Data processing pipeline for serial femtosecond crystallography at SACLA

The M2 proton channel of influenza A is a drug target that is essential for the reproduction of the flu virus. It is also a model system for the study of selective, unidirectional proton transport across a membrane. Ordered water molecules arranged in "wires" inside the channel pore have been proposed to play a role in both the conduction of protons to the four gating His37 residues and the stabilization of multiple positive charges within the channel. To visualize the solvent in the pore of the channel at room temperature while minimizing the effects of radiation damage, data were collected to a resolution of 1.4 Å using an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at three different pH conditions: pH 5.5, pH 6.5, and pH 8.0. Data were collected on the Inward open state, which is an intermediate that accumulates at high protonation of the His37 tetrad. At pH 5.5, a continuous hydrogen-bonded network of water molecules spans the vertical length of the channel, consistent with a Grotthuss mechanism model for proton transport to the His37 tetrad. This ordered solvent at pH 5.5 could act to stabilize the positive charges that build up on the gating His37 tetrad during the proton conduction cycle. The number of ordered pore waters decreases at pH 6.5 and 8.0, where the Inward open state is less stable. These studies provide a graphical view of the response of water to a change in charge within a restricted channel environment.W ater molecules in transmembrane protein pores participate in the transport of protons across the membrane bilayer. This process has been extensively studied experimentally and through computational simulations, particularly in small channels such as gramicidin A and influenza A M2. The movement of ions through channels is coupled to the diffusion of water through the pore, but protons are transported at a rate that is faster than the diffusion of H 3 O + (1, 2). Instead of diffusing through channels, protons move concertedly across networks of hydrogen-bonded waters through what is known as the Grotthuss mechanism (3-5). This mechanism of proton transport was initially discovered by the behavior of water in solution, and it has also been proposed to occur within membrane proteins containing water-filled pores (6-9). The matrix 2 (M2) protein of influenza A is one of the smallest proton-selective channels found in nature. This makes it an ideal system for studying the involvement of water in the selective transport of protons across the membrane. The M2 protein of influenza A is a tetramer made up of four 97-residue-long monomers. M2 is multifunctional, with different functions lying in different regions of the sequence. Residues 1-22 make up a conserved N-terminal domain that assists the incorporation of M2 into the virion (10) and is absent in influenza B viruses. The transmembrane domain of M2 (residues 22-46) is necessary for tetramerization (11) and forms a proton-selective channel (12-15) that is the target of the adamantane class of drugs, amantadine and rimantadine (11,(16)(17)(18). The transme...

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“…Frames of data containing diffraction patterns were identified using Cheetah (66,67). Indexing and integration were done using cctbx.xfel (68).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

XFEL structures of the influenza M2 proton channel: Room temperature water networks and insights into proton conduction

Thomaston

Woldeyes

Nakane

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Diffraction images were filtered by the program Cheetah 35,36 adapted to SACLA, and processed by the program CrystFEL…”

Section: Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light-induced structural changes and the site of O=O bond formation in PSII caught by XFEL

Suga

Akita

Sugahara

et al. 2017

Nature

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552

791

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SummaryPhotosystem II (PSII) is a huge membrane-protein complex consisting of 20 different subunits with a total molecular mass of 350 kDa for a monomer, and catalyzes light-driven water oxidation at its catalytic center, the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) [1][2][3] . The structure of PSII has been analyzed at 1.9 Å resolution by synchrotron radiation X-rays, which revealed that OEC is a Mn4CaO5 cluster organized in an asymmetric, "distorted-chair" form 4 . This structure was further analyzed with femtosecond X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), providing the "radiation damage-free" 5 structure. The mechanism of O=O bond formation, however, remains obscure due to the lack of intermediate state structures. Here we report the structural changes of PSII induced by 2-flash (2F) illumination at room temperature at a resolution of 2.35 Å using time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) with an XFEL provided by the SPring-8 angstrom compact free-electron laser (SACLA). Isomorphous differenceFourier map between the 2F and dark-adapted states revealed two areas of apparent changes; they are around QB/non-heme iron and the Mn4CaO5 cluster. The changes around the QB/non-heme iron region reflected the electron and proton transfers induced by the 2F-illumination. In the region around the Mn4CaO5 cluster, a water molecule located 3.5 Å from the Mn4CaO5 cluster disappeared from the map upon 2Fillumination, leading to a closer distance between another water molecule and O4, suggesting also the occurrence of proton transfer. Importantly, the 2F-dark isomorphous difference Fourier map showed an apparent positive peak around O5, a unique μ3-oxo-bridge located in the quasi-center of Mn1 and Mn4 4,5 . This suggests an insertion of a new oxygen atom (O6) close to O5, providing an O=O distance of 1.5 Å between these two oxygen atoms. This provides a mechanism for the O=O bond formation 4 consistent with that proposed by Siegbahn 6,7 . Fig. 1a shows organization of the electron transfer chain of PSII in a pseudo-C2 symmetry by two subunits D1 and D2. The water-oxidation reaction proceeds via the Si-state cycle 8 (with i=0-4), where dioxygen is produced in the transition of S3→(S4)→S0 (Fig. 1b). The high-resolution structures of PSII analyzed so far were for the dark-stable S1 state 4,5 , although a few studies on the low-resolution intermediate S-state structures have been reported by TR-SFX [9][10][11] . During the revision of our manuscript, Young et al. reported a 2F-illuminated state structure at 2.25 Å resolution where no apparent changes around O5 were observed 12 , although estimations of the resolution could yield somewhat different values so that small movement of some water molecules may escape the detection. In order to achieve resolution high enough to uncover small structural changes induced by flash illuminations yet allowing Si-state transition to proceed efficiently, we determined the optimal crystal size of PSII with a maximum length of 100 µm, which diffracted up to a resolution of 2.1 Å by a SACLA-XFEL ...

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“…The photodiode readout is stored in the SACLA data acquisition system's database, along with other shot-by-shot metadata such as wavelength and beam intensity. The data processing pipeline (Nakane et al, 2016a) retrieves data through the SACLA API and then sorts hit images into 'light-on' and 'light-off' datasets.…”

Section: Pump Laser Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A total of 371648 diffraction patterns were collected, of which 20418 (20890) were identified as hit images in the light (dark) condition, with more than 20 potential Bragg peaks, by using the data processing pipeline (Nakane et al, 2016a) based on Cheetah . By further processing in CrystFEL version 0.6.1 , 16186 (16548) indexed images were obtained as light (dark) data (Table S1 of the supporting information).…”

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confidence: 99%

Nanosecond pump–probe device for time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography developed at SACLA

et al. 2017

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X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have opened new opportunities for timeresolved X-ray crystallography. Here a nanosecond optical-pump XFEL-probe device developed for time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) studies of photo-induced reactions in proteins at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron LAser (SACLA) is reported. The optical-fiber-based system is a good choice for a quick setup in a limited beam time and allows pump illumination from two directions to achieve high excitation efficiency of protein microcrystals. Two types of injectors are used: one for extruding highly viscous samples such as lipidic cubic phase (LCP) and the other for pulsed liquid droplets. Under standard sample flow conditions from the viscous-sample injector, delay times from nanoseconds to tens of milliseconds are accessible, typical time scales required to study large protein conformational changes. A first demonstration of a TR-SFX experiment on bacteriorhodopsin in bicelle using a setup with a droplet-type injector is also presented.

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Data processing pipeline for serial femtosecond crystallography at SACLA

Cited by 81 publications

References 30 publications

XFEL structures of the influenza M2 proton channel: Room temperature water networks and insights into proton conduction

XFEL structures of the influenza M2 proton channel: Room temperature water networks and insights into proton conduction

Light-induced structural changes and the site of O=O bond formation in PSII caught by XFEL

Nanosecond pump–probe device for time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography developed at SACLA

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