Structure of the Fanconi anaemia monoubiquitin ligase complex.

The Fanconi anaemia (FA) pathway repairs DNA damage caused by endogenous and chemotherapy-induced DNA crosslinks, and responds to replication stress1,2. Genetic inactivation of this pathway by mutation of genes encoding FA complementation group (FANC) proteins impairs development, prevents blood production and promotes cancer1,3. The key molecular step in the FA pathway is the monoubiquitination of a pseudosymmetric heterodimer of FANCD2-FANCI4,5 by the FA core complex-a megadalton multiprotein E3 ubiquitin ligase6,7. Monoubiquitinated FANCD2 then recruits additional protein factors to remove the DNA crosslink or to stabilize the stalled replication fork. A molecular structure of the FA core complex would explain how it acts to maintain genome stability. Here we reconstituted an active, recombinant FA core complex, and used cryo-electron microscopy and mass spectrometry to determine its structure. The FA core complex comprises two central dimers of the FANCB and FA-associated protein of 100 kDa (FAAP100) subunits, flanked by two copies of the RING finger subunit, FANCL. These two heterotrimers act as a scaffold to assemble the remaining five subunits, resulting in an extended asymmetric structure. Destabilization of the scaffold would disrupt the entire complex, resulting in a non-functional FA pathway. Thus, the structure provides a mechanistic basis for the low numbers of patients with mutations in FANCB, FANCL and FAAP100. Despite a lack of sequence homology, FANCB and FAAP100 adopt similar structures. The two FANCL subunits are in different conformations at opposite ends of the complex, suggesting that each FANCL has a distinct role. This structural and functional asymmetry of dimeric RING finger domains may be a general feature of E3 ligases. The cryo-electron microscopy structure of the FA core complex provides a foundation for a detailed understanding of its E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and DNA interstrand crosslink repair.

Cryo-EM of dynein microtubule-binding domains shows how an axonemal dynein distorts the microtubule.

Dyneins are motor proteins responsible for transport in the cytoplasm and the beating of axonemes in cilia and flagella. They bind and release microtubules via a compact microtubule-binding domain (MTBD) at the end of a coiled-coil stalk. We address how cytoplasmic and axonemal dynein MTBDs bind microtubules at near atomic resolution. We decorated microtubules with MTBDs of cytoplasmic dynein-1 and axonemal dynein DNAH7 and determined their cryo-EM structures using helical Relion. The majority of the MTBD is rigid upon binding, with the transition to the high-affinity state controlled by the movement of a single helix at the MTBD interface. DNAH7 contains an 18-residue insertion, found in many axonemal dyneins, that contacts the adjacent protofilament. Unexpectedly, we observe that DNAH7, but not dynein-1, induces large distortions in the microtubule cross-sectional curvature. This raises the possibility that dynein coordination in axonemes is mediated via conformational changes in the microtubule.

Atomic Structure of Type VI Contractile Sheath from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has three type VI secretion systems (T6SSs), H1-, H2-, and H3-T6SS, each belonging to a distinct group. The two T6SS components, TssB/VipA and TssC/VipB, assemble to form tubules that conserve structural/functional homology with tail sheaths of contractile bacteriophages and pyocins. Here, we used cryoelectron microscopy to solve the structure of the H1-T6SS P. aeruginosa TssB1C1 sheath at 3.3 Å resolution. Our structure allowed us to resolve some features of the T6SS sheath that were not resolved in the Vibrio cholerae VipAB and Francisella tularensis IglAB structures. Comparison with sheath structures from other contractile machines, including T4 phage and R-type pyocins, provides a better understanding of how these systems have conserved similar functions/mechanisms despite evolution. We used the P. aeruginosa R2 pyocin as a structural template to build an atomic model of the TssB1C1 sheath in its extended conformation, allowing us to propose a coiled-spring-like mechanism for T6SS sheath contraction.

CryoEM structure of MxB reveals a novel oligomerization interface critical for HIV restriction.

Human dynamin-like, interferon-induced myxovirus resistance 2 (Mx2 or MxB) is a potent HIV-1 inhibitor. Antiviral activity requires both the amino-terminal region of MxB and protein oligomerization, each of which has eluded structural determination due to difficulties in protein preparation. We report that maltose binding protein-fused, full-length wild-type MxB purifies as oligomers and further self-assembles into helical arrays in physiological salt. Guanosine triphosphate (GTP), but not guanosine diphosphate, binding results in array disassembly, whereas subsequent GTP hydrolysis allows its reformation. Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM), we determined the MxB assembly structure at 4.6 Å resolution, representing the first near-atomic resolution structure in the mammalian dynamin superfamily. The structure revealed previously described and novel MxB assembly interfaces. Mutational analyses demonstrated a critical role for one of the novel interfaces in HIV-1 restriction.

Four-stranded mini microtubules formed by Prosthecobacter BtubAB show dynamic instability.

Microtubules, the dynamic, yet stiff hollow tubes built from αß-tubulin protein heterodimers, are thought to be present only in eukaryotic cells. Here, we report a 3.6-Å helical reconstruction electron cryomicroscopy structure of four-stranded mini microtubules formed by bacterial tubulin-like Prosthecobacter dejongeii BtubAB proteins. Despite their much smaller diameter, mini microtubules share many key structural features with eukaryotic microtubules, such as an M-loop, alternating subunits, and a seam that breaks overall helical symmetry. Using in vitro total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, we show that bacterial mini microtubules treadmill and display dynamic instability, another hallmark of eukaryotic microtubules. The third protein in the btub gene cluster, BtubC, previously known as "bacterial kinesin light chain," binds along protofilaments every 8 nm, inhibits BtubAB mini microtubule catastrophe, and increases rescue. Our work reveals that some bacteria contain regulated and dynamic cytomotive microtubule systems that were once thought to be only useful in much larger and sophisticated eukaryotic cells.

Cryo-EM structures of tau filaments from Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease, and there are no mechanism-based therapies. The disease is defined by the presence of abundant neurofibrillary lesions and neuritic plaques in the cerebral cortex. Neurofibrillary lesions comprise paired helical and straight tau filaments, whereas tau filaments with different morphologies characterize other neurodegenerative diseases. No high-resolution structures of tau filaments are available. Here we present cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) maps at 3.4-3.5 Å resolution and corresponding atomic models of paired helical and straight filaments from the brain of an individual with Alzheimer's disease. Filament cores are made of two identical protofilaments comprising residues 306-378 of tau protein, which adopt a combined cross-ß/ß-helix structure and define the seed for tau aggregation. Paired helical and straight filaments differ in their inter-protofilament packing, showing that they are ultrastructural polymorphs. These findings demonstrate that cryo-EM allows atomic characterization of amyloid filaments from patient-derived material, and pave the way for investigation of a range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Helical reconstruction in RELION.

We describe a new implementation for the reconstruction of helical assemblies in the empirical Bayesian framework of RELION. Our approach calculates optimal linear filters for the 3D reconstruction by embedding helical symmetry operators in Fourier-space, and deals with deviations from perfect helical symmetry through Gaussian-shaped priors on the orientations of individual segments. By incorporating our approach into the standard pipeline for single-particle analysis in RELION, our implementation aims to be easily accessible for non-experienced users. Although our implementation does not solve the problem that grossly incorrect structures can be obtained when the wrong helical symmetry is imposed, we show for four different test cases that it is capable of reconstructing structures to near-atomic resolution.

X-ray and cryo-EM structures of monomeric and filamentous actin-like protein MamK reveal changes associated with polymerization.

Magnetotactic bacteria produce iron-rich magnetic nanoparticles that are enclosed by membrane invaginations to form magnetosomes so they are able to sense and act upon Earth's magnetic field. In Magnetospirillum and other magnetotactic bacteria, to combine their magnetic moments, magnetosomes align along filaments formed by a bacterial actin homolog, MamK. Here, we present the crystal structure of a nonpolymerizing mutant of MamK from Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 at 1.8-Å resolution, revealing its close similarity to actin and MreB. The crystals contain AMPPNP-bound monomeric MamK in two different conformations. To investigate conformational changes associated with polymerization, we used unmodified MamK protein and cryo-EM with helical 3D reconstruction in RELION to obtain a density map and a fully refined atomic model of MamK in filamentous form at 3.6-Å resolution. The filament is parallel (polar) double-helical, with a rise of 52.2 Å and a twist of 23.8°. As shown previously and unusually for actin-like filaments, the MamK subunits from each of the two strands are juxtaposed, creating an additional twofold axis along the filament. Compared with monomeric MamK, ADP-bound MamK in the filament undergoes a conformational change, rotating domains I and II against each other to further close the interdomain cleft between subdomains IB and IIB. The domain movement causes several loops to close around the nucleotide-binding pocket. Glu-143, a key residue for catalysis coordinating the magnesium ion, moves closer, presumably switching nucleotide hydrolysis upon polymerization-one of the hallmarks of cytomotive filaments of the actin type.