Influence of pump laser fluence on ultrafast myoglobin structural dynamics

High-intensity femtosecond pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser enable pump-probe experiments for the investigation of electronic and nuclear changes during light-induced reactions. On timescales ranging from femtoseconds to milliseconds and for a variety of biological systems, time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) has provided detailed structural data for light-induced isomerization, breakage or formation of chemical bonds and electron transfer1,2. However, all ultrafast TR-SFX studies to date have employed such high pump laser energies that nominally several photons were absorbed per chromophore3-17. As multiphoton absorption may force the protein response into non-physiological pathways, it is of great concern18,19 whether this experimental approach20 allows valid conclusions to be drawn vis-à-vis biologically relevant single-photon-induced reactions18,19. Here we describe ultrafast pump-probe SFX experiments on the photodissociation of carboxymyoglobin, showing that different pump laser fluences yield markedly different results. In particular, the dynamics of structural changes and observed indicators of the mechanistically important coherent oscillations of the Fe-CO bond distance (predicted by recent quantum wavepacket dynamics21) are seen to depend strongly on pump laser energy, in line with quantum chemical analysis. Our results confirm both the feasibility and necessity of performing ultrafast TR-SFX pump-probe experiments in the linear photoexcitation regime. We consider this to be a starting point for reassessing both the design and the interpretation of ultrafast TR-SFX pump-probe experiments20 such that mechanistically relevant insight emerges.

Dynamic catcher for stabilization of high-viscosity extrusion jets

A 'catcher' based on a revolving cylindrical collector is described. The simple and inexpensive device reduces free-jet instabilities inherent to high-viscosity extrusion injection, facilitating delivery of microcrystals for serial diffraction X-ray crystallography.

Rational Control of Off-State Heterogeneity in a Photoswitchable Fluorescent Protein Provides Switching Contrast Enhancement

Reversibly photoswitchable fluorescent proteins are essential markers for advanced biological imaging, and optimization of their photophysical properties underlies improved performance and novel applications. Here we establish a link between photoswitching contrast, one of the key parameters that dictate the achievable resolution in nanoscopy applications, and chromophore conformation in the non-fluorescent state of rsEGFP2, a widely employed label in REversible Saturable OpticaL Fluorescence Transitions (RESOLFT) microscopy. Upon illumination, the cis chromophore of rsEGFP2 isomerizes to two distinct off-state conformations, trans1 and trans2, located on either side of the V151 side chain. Reducing or enlarging the side chain at this position (V151A and V151L variants) leads to single off-state conformations that exhibit higher and lower switching contrast, respectively, compared to the rsEGFP2 parent. The combination of structural information obtained by serial femtosecond crystallography with high-level quantum chemical calculations and with spectroscopic and photophysical data determined in vitro suggests that the changes in switching contrast arise from blue- and red-shifts of the absorption bands associated to trans1 and trans2, respectively. Thus, due to elimination of trans2, the V151A variants of rsEGFP2 and its superfolding variant rsFolder2 display a more than two-fold higher switching contrast than their respective parent proteins, both in vitro and in E. coli cells. The application of the rsFolder2-V151A variant is demonstrated in RESOLFT nanoscopy. Our study rationalizes the connection between structural and photophysical chromophore properties and suggests a means to rationally improve fluorescent proteins for nanoscopy applications.

Complementarity of neutron, XFEL and synchrotron crystallography for defining the structures of metalloenzymes at room temperature

Room-temperature macromolecular crystallography allows protein structures to be determined under close-to-physiological conditions, permits dynamic freedom in protein motions and enables time-resolved studies. In the case of metalloenzymes that are highly sensitive to radiation damage, such room-temperature experiments can present challenges, including increased rates of X-ray reduction of metal centres and site-specific radiation-damage artefacts, as well as in devising appropriate sample-delivery and data-collection methods. It can also be problematic to compare structures measured using different crystal sizes and light sources. In this study, structures of a multifunctional globin, dehaloperoxidase B (DHP-B), obtained using several methods of room-temperature crystallographic structure determination are described and compared. Here, data were measured from large single crystals and multiple microcrystals using neutrons, X-ray free-electron laser pulses, monochromatic synchrotron radiation and polychromatic (Laue) radiation light sources. These approaches span a range of 18 orders of magnitude in measurement time per diffraction pattern and four orders of magnitude in crystal volume. The first room-temperature neutron structures of DHP-B are also presented, allowing the explicit identification of the hydrogen positions. The neutron data proved to be complementary to the serial femtosecond crystallography data, with both methods providing structures free of the effects of X-ray radiation damage when compared with standard cryo-crystallography. Comparison of these room-temperature methods demonstrated the large differences in sample requirements, data-collection time and the potential for radiation damage between them. With regard to the structure and function of DHP-B, despite the results being partly limited by differences in the underlying structures, new information was gained on the protonation states of active-site residues which may guide future studies of DHP-B.

De novo determination of mosquitocidal Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba structures from naturally-occurring nanocrystals

Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba are the two most potent toxins produced by mosquitocidal Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis and jegathesan, respectively. The toxins naturally crystallize within the host; however, the crystals are too small for structure determination at synchrotron sources. Therefore, we applied serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free electron lasers to in vivo-grown nanocrystals of these toxins. The structure of Cry11Aa was determined de novo using the single-wavelength anomalous dispersion method, which in turn enabled the determination of the Cry11Ba structure by molecular replacement. The two structures reveal a new pattern for in vivo crystallization of Cry toxins, whereby each of their three domains packs with a symmetrically identical domain, and a cleavable crystal packing motif is located within the protoxin rather than at the termini. The diversity of in vivo crystallization patterns suggests explanations for their varied levels of toxicity and rational approaches to improve these toxins for mosquito control.

Crystallographic Studies of Rhodopsins: Structure and Dynamics

Crystal structures have provided detailed insight in the architecture of rhodopsin photoreceptors. Of particular interest are the protein-chromophore interactions that govern the light-induced retinal isomerization and ultimately induce the large structural changes important for the various biological functions of the family. The reaction intermediates occurring along the rhodopsin photocycle have vastly differing lifetimes, from hundreds of femtoseconds to milliseconds. Detailed insight at high spatial and temporal resolution can be obtained by time-resolved crystallography using pump-probe approaches at X-ray free-electron lasers. Alternatively, cryotrapping approaches can be used. Both the approaches are described, including illumination and sample delivery. The importance of appropriate photoexcitation avoiding multiphoton absorption is stressed.

Mechanism and dynamics of fatty acid photodecarboxylase

Fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP) is a photoenzyme with potential green chemistry applications. By combining static, time-resolved, and cryotrapping spectroscopy and crystallography as well as computation, we characterized Chlorella variabilis FAP reaction intermediates on time scales from subpicoseconds to milliseconds. High-resolution crystal structures from synchrotron and free electron laser x-ray sources highlighted an unusual bent shape of the oxidized flavin chromophore. We demonstrate that decarboxylation occurs directly upon reduction of the excited flavin by the fatty acid substrate. Along with flavin reoxidation by the alkyl radical intermediate, a major fraction of the cleaved carbon dioxide unexpectedly transformed in 100 nanoseconds, most likely into bicarbonate. This reaction is orders of magnitude faster than in solution. Two strictly conserved residues, R451 and C432, are essential for substrate stabilization and functional charge transfer.

Effect of X-ray free-electron laser-induced shockwaves on haemoglobin microcrystals delivered in a liquid jet

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) enable obtaining novel insights in structural biology. The recently available MHz repetition rate XFELs allow full data sets to be collected in shorter time and can also decrease sample consumption. However, the microsecond spacing of MHz XFEL pulses raises new challenges, including possible sample damage induced by shock waves that are launched by preceding pulses in the sample-carrying jet. We explored this matter with an X-ray-pump/X-ray-probe experiment employing haemoglobin microcrystals transported via a liquid jet into the XFEL beam. Diffraction data were collected using a shock-wave-free single-pulse scheme as well as the dual-pulse pump-probe scheme. The latter, relative to the former, reveals significant degradation of crystal hit rate, diffraction resolution and data quality. Crystal structures extracted from the two data sets also differ. Since our pump-probe attributes were chosen to emulate EuXFEL operation at its 4.5 MHz maximum pulse rate, this prompts concern about such data collection.

BioMAX - the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at MAX IV Laboratory

BioMAX is the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at the MAX IV Laboratory 3 GeV storage ring, which is the first operational multi-bend achromat storage ring. Due to the low-emittance storage ring, BioMAX has a parallel, high-intensity X-ray beam, even when focused down to 20 µm × 5 µm using the bendable focusing mirrors. The beam is tunable in the energy range 5-25 keV using the in-vacuum undulator and the horizontally deflecting double-crystal monochromator. BioMAX is equipped with an MD3 diffractometer, an ISARA high-capacity sample changer and an EIGER 16M hybrid pixel detector. Data collection at BioMAX is controlled using the newly developed MXCuBE3 graphical user interface, and sample tracking is handled by ISPyB. The computing infrastructure includes data storage and processing both at MAX IV and the Lund University supercomputing center LUNARC. With state-of-the-art instrumentation, a high degree of automation, a user-friendly control system interface and remote operation, BioMAX provides an excellent facility for most macromolecular crystallography experiments. Serial crystallography using either a high-viscosity extruder injector or the MD3 as a fixed-target scanner is already implemented. The serial crystallography activities at MAX IV Laboratory will be further developed at the microfocus beamline MicroMAX, when it comes into operation in 2022. MicroMAX will have a 1 µm × 1 µm beam focus and a flux up to 1015 photons s-1 with main applications in serial crystallography, room-temperature structure determinations and time-resolved experiments.

Structural dynamics in proteins induced by and probed with X-ray free-electron laser pulses

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) enable crystallographic structure determination beyond the limitations imposed upon synchrotron measurements by radiation damage. The need for very short XFEL pulses is relieved through gating of Bragg diffraction by loss of crystalline order as damage progresses, but not if ionization events are spatially non-uniform due to underlying elemental distributions, as in biological samples. Indeed, correlated movements of iron and sulfur ions were observed in XFEL-irradiated ferredoxin microcrystals using unusually long pulses of 80 fs. Here, we report a femtosecond time-resolved X-ray pump/X-ray probe experiment on protein nanocrystals. We observe changes in the protein backbone and aromatic residues as well as disulfide bridges. Simulations show that the latter’s correlated structural dynamics are much slower than expected for the predicted high atomic charge states due to significant impact of ion caging and plasma electron screening. This indicates that dense-environment effects can strongly affect local radiation damage-induced structural dynamics.

The local X-ray-induced dynamics that occur in protein crystals during serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) measurements at XFELs are not well understood. Here the authors performed a time-resolved X-ray pump X-ray probe SFX experiment, and they observe distinct structural changes in the disulfide bridges and peptide backbone of proteins; complementing theoretical approaches allow them to further characterize the details of the X-ray induced ionization and local structural dynamics.

Photoswitching mechanism of a fluorescent protein revealed by time-resolved crystallography and transient absorption spectroscopy

Reversibly switchable fluorescent proteins (RSFPs) serve as markers in advanced fluorescence imaging. Photoswitching from a non-fluorescent off-state to a fluorescent on-state involves trans-to-cis chromophore isomerization and proton transfer. Whereas excited-state events on the ps timescale have been structurally characterized, conformational changes on slower timescales remain elusive. Here we describe the off-to-on photoswitching mechanism in the RSFP rsEGFP2 by using a combination of time-resolved serial crystallography at an X-ray free-electron laser and ns-resolved pump–probe UV-visible spectroscopy. Ten ns after photoexcitation, the crystal structure features a chromophore that isomerized from trans to cis but the surrounding pocket features conformational differences compared to the final on-state. Spectroscopy identifies the chromophore in this ground-state photo-intermediate as being protonated. Deprotonation then occurs on the μs timescale and correlates with a conformational change of the conserved neighbouring histidine. Together with a previous excited-state study, our data allow establishing a detailed mechanism of off-to-on photoswitching in rsEGFP2.

rsEGFP2 is a reversibly photoswitchable fluorescent protein used in super-resolution light microscopy. Here the authors present the structure of an rsEGFP2 ground-state intermediate after excited state-decay that was obtained by nanosecond time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography at an X-ray free electron laser, and time-resolved absorption spectroscopy measurements complement their structural analysis.

In cellulo crystallization of Trypanosoma brucei IMP dehydrogenase enables the identification of genuine co-factors

Sleeping sickness is a fatal disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei (Tb). Inosine-5’-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) has been proposed as a potential drug target, since it maintains the balance between guanylate deoxynucleotide and ribonucleotide levels that is pivotal for the parasite. Here we report the structure of TbIMPDH at room temperature utilizing free-electron laser radiation on crystals grown in living insect cells. The 2.80 Å resolution structure reveals the presence of ATP and GMP at the canonical sites of the Bateman domains, the latter in a so far unknown coordination mode. Consistent with previously reported IMPDH complexes harboring guanosine nucleotides at the second canonical site, TbIMPDH forms a compact oligomer structure, supporting a nucleotide-controlled conformational switch that allosterically modulates the catalytic activity. The oligomeric TbIMPDH structure we present here reveals the potential of in cellulo crystallization to identify genuine allosteric co-factors from a natural reservoir of specific compounds.

Trypanosoma brucei inosine-5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is an enzyme in the guanine nucleotide biosynthesis pathway and of interest as a drug target. Here the authors present the 2.8 Å room temperature structure of TbIMPDH determined by utilizing X-ray free-electron laser radiation and crystals that were grown in insect cells and find that ATP and GMP are bound at the canonical sites of the Bateman domains.

High-viscosity sample-injection device for serial femtosecond crystallography at atmospheric pressure

A high-viscosity cartridge-type injector for serial femtosecond crystallography has been developed at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free-Electron Laser.

A sample-injection device has been developed at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free-Electron Laser (SACLA) for serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at atmospheric pressure. Microcrystals embedded in a highly viscous carrier are stably delivered from a capillary nozzle with the aid of a coaxial gas flow and a suction device. The cartridge-type sample reservoir is easily replaceable and facilitates sample reloading or exchange. The reservoir is positioned in a cooling jacket with a temperature-regulated water flow, which is useful to prevent drastic changes in the sample temperature during data collection. This work demonstrates that the injector successfully worked in SFX of the human A_2A adenosine receptor complexed with an antagonist, ZM241385, in lipidic cubic phase and for hen egg-white lysozyme microcrystals in a grease carrier. The injection device has also been applied to many kinds of proteins, not only for static structural analyses but also for dynamics studies using pump–probe techniques.

Well-based crystallization of lipidic cubic phase microcrystals for serial X-ray crystallography experiments

Serial crystallography is having an increasing impact on structural biology. This emerging technique opens up new possibilities for studying protein structures at room temperature and investigating structural dynamics using time-resolved X-ray diffraction. A limitation of the method is the intrinsic need for large quantities of well ordered micrometre-sized crystals. Here, a method is presented to screen for conditions that produce microcrystals of membrane proteins in the lipidic cubic phase using a well-based crystallization approach. A key advantage over earlier approaches is that the progress of crystal formation can be easily monitored without interrupting the crystallization process. In addition, the protocol can be scaled up to efficiently produce large quantities of crystals for serial crystallography experiments. Using the well-based crystallization methodology, novel conditions for the growth of showers of microcrystals of three different membrane proteins have been developed. Diffraction data are also presented from the first user serial crystallography experiment performed at MAX IV Laboratory.

Three-dimensional view of ultrafast dynamics in photoexcited bacteriorhodopsin

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a light-driven proton pump. The primary photochemical event upon light absorption is isomerization of the retinal chromophore. Here we used time-resolved crystallography at an X-ray free-electron laser to follow the structural changes in multiphoton-excited bR from 250 femtoseconds to 10 picoseconds. Quantum chemistry and ultrafast spectroscopy were used to identify a sequential two-photon absorption process, leading to excitation of a tryptophan residue flanking the retinal chromophore, as a first manifestation of multiphoton effects. We resolve distinct stages in the structural dynamics of the all-trans retinal in photoexcited bR to a highly twisted 13-cis conformation. Other active site sub-picosecond rearrangements include correlated vibrational motions of the electronically excited retinal chromophore, the surrounding amino acids and water molecules as well as their hydrogen bonding network. These results show that this extended photo-active network forms an electronically and vibrationally coupled system in bR, and most likely in all retinal proteins.

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a light-driven proton pump. Here the authors combine time-resolved crystallography at a free-electron laser, ultrafast spectroscopy and quantum chemistry to study the structural changes following multiphoton photoexcitation of bR and find that they occur within 300 fs not only in the light-absorbing chromophore but also in the surrounding protein.

Megahertz serial crystallography

The new European X-ray Free-Electron Laser is the first X-ray free-electron laser capable of delivering X-ray pulses with a megahertz inter-pulse spacing, more than four orders of magnitude higher than previously possible. However, to date, it has been unclear whether it would indeed be possible to measure high-quality diffraction data at megahertz pulse repetition rates. Here, we show that high-quality structures can indeed be obtained using currently available operating conditions at the European XFEL. We present two complete data sets, one from the well-known model system lysozyme and the other from a so far unknown complex of a β-lactamase from K. pneumoniae involved in antibiotic resistance. This result opens up megahertz serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) as a tool for reliable structure determination, substrate screening and the efficient measurement of the evolution and dynamics of molecular structures using megahertz repetition rate pulses available at this new class of X-ray laser source.

Free-electron laser data for multiple-particle fluctuation scattering analysis

Fluctuation X-ray scattering (FXS) is an emerging experimental technique in which solution scattering data are collected using X-ray exposures below rotational diffusion times, resulting in angularly anisotropic X-ray snapshots that provide several orders of magnitude more information than traditional solution scattering data. Such experiments can be performed using the ultrashort X-ray pulses provided by a free-electron laser source, allowing one to collect a large number of diffraction patterns in a relatively short time. Here, we describe a test data set for FXS, obtained at the Linac Coherent Light Source, consisting of close to 100 000 multi-particle diffraction patterns originating from approximately 50 to 200 Paramecium Bursaria Chlorella virus particles per snapshot. In addition to the raw data, a selection of high-quality pre-processed diffraction patterns and a reference SAXS profile are provided.

Crystallography on a chip - without the chip: sheet-on-sheet sandwich

Crystallography chips are fixed-target supports consisting of a film (for example Kapton) or wafer (for example silicon) that is processed using semiconductor-microfabrication techniques to yield an array of wells or through-holes in which single microcrystals can be lodged for raster-scan probing. Although relatively expensive to fabricate, chips offer an efficient means of high-throughput sample presentation for serial diffraction data collection at synchrotron or X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) sources. Truly efficient loading of a chip (one microcrystal per well and no wastage during loading) is nonetheless challenging. The wells or holes must match the microcrystal size of interest, requiring that a large stock of chips be maintained. Raster scanning requires special mechanical drives to step the chip rapidly and with micrometre precision from well to well. Here, a `chip-less' adaptation is described that essentially eliminates the challenges of loading and precision scanning, albeit with increased, yet still relatively frugal, sample usage. The device consists simply of two sheets of Mylar with the crystal solution sandwiched between them. This sheet-on-sheet (SOS) sandwich structure has been employed for serial femtosecond crystallography data collection with micrometre-sized crystals at an XFEL. The approach is also well suited to time-resolved pump-probe experiments, in particular for long time delays. The SOS sandwich enables measurements under XFEL beam conditions that would damage conventional chips, as documented here. The SOS sheets hermetically seal the sample, avoiding desiccation of the sample provided that the X-ray beam does not puncture the sheets. This is the case with a synchrotron beam but not with an XFEL beam. In the latter case, desiccation, setting radially outwards from each punched hole, sets lower limits on the speed and line spacing of the raster scan. It is shown that these constraints are easily accommodated.

Velocimetry of fast microscopic liquid jets by nanosecond dual-pulse laser illumination for megahertz X-ray free-electron lasers

To conduct X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) measurements at megahertz (MHz) repetition rates, sample solution must be delivered in a micron-sized liquid free-jet moving at up to 100 m/s. This exceeds by over a factor of two the jet speeds measurable with current high-speed camera techniques. Accordingly we have developed and describe herein an alternative jet velocimetry based on dual-pulse nanosecond laser illumination. Three separate implementations are described, including a small laser-diode system that is inexpensive and highly portable. We have also developed and describe analysis techniques to automatically and rapidly extract jet speed from dual-pulse images.

Multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction de novo phasing using a two-colour X-ray free-electron laser with wide tunability

Serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) offers unprecedented possibilities for macromolecular structure determination of systems prone to radiation damage. However, de novo structure determination, i.e., without prior structural knowledge, is complicated by the inherent inaccuracy of serial femtosecond crystallography data. By its very nature, serial femtosecond crystallography data collection entails shot-to-shot fluctuations in X-ray wavelength and intensity as well as variations in crystal size and quality that must be averaged out. Hence, to obtain accurate diffraction intensities for de novo phasing, large numbers of diffraction patterns are required, and, concomitantly large volumes of sample and long X-ray free-electron laser beamtimes. Here we show that serial femtosecond crystallography data collected using simultaneous two-colour X-ray free-electron laser pulses can be used for multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing. The phase angle determination is significantly more accurate than for single-colour phasing. We anticipate that two-colour multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing will enhance structure determination of difficult-to-phase proteins at X-ray free-electron lasers.

X-ray free-electron lasers produce bright femtosecond X-ray pulses. Here, the authors use a two-colour X-ray free-electron laser beam for simultaneous two-wavelength data collection and show that protein structures can be determined with multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing, which is important for difficult-to-phase projects.

Corrigendum: Diffraction data of core-shell nanoparticles from an X-ray free electron laser

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2017.48.

Viscous hydrophilic injection matrices for serial crystallography

Serial (femtosecond) crystallography at synchrotron and X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) sources distributes the absorbed radiation dose over all crystals used for data collection and therefore allows measurement of radiation damage prone systems, including the use of microcrystals for room-temperature measurements. Serial crystallography relies on fast and efficient exchange of crystals upon X-ray exposure, which can be achieved using a variety of methods, including various injection techniques. The latter vary significantly in their flow rates - gas dynamic virtual nozzle based injectors provide very thin fast-flowing jets, whereas high-viscosity extrusion injectors produce much thicker streams with flow rates two to three orders of magnitude lower. High-viscosity extrusion results in much lower sample consumption, as its sample delivery speed is commensurate both with typical XFEL repetition rates and with data acquisition rates at synchrotron sources. An obvious viscous injection medium is lipidic cubic phase (LCP) as it is used for in meso membrane protein crystallization. However, LCP has limited compatibility with many crystallization conditions. While a few other viscous media have been described in the literature, there is an ongoing need to identify additional injection media for crystal embedding. Critical attributes are reliable injection properties and a broad chemical compatibility to accommodate samples as heterogeneous and sensitive as protein crystals. Here, the use of two novel hydro-gels as viscous injection matrices is described, namely sodium carb-oxy-methyl cellulose and the thermo-reversible block polymer Pluronic F-127. Both are compatible with various crystallization conditions and yield acceptable X-ray background. The stability and velocity of the extruded stream were also analysed and the dependence of the stream velocity on the flow rate was measured. In contrast with previously characterized injection media, both new matrices afford very stable adjustable streams suitable for time-resolved measurements.

Diffraction data of core-shell nanoparticles from an X-ray free electron laser

X-ray free-electron lasers provide novel opportunities to conduct single particle analysis on nanoscale particles. Coherent diffractive imaging experiments were performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Laboratory, exposing single inorganic core-shell nanoparticles to femtosecond hard-X-ray pulses. Each facetted nanoparticle consisted of a crystalline gold core and a differently shaped palladium shell. Scattered intensities were observed up to about 7 nm resolution. Analysis of the scattering patterns revealed the size distribution of the samples, which is consistent with that obtained from direct real-space imaging by electron microscopy. Scattering patterns resulting from single particles were selected and compiled into a dataset which can be valuable for algorithm developments in single particle scattering research.

Protein structure determination by single-wavelength anomalous diffraction phasing of X-ray free-electron laser data

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) offers unprecedented possibilities for macromolecular structure determination of systems that are prone to radiation damage. However, phasing XFEL data de novo is complicated by the inherent inaccuracy of SFX data, and only a few successful examples, mostly based on exceedingly strong anomalous or isomorphous difference signals, have been reported. Here, it is shown that SFX data from thaumatin microcrystals can be successfully phased using only the weak anomalous scattering from the endogenous S atoms. Moreover, a step-by-step investigation is presented of the particular problems of SAD phasing of SFX data, analysing data from a derivative with a strong anomalous signal as well as the weak signal from endogenous S atoms.

Towards phasing using high X-ray intensity

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.

Direct observation of ultrafast collective motions in CO myoglobin upon ligand dissociation

The hemoprotein myoglobin is a model system for the study of protein dynamics. We used time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography at an x-ray free-electron laser to resolve the ultrafast structural changes in the carbonmonoxy myoglobin complex upon photolysis of the Fe-CO bond. Structural changes appear throughout the protein within 500 femtoseconds, with the C, F, and H helices moving away from the heme cofactor and the E and A helices moving toward it. These collective movements are predicted by hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations. Together with the observed oscillations of residues contacting the heme, our calculations support the prediction that an immediate collective response of the protein occurs upon ligand dissociation, as a result of heme vibrational modes coupling to global modes of the protein.

Electronic damage in S atoms in a native protein crystal induced by an intense X-ray free-electron laser pulse

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.

Structural studies of P-type ATPase-ligand complexes using an X-ray free-electron laser

Membrane proteins are key players in biological systems, mediating signalling events and the specific transport of e.g. ions and metabolites. Consequently, membrane proteins are targeted by a large number of currently approved drugs. Understanding their functions and molecular mechanisms is greatly dependent on structural information, not least on complexes with functionally or medically important ligands. Structure determination, however, is hampered by the difficulty of obtaining well diffracting, macroscopic crystals. Here, the feasibility of X-ray free-electron-laser-based serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) for the structure determination of membrane protein-ligand complexes using microcrystals of various native-source and recombinant P-type ATPase complexes is demonstrated. The data reveal the binding sites of a variety of ligands, including lipids and inhibitors such as the hallmark P-type ATPase inhibitor orthovanadate. By analyzing the resolution dependence of ligand densities and overall model qualities, SFX data quality metrics as well as suitable refinement procedures are discussed. Even at relatively low resolution and multiplicity, the identification of ligands can be demonstrated. This makes SFX a useful tool for ligand screening and thus for unravelling the molecular mechanisms of biologically active proteins.

Effects of self-seeding and crystal post-selection on the quality of Monte Carlo-integrated SFX data

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) is an emerging method for data collection at free-electron lasers (FELs) in which single diffraction snapshots are taken from a large number of crystals. The partial intensities collected in this way are then combined in a scheme called Monte Carlo integration, which provides the full diffraction intensities. However, apart from having to perform this merging, the Monte Carlo integration must also average out all variations in crystal quality, crystal size, X-ray beam properties and other factors, necessitating data collection from thousands of crystals. Because the pulses provided by FELs running in the typical self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) mode of operation have very irregular, spiky spectra that vary strongly from pulse to pulse, it has been suggested that this is an important source of variation contributing to inaccuracies in the intensities, and that, by using monochromatic pulses produced through a process called self-seeding, fewer images might be needed for Monte Carlo integration to converge, resulting in more accurate data. This paper reports the results of two experiments performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source in which data collected in both SASE and self-seeded mode were compared. Importantly, no improvement attributable to the use of self-seeding was detected. In addition, other possible sources of variation that affect SFX data quality were investigated, such as crystal-to-crystal variations reflected in the unit-cell parameters; however, these factors were found to have no influence on data quality either. Possibly, there is another source of variation as yet undetected that affects SFX data quality much more than any of the factors investigated here.

Characterization and use of the spent beam for serial operation of LCLS

X-ray free-electron laser sources such as the Linac Coherent Light Source offer very exciting possibilities for unique research. However, beam time at such facilities is very limited and in high demand. This has led to significant efforts towards beam multiplexing of various forms. One such effort involves re-using the so-called spent beam that passes through the hole in an area detector after a weak interaction with a primary sample. This beam can be refocused into a secondary interaction region and used for a second, independent experiment operating in series. The beam profile of this refocused beam was characterized for a particular experimental geometry at the Coherent X-ray Imaging instrument at LCLS. A demonstration of this multiplexing capability was performed with two simultaneous serial femtosecond crystallography experiments, both yielding interpretable data of sufficient quality to produce electron density maps.

Indications of radiation damage in ferredoxin microcrystals using high-intensity X-FEL beams

Proteins that contain metal cofactors are expected to be highly radiation sensitive since the degree of X-ray absorption correlates with the presence of high-atomic-number elements and X-ray energy. To explore the effects of local damage in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX), Clostridium ferredoxin was used as a model system. The protein contains two [4Fe-4S] clusters that serve as sensitive probes for radiation-induced electronic and structural changes. High-dose room-temperature SFX datasets were collected at the Linac Coherent Light Source of ferredoxin microcrystals. Difference electron density maps calculated from high-dose SFX and synchrotron data show peaks at the iron positions of the clusters, indicative of decrease of atomic scattering factors due to ionization. The electron density of the two [4Fe-4S] clusters differs in the FEL data, but not in the synchrotron data. Since the clusters differ in their detailed architecture, this observation is suggestive of an influence of the molecular bonding and geometry on the atomic displacement dynamics following initial photoionization. The experiments are complemented by plasma code calculations.

Room-temperature serial crystallography at synchrotron X-ray sources using slowly flowing free-standing high-viscosity microstreams

Recent advances in synchrotron sources, beamline optics and detectors are driving a renaissance in room-temperature data collection. The underlying impetus is the recognition that conformational differences are observed in functionally important regions of structures determined using crystals kept at ambient as opposed to cryogenic temperature during data collection. In addition, room-temperature measurements enable time-resolved studies and eliminate the need to find suitable cryoprotectants. Since radiation damage limits the high-resolution data that can be obtained from a single crystal, especially at room temperature, data are typically collected in a serial fashion using a number of crystals to spread the total dose over the entire ensemble. Several approaches have been developed over the years to efficiently exchange crystals for room-temperature data collection. These includein situcollection in trays, chips and capillary mounts. Here, the use of a slowly flowing microscopic stream for crystal delivery is demonstrated, resulting in extremely high-throughput delivery of crystals into the X-ray beam. This free-stream technology, which was originally developed for serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers, is here adapted to serial crystallography at synchrotrons. By embedding the crystals in a high-viscosity carrier stream, high-resolution room-temperature studies can be conducted at atmospheric pressure using the unattenuated X-ray beam, thus permitting the analysis of small or weakly scattering crystals. The high-viscosity extrusion injector is described, as is its use to collect high-resolution serial data from native and heavy-atom-derivatized lysozyme crystals at the Swiss Light Source using less than half a milligram of protein crystals. The room-temperature serial data allowde novostructure determination. The crystal size used in this proof-of-principle experiment was dictated by the available flux density. However, upcoming developments in beamline optics, detectors and synchrotron sources will enable the use of true microcrystals. This high-throughput, high-dose-rate methodology provides a new route to investigating the structure and dynamics of macromolecules at ambient temperature.

Expression, purification and crystallization of CTB-MPR, a candidate mucosal vaccine component against HIV-1

CTB-MPR is a fusion protein between the B subunit of cholera toxin (CTB) and the membrane-proximal region of gp41 (MPR), the transmembrane envelope protein of Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), and has previously been shown to induce the production of anti-HIV-1 antibodies with antiviral functions. To further improve the design of this candidate vaccine, X-ray crystallography experiments were performed to obtain structural information about this fusion protein. Several variants of CTB-MPR were designed, constructed and recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli. The first variant contained a flexible GPGP linker between CTB and MPR, and yielded crystals that diffracted to a resolution of 2.3 Å, but only the CTB region was detected in the electron-density map. A second variant, in which the CTB was directly attached to MPR, was shown to destabilize pentamer formation. A third construct containing a polyalanine linker between CTB and MPR proved to stabilize the pentameric form of the protein during purification. The purification procedure was shown to produce a homogeneously pure and monodisperse sample for crystallization. Initial crystallization experiments led to pseudo-crystals which were ordered in only two dimensions and were disordered in the third dimension. Nanocrystals obtained using the same precipitant showed promising X-ray diffraction to 5 Å resolution in femtosecond nanocrystallography experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The results demonstrate the utility of femtosecond X-ray crystallography to enable structural analysis based on nano/microcrystals of a protein for which no macroscopic crystals ordered in three dimensions have been observed before.

Visualizing a protein quake with time-resolved X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser

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.

Room Temperature Serial Crystallography at Synchrotrons

Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SFX) is the most commonly used method for the emerging structure determination at X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs). The high peak brilliance of the FEL and the possibility of using femtosecond pulses afford use of nano-to-micron sized crystals in a diffraction-before-destruction approach for the acquisition of high-resolution undamaged diffraction data [1]. The crystals are obliterated upon exposure to an FEL X-ray pulse so only a single snapshot can be collected per crystal, necessitating a constant supply of fresh crystals. The crystals are therefore injected in a liquid microjet [2], [3]. We show that this serial method of data collection and the associated data analysis can be successfully adapted to serial crystallography (SX) measurements at synchrotrons, enabling room temperature studies using the unattenuated beam. Given the continuous supply of fresh crystals, the full tolerable dose can be used for each single crystal exposure, permitting analysis of small or weakly scattering crystals. FEL X-ray pulses are much shorter than the fraction of a second exposure time at a synchrotron, so SFX injection conditions are modified in SX such as to slow down the typically fast travelling crystals. By embedding the crystals in a viscous material the crystals remain in the beam long enough to yield measurable diffraction and smearing out of the diffraction peaks due to crystal tumbling is avoided. We demonstrate the successful application of room temperature SX at the Swiss Light Source at ambient pressure. Our experimental setup allows collection of both still and rotation data. Recent progress using model systems will be presented, establishing this high throughput, high dose rate approach as a new route to structure determination of macromolecules in their native environment and at room temperature.

De novo phasing of protein crystallography data from a free-electron laser

Free-electron lasers (FELs) are pushing back the limits of possibility in protein crystallography. Using the high-intensity, femtosecond duration pulses afforded by FELs allow data collection from micrometer-sized crystals while outrunning radiation damage. Moreover, FELs may be used for pump-probe experiments with unprecedented time resolution. However, the intricacies of FEL data collection pose specific challenges: as every FEL pulse destroys the sample, data are mostly collected from a stream of microcrystals and averaged to remove the variations in crystal size and quality as well as shot-to-shot variations in beam parameters. This technique is called serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX). In SFX, several tens of thousands of images typically need to be averaged to obtain reasonably accurate structure factor amplitudes. We previously showed that SFX yields structure factor amplitudes accurate enough to detect the weak anomalous signal of endogenous sulfur atoms. Now we show that SFX can be used to collect data accurate enough for de-novo phasing of a protein structure[1]. Using a model system (gadolinium-derivatized lysozyme) we collected ~60,000 diffraction images and obtained structure factor amplitudes that allowed phasing by single-wavelength anomalous diffraction. This first demonstration of de novo phasing from FEL data leads us to anticipate that FEL-based crystallography will become an important tool for the structure determination of proteins that are extremely radiation sensitive or that are difficult to crystallize, such as membrane proteins.

Structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre determined by serial femtosecond crystallography

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.

Serial femtosecond crystallography is an X-ray free-electron-laser-based method that uses X-ray bursts to determine protein structures. Here the authors present the structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre, an integral membrane protein, achieved with no sign of X-ray-induced radiation damage.

Serial femtosecond X-ray diffraction of 30S ribosomal subunit microcrystals in liquid suspension at ambient temperature using an X-ray free-electron laser

High-resolution ribosome structures determined by X-ray crystallography have provided important insights into the mechanism of translation. Such studies have thus far relied on large ribosome crystals kept at cryogenic temperatures to reduce radiation damage. Here, the application of serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (SFX) using an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) to obtain diffraction data from ribosome microcrystals in liquid suspension at ambient temperature is described. 30S ribosomal subunit microcrystals diffracted to beyond 6 Å resolution, demonstrating the feasibility of using SFX for ribosome structural studies. The ability to collect diffraction data at near-physiological temperatures promises to provide fundamental insights into the structural dynamics of the ribosome and its functional complexes.

Single-particle structure determination by correlations of snapshot X-ray diffraction patterns

Diffractive imaging with free-electron lasers allows structure determination from ensembles of weakly scattering identical nanoparticles. The ultra-short, ultra-bright X-ray pulses provide snapshots of the randomly oriented particles frozen in time, and terminate before the onset of structural damage. As signal strength diminishes for small particles, the synthesis of a three-dimensional diffraction volume requires simultaneous involvement of all data. Here we report the first application of a three-dimensional spatial frequency correlation analysis to carry out this synthesis from noisy single-particle femtosecond X-ray diffraction patterns of nearly identical samples in random and unknown orientations, collected at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Our demonstration uses unsupported test particles created via aerosol self-assembly, and composed of two polystyrene spheres of equal diameter. The correlation analysis avoids the need for orientation determination entirely. This method may be applied to the structural determination of biological macromolecules in solution.

Natively inhibited Trypanosoma brucei cathepsin B structure determined by using an X-ray laser

The Trypanosoma brucei cysteine protease cathepsin B (TbCatB), which is involved in host protein degradation, is a promising target to develop new treatments against sleeping sickness, a fatal disease caused by this protozoan parasite. The structure of the mature, active form of TbCatB has so far not provided sufficient information for the design of a safe and specific drug against T. brucei. By combining two recent innovations, in vivo crystallization and serial femtosecond crystallography, we obtained the room-temperature 2.1 angstrom resolution structure of the fully glycosylated precursor complex of TbCatB. The structure reveals the mechanism of native TbCatB inhibition and demonstrates that new biomolecular information can be obtained by the "diffraction-before-destruction" approach of x-ray free-electron lasers from hundreds of thousands of individual microcrystals.

High-resolution protein structure determination by serial femtosecond crystallography

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.

Injector for scattering measurements on fully solvated biospecies

We describe a liquid jet injector system developed to deliver fully solvated microscopic target species into a probe beam under either vacuum or ambient conditions. The injector was designed specifically for x-ray scattering studies of biological nanospecies using x-ray free electron lasers and third generation synchrotrons, but is of interest to any application in which microscopic samples must be delivered in a fully solvated state and with microscopic precision. By utilizing a gas dynamic virtual nozzle (GDVN) to generate a sample-containing liquid jet of diameter ranging from 300 nm to 20 μm, the injector avoids the clogging problems associated in this size range with conventional Rayleigh jets. A differential pumping system incorporated into the injector shields the experimental chamber from the gas load of the GDVN, making the injector compatible with high vacuum systems. The injector houses a fiber-optically coupled pump laser to illuminate the jet for pump-probe experiments and a hermetically sealed microscope to observe the liquid jet for diagnostics and alignment during operation. This injector system has now been used during several experimental runs at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Recent refinements in GDVN design are also presented.

Femtosecond free-electron laser x-ray diffraction data sets for algorithm development

We describe femtosecond X-ray diffraction data sets of viruses and nanoparticles collected at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The data establish the first large benchmark data sets for coherent diffraction methods freely available to the public, to bolster the development of algorithms that are essential for developing this novel approach as a useful imaging technique. Applications are 2D reconstructions, orientation classification and finally 3D imaging by assembling 2D patterns into a 3D diffraction volume.

Time-resolved protein nanocrystallography using an X-ray free-electron laser

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.

In vivo protein crystallization opens new routes in structural biology

Protein crystallization in cells has been observed several times in nature. However, owing to their small size these crystals have not yet been used for X-ray crystallographic analysis. We prepared nano-sized in vivo-grown crystals of Trypanosoma brucei enzymes and applied the emerging method of free-electron laser-based serial femtosecond crystallography to record interpretable diffraction data. This combined approach will open new opportunities in structural systems biology.

Self-terminating diffraction gates femtosecond X-ray nanocrystallography measurements

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 information^1-4. 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.

Radiation damage in protein serial femtosecond crystallography using an x-ray free-electron laser

X-ray free-electron lasers deliver intense femtosecond pulses that promise to yield high resolution diffraction data of nanocrystals before the destruction of the sample by radiation damage. Diffraction intensities of lysozyme nanocrystals collected at the Linac Coherent Light Source using 2 keV photons were used for structure determination by molecular replacement and analyzed for radiation damage as a function of pulse length and fluence. Signatures of radiation damage are observed for pulses as short as 70 fs. Parametric scaling used in conventional crystallography does not account for the observed effects.

Signal, noise, and resolution in correlated fluctuations from snapshot small-angle x-ray scattering

It has been suggested that the three-dimensional structure of one particle may be reconstructed using the scattering from many identical, randomly oriented copies ab initio, without modeling or a priori information. This may be possible if these particles are frozen in either space or time, so that the conventional two-dimensional small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) distribution contains fluctuations and is no longer isotropic. We consider the magnitude of the correlated fluctuation SAXS (CFSAXS) signal for typical x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) beam conditions and compare this against the errors derived with the inclusion of Poisson photon counting statistics. The resulting signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is found to rapidly approach a limit independent of the number of particles contributing to each diffraction pattern, so that the addition of more particles to a "single-particle-per-shot" experiment may be of little value, apart from reducing solvent background. When the scattering power is significantly less than one photon per particle per Shannon pixel, the SNR grows in proportion to incident flux. We provide simulations for protein molecules in support of these analytical results, and discuss the effects of solvent background scatter. We consider the SNR dependence on resolution and particle size, and discuss the application of the method to glasses and liquids, and the implications of more powerful XFELs, smaller focused beams, and higher pulse repetition rates for this approach. We find that an accurate CFSAXS measurement may be acquired to subnanometer resolution for protein molecules if a 9-keV beam containing 10(13) photons is focused to a ~100-nm spot diameter, provided that the effects of solvent background can be reduced sufficiently.

X-ray diffraction from membrane protein nanocrystals

Membrane proteins constitute > 30% of the proteins in an average cell, and yet the number of currently known structures of unique membrane proteins is < 300. To develop new concepts for membrane protein structure determination, we have explored the serial nanocrystallography method, in which fully hydrated protein nanocrystals are delivered to an x-ray beam within a liquid jet at room temperature. As a model system, we have collected x-ray powder diffraction data from the integral membrane protein Photosystem I, which consists of 36 subunits and 381 cofactors. Data were collected from crystals ranging in size from 100 nm to 2 μm. The results demonstrate that there are membrane protein crystals that contain < 100 unit cells (200 total molecules) and that 3D crystals of membrane proteins, which contain < 200 molecules, may be suitable for structural investigation. Serial nanocrystallography overcomes the problem of x-ray damage, which is currently one of the major limitations for x-ray structure determination of small crystals. By combining serial nanocrystallography with x-ray free-electron laser sources in the future, it may be possible to produce molecular-resolution electron-density maps using membrane protein crystals that contain only a few hundred or thousand unit cells.