Exploring hydrophobic sites in proteins with xenon or krypton

X-ray diffraction is used to study the binding of xenon and krypton to a variety of crystallised proteins: porcine pancreatic elastase; subtilisin Carlsberg from Bacillus licheniformis; cutinase from Fusarium solani; collagenase from Hypoderma lineatum; hen egg lysozyme, the lipoamide dehydrogenase domain from the outer membrane protein P64k from Neisseria meningitidis; urate-oxidase from Aspergillus flavus, mosquitocidal delta-endotoxin CytB from Bacillus thuringiensis and the ligand-binding domain of the human nuclear retinoid-X receptor RXR-alpha. Under gas pressures ranging from 8 to 20 bar, xenon is able to bind to discrete sites in hydrophobic cavities, ligand and substrate binding pockets, and into the pore of channel-like structures, These xenon complexes can be used to map hydrophobic sites in proteins, or as heavy-atom derivatives in the isomorphous replacement method of structure determination. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

High-pressure krypton gas and statistical heavy-atom refinement: A successful combination of tools for macromolecular structure determination

The noble gas krypton is shown to bind to crystallized proteins in a similar way to xenon [Schiltz, Prange & Fourme (1994). J. Appl. Cryst. 27, 950-960]. Preliminary tests show that the major krypton binding sites are essentially identical to those of xenon. Noticeable substitution is achieved only at substantially higher pressures (above 50 x 10(5) Pa). As is the case for xenon, the protein complexes with krypton are highly isomorphous with the native structure so that these complexes can be used for phase determination in protein crystallography. Krypton is not as heavy as xenon, but its K-absorption edge is situated at a wavelength (0.86 Angstrom) that is readily accessible on synchrotron radiation sources. As a test case, X-ray diffraction data at the high-energy side of the K edge were collected on a crystal of porcine pancreatic elastase (molecular weight of 25.9 kDa) put under a krypton gas pressure of 56 x 10(5) Pa. The occupancy of the single Kr atom is approximately 0.5, giving isomorphous and anomalous scattering strengths of 15.2 and 1.9 e, respectively. This derivative could be used successfully for phase determination with the SIRAS method (single isomorphous replacement with anomalous scattering). After phase improvement by solvent flattening, the resulting electron-density map is of exceptionally high quality, and has a correlation coefficient of 0.85 with a map calculated from the refined native structure. Careful data collection and processing, as well as the correct statistical treatment of isomorphous and anomalous signals have proven to be crucial in the determination of this electron-density map. Heavy-atom refinement and phasing were carried out with the program SHARP, which is a fully fledged implementation of the maximum-likelihood theory for heavy-atom refinement [Bricogne (1991). Crystallographic Computing 5, edited by D. Moras, A. D. Podjarny & J. C. Thierry, pp. 257-297. Oxford: Clarendon Press]. It is concluded that the use of xenon and krypton derivatives, when they can be obtained, associated with statistical heavy-atom refinement will allow one to overcome the two major limitations of the isomorphous replacement method i.e. non-isomorphism and the problem of optimal estimation of heavy-atom parameters.

1997

Protein crystallography at ultra-short wavelengths: Feasibility study of anomalous-dispersion experiments at the xenon K-edge

A protein crystallography experiment at the xenon K-edge (lambda = 0.358 Angstrom) has been successfully carried out at the materials science beamline (BL2/ID11) of the ESRF. The samples used in this methodological study were crystals of porcine pancreatic elastase, a 26 kDa protein of known structure. The diffraction data are of excellent quality. The combination of isomorphous replacement and anomalous dispersion of a single xenon heavy-atom derivative allowed accurate phase determination and the computation of a high-quality electron density map of the protein molecule. This is the first fully documented report on a complete protein crystallography experiment, from data collection up to phase determination and calculation of an electron density map, carried out with data obtained at ultra-short wavelengths. Experimental considerations as well as possible advantages and drawbacks of protein crystallography at very short and ultra-short wavelengths are discussed.

1997

High-pressure krypton gas and statistical heavy-atom refinement: A successful combination of tools for macromolecular structure determination

1997