Modern protein crystal structures are based nearly exclusively on X-ray data collected at cryogenic temperatures (generally 100 K). The cooling process is thought to introduce little bias in the functional interpretation of structural results, because cryogenic temperatures minimally perturb the overall protein backbone fold. In contrast, here we show that flash cooling biases previously hidden structural ensembles in protein crystals. By analyzing available data for 30 different proteins using new computational tools for electron-density sampling, model refinement, and molecular packing analysis, we found that crystal cryocooling remodels the conformational distributions of more than 35% of side chains and eliminates packing defects necessary for functional motions. In the signaling switch protein, H-Ras, an allosteric network consistent with fluctuations detected in solution by NMR was uncovered in the room-temperature, but not the cryogenic, electron-density maps. These results expose a bias in structural databases toward smaller, overpacked, and unrealistically unique models. Monitoring room-temperature conformational ensembles by X-ray crystallography can reveal motions crucial for catalysis, ligand binding, and allosteric regulation.protein conformational dynamics | energy landscape | Ringer | qFit M acromolecular X-ray crystallographic diffraction experiments provide powerful insights into the relationship between structure and biological function. Although macromolecules populate vast ensembles of alternative conformational substates (1), crystallographic models depicting the major average conformation have provided foundational ideas about the mechanisms of biochemical reactions. By slowing radiation damage to the sample, crystal cooling has catalyzed a revolution in structural biology, enabling structure determinations from tiny crystals using bright synchrotron X-ray sources (2-4). It is estimated that more than 95% of the >65;000 crystal structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) are based on cryogenic data (5).Crystal cooling is generally thought to introduce little bias in the functional interpretation of structural results. Some investigators have suggested that the standard practice of plunging crystals into liquid nitrogen and collecting X-ray diffraction data at 100 K traps a representative set of conformations populated at room temperature (6, 7). In contrast, early structural comparisons by Petsko, Frauenfelder, and colleagues indicated that cooling myoglobin crystals causes a small reduction in the protein volume due to anisotropic displacements of atomic positions and subtle changes of contacts between α-helices (8). A landmark study of crystalline ribonuclease A (RNaseA) by Tilton, Petsko, and coworkers revealed diverse temperature-dependent changes in the average structure, ranging from shrinkage at low temperatures to increased loop disorder at 47°C (9). A recent analysis comparing 15 room-temperature and cryogenic crystal structures documented that cryocooling generally increas...

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The tumor suppressor folliculin (FLCN) enables nutrient-dependent activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) protein kinase via its guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) activating protein (GAP) activity toward the GTPase RagC. Concomitant with mTORC1 inactivation by starvation, FLCN relocalizes from the cytosol to lysosomes. To determine the lysosomal function of FLCN, we reconstituted the human lysosomal FLCN complex (LFC) containing FLCN, its partner FLCN-interacting protein 2 (FNIP2), and the RagAGDP:RagCGTP GTPases as they exist in the starved state with their lysosomal anchor Ragulator complex and determined its cryo–electron microscopy structure to 3.6 angstroms. The RagC-GAP activity of FLCN was inhibited within the LFC, owing to displacement of a catalytically required arginine in FLCN from the RagC nucleotide. Disassembly of the LFC and release of the RagC-GAP activity of FLCN enabled mTORC1-dependent regulation of the master regulator of lysosomal biogenesis, transcription factor E3, implicating the LFC as a checkpoint in mTORC1 signaling.