We describe an improved method for comparative modeling, RosettaCM, which optimizes a physically realistic all-atom energy function over the conformational space defined by homologous structures. Given a set of sequence alignments, RosettaCM assembles topologies by recombining aligned segments in Cartesian-space and building unaligned regions de novo in torsion space. The junctions between segments are regularized using a loop-closure method combining fragment superposition with gradient-based minimization. The energies of the resulting models are optimized by all-atom refinement, and the most representative low energy model is selected. The CASP10 experiment suggests RosettaCM yields models with more accurate sidechain and backbone conformations than other methods when the sequence identity to the templates is greater than ∼15%.

Advances in high resolution electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) have been accompanied by the development of validation metrics to independently assess map quality and model geometry. EMRinger assesses the precise fitting of an atomic model into the map during refinement and shows how radiation damage alters scattering from negatively charged amino acids. EMRinger will be useful for monitoring progress in resolving and modeling high-resolution features in cryo-EM.

The Hsp90 molecular chaperone and its Cdc37 co-chaperone help stabilize and activate over half of the human kinome. However, neither the mechanism by which these chaperones assist their client kinases nor why some kinases are addicted to Hsp90 while closely related family members are independent is known. Missing has been any structural understanding of these interactions, with no full-length structures of human Hsp90, Cdc37 or either of these proteins with a kinase. Here we report a 3.9Å cryoEM structure of the Hsp90:Cdc37:Cdk4 kinase complex. Cdk4 is in a novel conformation, with its two lobes completely separated. Cdc37 mimics part of the kinase N-lobe, stabilizing an open kinase conformation by wedging itself between the two lobes. Finally, Hsp90 clamps around the unfolded kinase β5 strand and interacts with exposed N- and C-lobe interfaces, protecting the kinase in a trapped unfolded state. Based on this novel structure and extensive previous data, we propose unifying conceptual and mechanistic models of chaperone-kinase interactions.

Cryo-EM has revealed the structures of many challenging yet exciting macromolecular assemblies at near-atomic resolution (3–4.5Å), providing biological phenomena with molecular descriptions. However, at these resolutions, accurately positioning individual atoms remains challenging and error-prone. Manually refining thousands of amino acids – typical in a macromolecular assembly – is tedious and time-consuming. We present an automated method that can improve the atomic details in models that are manually built in near-atomic-resolution cryo-EM maps. Applying the method to three systems recently solved by cryo-EM, we are able to improve model geometry while maintaining the fit-to-density. Backbone placement errors are automatically detected and corrected, and the refinement shows a large radius of convergence. The results demonstrate that the method is amenable to structures with symmetry, of very large size, and containing RNA as well as covalently bound ligands. The method should streamline the cryo-EM structure determination process, providing accurate and unbiased atomic structure interpretation of such maps.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17219.001