 angstrom) and thus holds the promise of single molecular imaging at atomic resolution. The initial operation at a photon energy of 2 keV provides the possibility to perform the first experiments on damage to biological particles, and to assess the limitations to coherent imaging of biological samples, which are directly relevant at atomic resolution. In this paper we theoretically investigate the damage formation and detection possibilities for a biological crystal, by employing and comparing two different damage models with complementary strengths. Molecular dynamics provides a discrete approach which investigates structural details at the atomic level by tracking all atoms in the real space. Our continuum model is based on a non-local thermodynamics equilibrium code with atomic kinetics and radiation transfer and can treat hydrodynamic expansion of the entire system. The latter approach captures the essential features of atomic displacements, without taking into account structural information and intrinsic atomic movements. This proves to be a powerful computational tool for many samples, including biological crystals, which will be studied with X-ray free electron lasers.
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| 24. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Temperature and structural changes of water clusters in vacuum due to evaporation
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-9606 .- 1089-7690. ; 125:15, s. 154508-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a study on evaporation of pure water clusters. Molecular dynamics simulations between 20 ns and 3 mu s of clusters ranging from 125 to 4096 molecules in vacuum were performed. Three different models (SPC, TIP4P, and TIP5P) were used to simulate water, starting at temperatures of 250, 275, and 300 K. We monitored the temperature, the number of hydrogen bonds, the tetrahedral order, the evaporation, the radial distribution functions, and the diffusion coefficients. The three models behave very similarly as far as temperature and evaporation are concerned. Clusters starting at a higher temperature show a higher initial evaporation rate and therefore reach the point where evaporation stop (around 240 K) sooner. The radius of the clusters is decreased by 0.16-0.22 nm after 0.5 mu s (larger clusters tend to decrease their radius slightly more), which corresponds to around one evaporated molecule per nm(2). The cluster temperature seems to converge towards 215 K independent of cluster size, when starting at 275 K. We observe only small structural changes, but the clusters modeled by TIP5P show a larger percentage of molecules with low diffusion coefficient as t ->infinity, than those using the two other water models. TIP4P seems to be more structured and more hydrogen bonds are formed than in the other models as the temperature falls. The cooling rates are in good agreement with experimental results, and evaporation rates agree well with a phenomenological expression based on experimental observations.
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| 25. |
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| 26. |
- 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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| 27. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
-
Ultrafast dynamics of water exposed to XFEL pulses
- 2019
-
Ingår i: OPTICS DAMAGE AND MATERIALS PROCESSING BY EUV/X-RAY RADIATION VII. - : SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING. - 9781510627376 - 9781510627369
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- These proceedings investigate the ionization and temperature dynamics of water samples exposed to intense ultrashort X-ray free-electron laser pulses ranging from 10(4) - 10(7) J/cm(2), based on simulations using a non-local thermodynamic plasma code. In comparison to earlier work combining simulations and experiments, a regime where a hybrid simulations approach should be applicable is presented.
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| 28. |
- Caleman, Carl, et al.
(författare)
-
Ultrafast self-gating Bragg diffraction of exploding nanocrystals in an X-ray laser
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 23:2, s. 1213-1231
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In structural determination of crystalline proteins using intense femtosecond X-ray lasers, damage processes lead to loss of structural coherence during the exposure. We use a nonthermal description for the damage dynamics to calculate the ultrafast ionization and the subsequent atomic displacement. These effects degrade the Bragg diffraction on femtosecond time scales and gate the ultrafast imaging. This process is intensity and resolution dependent. At high intensities the signal is gated by the ionization affecting low resolution information first. At lower intensities, atomic displacement dominates the loss of coherence affecting high-resolution information. We find that pulse length is not a limiting factor as long as there is a high enough X-ray flux to measure a diffracted signal.
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| 29. |
- Cardoch, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
-
Decreasing ultrafast x-ray pulse durations with saturable absorption and resonant transitions
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Physical review. E. - : American Physical Society. - 2470-0045 .- 2470-0053. ; 107:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Saturable absorption is a nonlinear effect where a material's ability to absorb light is frustrated due to a high influx of photons and the creation of electron vacancies. Experimentally induced saturable absorption in copper revealed a reduction in the temporal duration of transmitted x-ray laser pulses, but a detailed account of changes in opacity and emergence of resonances is still missing. In this computational work, we employ nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium plasma simulations to study the interaction of femtosecond x rays and copper. Following the onset of frustrated absorption, we find that a K–M resonant transition occurring at highly charged states turns copper opaque again. The changes in absorption generate a transient transparent window responsible for the shortened transmission signal. We also propose using fluorescence induced by the incident beam as an alternative source to achieve shorter x-ray pulses. Intense femtosecond x rays are valuable to probe the structure and dynamics of biological samples or to reach extreme states of matter. Shortened pulses could be relevant for emerging imaging techniques.
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| 30. |
- Cardoch, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
-
Distinguishing between Similar Miniproteins with Single-Molecule Nanopore Sensing : A Computational Study
- 2022
-
Ingår i: ACS Nanoscience Au. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2694-2496. ; 2:2, s. 119-127
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A nanopore is a tool in single-molecule sensing biotechnology that offers label-free identification with high throughput. Nanopores have been successfully applied to sequence DNA and show potential in the study of proteins. Nevertheless, the task remains challenging due to the large variability in size, charges, and folds of proteins. Miniproteins have a small number of residues, limited secondary structure, and stable tertiary structure, which can offer a systematic way to reduce complexity. In this computational work, we theoretically evaluated sensing two miniproteins found in the human body using a silicon nitride nanopore. We employed molecular dynamics methods to compute occupied-pore ionic current magnitudes and electronic structure calculations to obtain interaction strengths between pore wall and miniprotein. From the interaction strength, we derived dwell times using a mix of combinatorics and numerical solutions. This latter approach circumvents typical computational demands needed to simulate translocation events using molecular dynamics. We focused on two miniproteins potentially difficult to distinguish owing to their isotropic geometry, similar number of residues, and overall comparable structure. We found that the occupied-pore current magnitudes not to vary significantly, but their dwell times differ by 1 order of magnitude. Together, these results suggest a successful identification protocol for similar miniproteins.
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| 31. |
- Chalupsky, J., et al.
(författare)
-
Characteristics of focused soft X-ray free-electron laser beam determined by ablation of organic molecular solids
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 15:10, s. 6036-6043
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A linear accelerator based source of coherent radiation, FLASH (Free-electron LASer in Hamburg) provides ultra-intense femtosecond radiation pulses at wavelengths from the extreme ultraviolet (XUV; lambda< 100nm) to the soft X-ray (SXR; lambda<30nm) spectral regions. 25-fs pulses of 32-nm FLASH radiation were used to determine the ablation parameters of PMMA - poly ( methyl methacrylate). Under these irradiation conditions the attenuation length and ablation threshold were found to be (56.9 +/- 7.5) nm and similar to 2 mJ center dot cm(-2), respectively. For a second wavelength of 21.7 nm, the PMMA ablation was utilized to image the transverse intensity distribution within the focused beam at mu m resolution by a method developed here.
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| 32. |
- Chapman, Henry N., et al.
(författare)
-
Diffraction before destruction
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8436 .- 1471-2970. ; 369:1647, s. 20130313-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers have opened up the possibility of structure determination of protein crystals at room temperature, free of radiation damage. The femtosecond-duration pulses of these sources enable diffraction signals to be collected from samples at doses of 1000 MGy or higher. The sample is vaporized by the intense pulse, but not before the scattering that gives rise to the diffraction pattern takes place. Consequently, only a single flash diffraction pattern can be recorded from a crystal, giving rise to the method of serial crystallography where tens of thousands of patterns are collected from individual crystals that flow across the beam and the patterns are indexed and aggregated into a set of structure factors. The high-dose tolerance and the many-crystal averaging approach allow data to be collected from much smaller crystals than have been examined at synchrotron radiation facilities, even from radiation-sensitive samples. Here, we review the interaction of intense femtosecond X-ray pulses with materials and discuss the implications for structure determination. We identify various dose regimes and conclude that the strongest achievable signals for a given sample are attained at the highest possible dose rates, from highest possible pulse intensities.
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| 33. |
- Chapman, Henry N., et al.
(författare)
-
Femtosecond diffractive imaging with a soft-X-ray free-electron laser
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Nature Physics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1745-2473 .- 1745-2481. ; 2:12, s. 839-843
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Theory predicts(1-4) that, with an ultrashort and extremely bright coherent X-ray pulse, a single diffraction pattern may be recorded from a large macromolecule, a virus or a cell before the sample explodes and turns into a plasma. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of this principle using the FLASH soft-X-ray free-electron laser. An intense 25 fs, 4 x 10(13) W cm(-2) pulse, containing 10(12) photons at 32 nm wavelength, produced a coherent diffraction pattern from a nanostructured non-periodic object, before destroying it at 60,000 K. A novel X-ray camera assured single-photon detection sensitivity by filtering out parasitic scattering and plasma radiation. The reconstructed image, obtained directly from the coherent pattern by phase retrieval through oversampling(5-9), shows no measurable damage, and is reconstructed at the diffraction-limited resolution. A three-dimensional data set may be assembled from such images when copies of a reproducible sample are exposed to the beam one by one(10).
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| 34. |
- Chapman, Henry N, et al.
(författare)
-
Femtosecond time-delay X-ray holography
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 448:7154, s. 676-679
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extremely intense and ultrafast X-ray pulses from free-electron lasers offer unique opportunities to study fundamental aspects of complex transient phenomena in materials. Ultrafast time-resolved methods usually require highly synchronized pulses to initiate a transition and then probe it after a precisely defined time delay. In the X-ray regime, these methods are challenging because they require complex optical systems and diagnostics. Here we propose and apply a simple holographic measurement scheme, inspired by Newton's 'dusty mirror' experiment1, to monitor the X-ray-induced explosion of microscopic objects. The sample is placed near an X-ray mirror; after the pulse traverses the sample, triggering the reaction, it is reflected back onto the sample by the mirror to probe this reaction. The delay is encoded in the resulting diffraction pattern to an accuracy of one femtosecond, and the structural change is holographically recorded with high resolution. We apply the technique to monitor the dynamics of polystyrene spheres in intense free-electron-laser pulses, and observe an explosion occurring well after the initial pulse. Our results support the notion that X-ray flash imaging2, 3 can be used to achieve high resolution, beyond radiation damage limits for biological samples4. With upcoming ultrafast X-ray sources we will be able to explore the three-dimensional dynamics of materials at the timescale of atomic motion.
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| 35. |
- Chapman, Henry N, et al.
(författare)
-
Femtosecond X-ray protein nanocrystallography.
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 470:7332, s. 73-7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray crystallography provides the vast majority of macromolecular structures, but the success of the method relies on growing crystals of sufficient size. In conventional measurements, the necessary increase in X-ray dose to record data from crystals that are too small leads to extensive damage before a diffraction signal can be recorded. It is particularly challenging to obtain large, well-diffracting crystals of membrane proteins, for which fewer than 300 unique structures have been determined despite their importance in all living cells. Here we present a method for structure determination where single-crystal X-ray diffraction 'snapshots' are collected from a fully hydrated stream of nanocrystals using femtosecond pulses from a hard-X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source. We prove this concept with nanocrystals of photosystem I, one of the largest membrane protein complexes. More than 3,000,000 diffraction patterns were collected in this study, and a three-dimensional data set was assembled from individual photosystem I nanocrystals (∼200nm to 2μm in size). We mitigate the problem of radiation damage in crystallography by using pulses briefer than the timescale of most damage processes. This offers a new approach to structure determination of macromolecules that do not yield crystals of sufficient size for studies using conventional radiation sources or are particularly sensitive to radiation damage.
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| 36. |
- Dawod, Ibrahim, et al.
(författare)
-
Anisotropic melting of ice induced by ultrafast non-thermal heating
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Water and ice are routinely studied with X-rays to reveal their diverse structures and anomalous properties. We employ a hybrid collisional-radiative/molecular dynamics method to explore how femtosecond X-ray pulses interact with hexagonal ice. We find that ice makes a phase transition into a crystalline plasma where its initial structure is maintained up to tens of femtoseconds. The ultrafast melting process occurs anisotropically, where different geometric configurations of the structure melt on different time scales. The transient state and anisotropic melting of crystals can be captured by X-ray diffraction, which impacts any study of crystalline structures probed by femtosecond X-ray lasers.
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| 37. |
- Dawod, Ibrahim, et al.
(författare)
-
MolDStruct : modelling the dynamics and structure of matter exposed to ultrafast X-ray lasers with hybrid collisional-radiative/molecular dynamics
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Physics. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 0021-9606 .- 1089-7690. ; 160:18
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe a method to compute photon–matter interaction and atomic dynamics with x-ray lasers using a hybrid code based on classical molecular dynamics and collisional-radiative calculations. The forces between the atoms are dynamically determined based on changes to their electronic occupations and the formation of a free electron cloud created from the irradiation of photons in the x-ray spectrum. The rapid transition from neutral solid matter to dense plasma phase allows the use of screened potentials, reducing the number of non-bonded interactions. In combination with parallelization through domain decomposition, the hybrid code handles large-scale molecular dynamics and ionization. This method is applicable for large enough samples (solids, liquids, proteins, viruses, atomic clusters, and crystals) that, when exposed to an x-ray laser pulse, turn into a plasma in the first few femtoseconds of the interaction. We present four examples demonstrating the applicability of the method. We investigate the non-thermal heating and scattering of bulk water and damage-induced dynamics of a protein crystal using an x-ray pump–probe scheme. In both cases, we compare to the experimental data. For single particle imaging, we simulate the ultrafast dynamics of a methane cluster exposed to a femtosecond x-ray laser. In the context of coherent diffractive imaging, we study the fragmentation as given by an x-ray pump–probe setup to understand the evolution of radiation damage in the time range of hundreds of femtoseconds.
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| 38. |
- Duelfer, Jasmin, et al.
(författare)
-
Glycan-Induced Protein Dynamics in Human Norovirus P Dimers Depend on Virus Strain and Deamidation Status
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Molecules. - : MDPI. - 1431-5157 .- 1420-3049. ; 26:8
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Noroviruses are the major cause of viral gastroenteritis and re-emerge worldwide every year, with GII.4 currently being the most frequent human genotype. The norovirus capsid protein VP1 is essential for host immune response. The P domain mediates cell attachment via histo blood-group antigens (HBGAs) in a strain-dependent manner but how these glycan-interactions actually relate to cell entry remains unclear. Here, hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is used to investigate glycan-induced protein dynamics in P dimers of different strains, which exhibit high structural similarity but different prevalence in humans. While the almost identical strains GII.4 Saga and GII.4 MI001 share glycan-induced dynamics, the dynamics differ in the emerging GII.17 Kawasaki 308 and rare GII.10 Vietnam 026 strain. The structural aspects of glycan binding to fully deamidated GII.4 P dimers have been investigated before. However, considering the high specificity and half-life of N373D under physiological conditions, large fractions of partially deamidated virions with potentially altered dynamics in their P domains are likely to occur. Therefore, we also examined glycan binding to partially deamidated GII.4 Saga and GII.4 MI001 P dimers. Such mixed species exhibit increased exposure to solvent in the P dimer upon glycan binding as opposed to pure wildtype. Furthermore, deamidated P dimers display increased flexibility and a monomeric subpopulation. Our results indicate that glycan binding induces strain-dependent structural dynamics, which are further altered by N373 deamidation, and hence hint at a complex role of deamidation in modulating glycan-mediated cell attachment in GII.4 strains.
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| 39. |
- Ekholm, Victor, et al.
(författare)
-
Propensity, free energy contributions and conformation of primary : N -alcohols at a water surface
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 23:34, s. 18823-18829
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atmospheric aerosols contain organic molecules that serve as cloud condensation nucleation sites and affect the climate. Several experimental and simulation studies have been dedicated to investigate their surface propensity, but the mechanisms that drive them to the water surface are still not fully understood. In this molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study, primary alcohols are considered as a model system representing polar organic molecules. We find that the surface affinity of n-alcohols increases linearly with the length of the hydrophobic tail. By decomposing the adsorption free energy into enthalpy and entropy contributions, we find that the transition from bulk to surface is entropically driven, compatible with the fact that the hydrophobic effect of small solutes is of entropic origin. The enthalpy of surface adsorption is nearly invariant among different n-alcohols because the loss of solvent-alcohol interactions is balanced by a gain in solvent-solvent interactions. Structural analysis shows that, at the surface, the linear alcohols prefer an orientation with the hydrophobic tail pointing out from the surface, whereas the hydroxyl group remains buried in the water. This general behaviour is likely transferable to other small molecules with similar structures but other functional groups that are present in the atmosphere. Therefore, the present study is a step forward toward a general description of organic molecules in aerosols.
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| 40. |
- Ekholm, Victor, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
-
Strong enrichment of atmospherically relevant organic ions at the aqueous interface : the role of ion pairing and cooperative effects
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 20:42, s. 27185-27191
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Surface affinity, orientation and ion pairing are investigated in mixed and single solute systems of aqueous sodium hexanoate and hexylammonium chloride. The surface sensitive X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique has been used to acquire the experimental results, while the computational data have been calculated using molecular dynamics simulations. By comparing the single solute solutions with the mixed one, we observe a non-linear surface enrichment and reorientation of the organic ions with their alkyl chains pointing out of the aqueous surface. We ascribe this effect to ion paring between the charged functional groups on the respective organic ion and hydrophobic expulsion of the alkyl chains from the surface in combination with van der Waals interactions between the alkyl chains. These cooperative effects lead to a substantial surface enrichment of organic ions, with consequences for aerosol surface properties.
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| 41. |
- Eliah Dawod, Ibrahim, et al.
(författare)
-
Imaging of femtosecond bond breaking and charge dynamics in ultracharged peptides
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 24:3, s. 1532-1543
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electrons lasers have revolutionized the method of imaging biological macromolecules such as proteins, viruses and cells by opening the door to structural determination of both single particles and crystals at room temperature. By utilizing high intensity X-ray pulses on femtosecond timescales, the effects of radiation damage can be reduced. Achieving high resolution structures will likely require knowledge of how radiation damage affects the structure on an atomic scale, since the experimentally obtained electron densities will be reconstructed in the presence of radiation damage. Detailed understanding of the expected damage scenarios provides further information, in addition to guiding possible corrections that may need to be made to obtain a damage free reconstruction. In this work, we have quantified the effects of ionizing photon-matter interactions using first principles molecular dynamics. We utilize density functional theory to calculate bond breaking and charge dynamics in three ultracharged molecules and two different structural conformations that are important to the structural integrity of biological macromolecules, comparing to our previous studies on amino acids. The effects of the ultracharged states and subsequent bond breaking in real space are studied in reciprocal space using coherent diffractive imaging of an ensemble of aligned biomolecules in the gas phase.
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| 42. |
- Eliah Dawod, Ibrahim
(författare)
-
Simulations of ultrafast photon-matter interactions for molecular imaging with X-ray lasers
- 2024
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biological structure determination has had new avenues of investigation opened due to the introduction of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). These X-ray lasers provide an extreme amount of photons on ultrafast timescales used to probe matter, and in particular biomolecules. The high intensity of the X-rays destroys the sample, though not before structural information has been acquired. The unique properties of the probe provide the unprecedented opportunity to study the un-crystallized form of biological macromolecules, small crystals of biomolecules and their dynamics. In this work, we study processes in XFEL imaging experiments that could affect the achievable resolution of the protein structure in a diffraction experiment. Elastic scattering is the process which provides structural information and leaves the sample unperturbed. This interaction occurs far less often compared to damage inducing processes, such as photoabsorption, which leads to rapid ionization of the studied sample. By using density functional theory, we study the effect of ultrahigh charge states in small systems, such as amino acids and peptides, on the subsequent bond breaking and charge dynamics. Reproducible fragmentation patterns are studied in order to find features that could be understood in larger systems, such as proteins. Biomolecules are dynamical systems, and the currently used pulse duration is not short enough to outrun the movement of the atoms. The diffraction patterns acquired in an experiment are therefore an incoherent sum of slightly different conformations of the same system. Water can help to reduce these structural variations, but the water molecules themselves will then be a source of noise. Using classical molecular dynamics, we study the optimal amount of water that should be used to achieve the highest resolution. To simulate ultrafast molecular dynamics of larger systems such as proteins, we develop a hybrid Monte Carlo/molecular dynamics model. We utilize it to simulate the fragmentation dynamics of small proteins and investigate the possibility to extract structural information from the fragmentation patterns. For larger systems exposed to X-ray lasers, such as viruses and crystals, we develop a hybrid collisional-radiative and classical molecular dynamics approach. The method is used in several projects, both in theoretical studies and to support experiments conducted at XFEL facilities. In particular, we simulate the interaction of hexagonal ice with an X-ray laser, and show the structure makes a phase transition from the native crystal state to a plasma, while still partly retaining structural order. Furthermore, we note that the structural changes occur in an anisotropic manner, where different local structural configurations in ice decay on different time-scales. Preliminary experimental results show this anisotropic dynamics in an X-ray pump-probe serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography experiment performed on I3C crystals. The real space dynamics as a function of probe delay given by our theoretical model and the experiment both show good agreement, where the iodine atoms exhibit correlated motion. The model is also used to calculate the expected atomic displacement and ionization in a hemoglobin crystal, revealing the time and length scales of the dynamics in the protein during the experiment.
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| 43. |
- Gabrysch, Markus, et al.
(författare)
-
Formation of secondary electron cascades in single-crystalline plasma-deposited diamond upon exposure to femtosecond x-ray pulses
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Applied Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-8979 .- 1089-7550. ; 103:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Secondary electron cascades were measured in high purity single-crystalline chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond, following exposure to ultrashort hard x-ray pulses (140 fs full width at half maximum, 8.9 keV energy) from the Sub-Picosecond Pulse Source at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. We report measurements of the pair creation energy and of drift mobility of carriers in two CVD diamond crystals. This was done for the first time using femtosecond x-ray excitation. Values for the average pair creation energy were found to be 12.17 +/- 0.57 and 11.81 +/- 0.59 eV for the two crystals, respectively. These values are in good agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The average drift mobility of carriers, obtained by the best fit to device simulations, was mu(h)= 2750 cm(2)/V s for holes and was mu(e)= 2760 cm(2) / V s for electrons. These mobility values represent lower bounds for charge mobilities due to possible polarization of the samples. The results demonstrate outstanding electric properties and the enormous potential of diamond in ultrafast x-ray detectors.
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| 44. |
- Galchenkova, Marina, et al.
(författare)
-
Radiation damage in a hemoglobin crystal studied with an X-ray free-electron laser
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Radiation damage is a topic since the dawn of X-ray crystallography, and has gained new importance in the era of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), due to their unprecedented brilliance and pulse duration. One of the driving questions has been how short the XFEL pulse has to be for the structural information to be ”damage free”. Here we compare data from Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SFX) experiments conducted with a 3 fs and a 10 fs X-ray pulse. We conclude that even if the estimated displacement of atoms in the sample is an order of magnitude larger in the case of the 10 fs experiment, the displacement is still too small to affect the experimental data at a resolution relevant for structural determination.
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| 45. |
- Galli, L., et al.
(författare)
-
Electronic damage in S atoms in a native protein crystal induced by an intense X-ray free-electron laser pulse
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Structural Dynamics. - : AIP Publishing. - 2329-7778. ; 2:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current hard X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) sources can deliver doses to biological macromolecules well exceeding 1 GGy, in timescales of a few tens of femtoseconds. During the pulse, photoionization can reach the point of saturation in which certain atomic species in the sample lose most of their electrons. This electronic radiation damage causes the atomic scattering factors to change, affecting, in particular, the heavy atoms, due to their higher photoabsorption cross sections. Here, it is shown that experimental serial femtosecond crystallography data collected with an extremely bright XFEL source exhibit a reduction of the effective scattering power of the sulfur atoms in a native protein. Quantitative methods are developed to retrieve information on the effective ionization of the damaged atomic species from experimental data, and the implications of utilizing new phasing methods which can take advantage of this localized radiation damage are discussed.
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| 46. |
- Galli, Lorenzo, et al.
(författare)
-
Towards phasing using high X-ray intensity
- 2015
-
Ingår i: IUCrJ. - 2052-2525. ; 2, s. 627-634
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) show great promise for macromolecular structure determination from sub-micrometre-sized crystals, using the emerging method of serial femtosecond crystallography. The extreme brightness of the XFEL radiation can multiply ionize most, if not all, atoms in a protein, causing their scattering factors to change during the pulse, with a preferential ‘bleaching’ of heavy atoms. This paper investigates the effects of electronic damage on experimental data collected from a Gd derivative of lysozyme microcrystals at different X-ray intensities, and the degree of ionization of Gd atoms is quantified from phased difference Fourier maps. A pattern sorting scheme is proposed to maximize the ionization contrast and the way in which the local electronic damage can be used for a new experimental phasing method is discussed.
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| 47. |
- Ghahremanpour, Mohammad Mehdi, et al.
(författare)
-
Polarizable Drude Model with s‑Type Gaussian or Slater Charge Density for General Molecular Mechanics Force Fields
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 14:11, s. 5553-5566
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gas-phase electric properties of molecules can be computed routinely using wave function methods or density functional theory (DFT). However, these methods remain computationally expensive for high-throughput screening of the vast chemical space of virtual compounds. Therefore, empirical force fields are a more practical choice in many cases, particularly since force field methods allow one to routinely predict the physicochemical properties in the condensed phases. This work presents Drude polarizable models, to increase the physical realism in empirical force fields, where the core particle is treated as a point charge and the Drude particle is treated either as a 1s-Gaussian or a ns-Slater (n = 1, 2, 3) charge density. Systematic parametrization to large high-quality quantum chemistry data obtained from the open access Alexandria Library (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1004711) ensures the transferability of these parameters. The dipole moments and isotropic polarizabilities of the isolated molecules predicted by the proposed Drude models are in agreement with experiment with accuracy similar to DFT calculations at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. The results show that the inclusion of explicit polarization into the models reduces the root-mean-square deviation with respect to DFT calculations of the predicted dipole moments of 152 dimers and clusters by more than 50%. Finally, we show that the accuracy of the electrostatic interaction energy of the water dimers can be improved systematically by the introduction of polarizable smeared charges as a model for charge penetration.
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| 48. |
- Gopakumar, Geethanjali, 1992-
(författare)
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An X-ray Based Spectroscopic Study of Structure Influencing Electrons : Fragmentation, Ultrafast Charge Dynamics and Surface Composition
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The structure of biomolecules, such as proteins, is intimately connected to the function of the molecules. These structures are often studied using X-ray diffraction. However, the interaction of the X-ray photons with the molecule can excite or ionize its electrons which in turn can causes changes in the molecular structure. Getting a better understanding of the radiation damage induced by the X-rays, will lead to higher resolution molecular imaging. In proteins, sulfur bridges stabilize the structure, but sulfur is relatively more susceptible to X-ray photon-induced dynamics. The first section of the thesis presents results obtained by fragment mass spectroscopy using an ion trap on the X-ray induced dynamics leading to breakage in the smallest unit containing sulfur bridge in proteins, cystine. The fragmentation of the bridge is seen to depend on the photon energy used.Molecular damage is not always undesirable. The radiation-induced damage of DNA of cancer cells is an aspired outcome of radiation therapy treatment. Along with the direct damaging effect of the radiation, the surrounding water and metal ions also play a role in indirectly destroying the DNA structure. The X-rays ionize the metal ions and water molecules, which relaxes via different processes, producing water radicals and slow electrons. Both are agents of the destruction of DNA strands. The second section of the thesis reports on results obtained by electron spectroscopy on ultrafast electron dynamics originating from the relaxation of core-excited and ionized aqueous ions, which can result in slow electrons and water radicals. To understand the damages in the system of aqueous ions and biomolecules, one needs to understand the interaction between the organic-inorganic species. Using surface sensitive X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on such a sample mixture of potassium chloride and amino acids is explained in the last section of the thesis. It is seen that changing the chemical environment in the solution (pH), affects both the protonation of the functional group of amino acids and the surface distribution of solvated counter ions. The interaction between organic biomolecules and inorganic ions can be ensured by controlling the chemical environment. This thesis puts forward the study of electrons that influences the molecular structure using various X-ray based spectroscopy techniques.
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| 49. |
- Gopakumar, Geethanjali, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Non-local decay of highly charged aqueous inorganic ions produced by Auger decay
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- High-Z atoms are more important for biological radiation damage by photons than their low abundance due to their higher photoionization cross-section. Using the inorganic Mg 2+ and Al3+ ions in water as model systems, we have studied decay processes following deep core-level ionization. Local Auger decay rapidly produces highly charged Mg 4+and Al5+ ions, the decay of which must involve non-local processes involving the surrounding water, such as electron transfer mediated decay (ETMD). Using electron spectroscopy we observe two distinct ETMD decay steps for Al, corresponding to decay from Al5+ to Al4+, and then from Al4+ to Al3+. The ETMD energetics is discussed using both a simple model and calculations. Contrary to expectations, we do not observe any ETMD for Mg, and possible reasons for this are discussed.
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| 50. |
- Gopakumar, Geethanjali, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Probing Aqueous Ions with Non-local Auger Relaxation
- 2022
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 24:15, s. 8661-8671
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The decay of core holes is often regarded as a local process, but in some systems, it involves the autoionization of neighbouring atoms or molecules. Here, we explore such non-local autoionization (Intermolecular Coulombic Decay, ICD) of surrounding molecules upon 1s ionization of aqueous-phase Na+, Mg2+ and Al3+ ions. The three ions are isoelectronic but differ in the strength of the ion-water interactions which is manifested in experimental Auger electron spectra by varying intensities. While for strongly interacting Mg2+ and Al3+ the non-local decay is observed, for weakly bound Na+ no signal was measured. Combined with theoretical simulations we provide a microscopic understanding of the non-local decay processes. We assigned the ICD to decay processes ending with two-hole states delocalized between the central ion and neighbouring water. The ICD process is also shown to be highly selective with respect to water molecular orbitals. The ICD lifetime was estimated to be around 40 fs for Mg and 20 fs for Al. Auger spectroscopy thus represents a novel tool for exploring molecules in the liquid phase, providing simultaneously structural and electronic information.
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