| 1. |
- Boutet, S., et al.
(author)
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High-Resolution Protein Structure Determination by Serial Femtosecond Crystallography
- 2012
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 337:6092, s. 362-364
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 2. |
- Arnlund, David, et al.
(author)
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Visualizing a protein quake with time-resolved X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser
- 2014
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In: Nature Methods. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1548-7091 .- 1548-7105. ; 11:9, s. 923-926
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 3. |
- Barty, A., et al.
(author)
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Self-terminating diffraction gates femtosecond X-ray nanocrystallography measurements
- 2012
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In: Nature Photonics. - 1749-4885 .- 1749-4893. ; 6:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 4. |
- Chapman, Henry N, et al.
(author)
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Femtosecond X-ray protein nanocrystallography.
- 2011
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 470:7332, s. 73-7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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 (∼200 nm to 2 μm 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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| 5. |
- Alonso-Mori, Roberto, et al.
(author)
-
Energy-dispersive X-ray emission spectroscopy using an X-ray free-electron laser in a shot-by-shot mode
- 2012
-
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 109:47, s. 19103-19107
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ultrabright femtosecond X-ray pulses provided by X-ray free-electron lasers open capabilities for studying the structure and dynamics of a wide variety of systems beyond what is possible with synchrotron sources. Recently, this probe-before-destroy approach has been demonstrated for atomic structure determination by serial X-ray diffraction of microcrystals. There has been the question whether a similar approach can be extended to probe the local electronic structure by X-ray spectroscopy. To address this, we have carried out femtosecond X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) at the Linac Coherent Light Source using redox-active Mn complexes. XES probes the charge and spin states as well as the ligand environment, critical for understanding the functional role of redox-active metal sites. K beta(1,3) XES spectra of Mn-II and Mn-2(III,IV) complexes at room temperature were collected using a wavelength dispersive spectrometer and femtosecond X-ray pulses with an individual dose of up to > 100 MGy. The spectra were found in agreement with undamaged spectra collected at low dose using synchrotron radiation. Our results demonstrate that the intact electronic structure of redox active transition metal compounds in different oxidation states can be characterized with this shot-by-shot method. This opens the door for studying the chemical dynamics of metal catalytic sites by following reactions under functional conditions. The technique can be combined with X-ray diffraction to simultaneously obtain the geometric structure of the overall protein and the local chemistry of active metal sites and is expected to prove valuable for understanding the mechanism of important metalloproteins, such as photosystem II.
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| 6. |
- Johansson, Linda C, 1983, et al.
(author)
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Structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre determined by serial femtosecond crystallography.
- 2013
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In: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Serial femtosecond crystallography is an X-ray free-electron-laser-based method with considerable potential to have an impact on challenging problems in structural biology. Here we present X-ray diffraction data recorded from microcrystals of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction centre to 2.8 Å resolution and determine its serial femtosecond crystallography structure to 3.5 Å resolution. Although every microcrystal is exposed to a dose of 33 MGy, no signs of X-ray-induced radiation damage are visible in this integral membrane protein structure.
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| 7. |
- Kern, Jan, et al.
(author)
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Room temperature femtosecond X-ray diffraction of photosystem II microcrystals
- 2012
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 109:25, s. 9721-9726
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Most of the dioxygen on earth is generated by the oxidation of water by photosystem II (PS II) using light from the sun. This lightdriven, four-photon reaction is catalyzed by the Mn4CaO5 cluster located at the lumenal side of PS II. Various X-ray studies have been carried out at cryogenic temperatures to understand the intermediate steps involved in the water oxidation mechanism. However, the necessity for collecting data at room temperature, especially for studying the transient steps during the O-O bond formation, requires the development of new methodologies. In this paper we report room temperature X-ray diffraction data of PS II microcrystals obtained using ultrashort (<50 fs) 9 keV X-ray pulses from a hard X-ray free electron laser, namely the Linac Coherent Light Source. The results presented here demonstrate that the probe before destroy approach using an X-ray free electron laser works even for the highly-sensitive Mn4CaO5 cluster in PS II at room temperature. We show that these data are comparable to those obtained in synchrotron radiation studies as seen by the similarities in the overall structure of the helices, the protein subunits and the location of the various cofactors. This work is, therefore, an important step toward future studies for resolving the structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster without any damage at room temperature, and of the reaction intermediates of PS II during O-O bond formation.
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| 8. |
- Kern, Jan, et al.
(author)
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Simultaneous Femtosecond X-ray Spectroscopy and Diffraction of Photosystem II at Room Temperature
- 2013
-
In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 340:6131, s. 491-495
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Intense femtosecond x-ray pulses produced at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) were used for simultaneous x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) of microcrystals of photosystem II (PS II) at room temperature. This method probes the overall protein structure and the electronic structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster in the oxygen-evolving complex of PS II. XRD data are presented from both the dark state (S-1) and the first illuminated state (S-2) of PS II. Our simultaneous XRD-XES study shows that the PS II crystals are intact during our measurements at the LCLS, not only with respect to the structure of PS II, but also with regard to the electronic structure of the highly radiation-sensitive Mn4CaO5 cluster, opening new directions for future dynamics studies.
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| 9. |
- Loh, N. D., et al.
(author)
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Cryptotomography : Reconstructing 3D Fourier Intensities from Randomly Oriented Single-Shot Diffraction Patterns
- 2010
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 104:22, s. 225501-1-225501-5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We reconstructed the 3D Fourier intensity distribution of monodisperse prolate nanoparticles using single-shot 2D coherent diffraction patterns collected at DESY's FLASH facility when a bright, coherent, ultrafast x-ray pulse intercepted individual particles of random, unmeasured orientations. This first experimental demonstration of cryptotomography extended the expansion-maximization-compression framework to accommodate unmeasured fluctuations in photon fluence and loss of data due to saturation or background scatter. This work is an important step towards realizing single-shot diffraction imaging of single biomolecules.
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| 10. |
- Sierra, Raymond G., et al.
(author)
-
Nanoflow electrospinning serial femtosecond crystallography
- 2012
-
In: Acta Crystallographica Section D. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0907-4449 .- 1399-0047. ; 68, s. 1584-1587
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An electrospun liquid microjet has been developed that delivers protein microcrystal suspensions at flow rates of 0.14-3.1 mu l min(-1) to perform serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) studies with X-ray lasers. Thermolysin microcrystals flowed at 0.17 mu l min(-1) and diffracted to beyond 4 angstrom resolution, producing 14 000 indexable diffraction patterns, or four per second, from 140 mu g of protein. Nanoflow electrospinning extends SFX to biological samples that necessitate minimal sample consumption.
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