Implementation of wedged-serial protein crystallography at PROXIMA-1.

An approach for serial crystallography experiments based on wedged-data collection is described. This is an alternative method for recording in situ X-ray diffraction data on crystalline samples efficiently loaded in an X-ray compatible microfluidic chip. Proper handling of the microfluidic chip places crystalline samples at geometrically known positions with respect to the focused X-ray interaction area for serial data collection of small wedges. The integration of this strategy takes advantage of the greatly modular sample environment available on the endstation, which allows access to both in situ and more classical cryo-crystallography with minimum time loss. The method represents another optional data collection approach that adds up to the already large set of methods made available to users. Coupled with the advances in processing serial crystallography data, the wedged-data collection strategy proves highly efficient in minimizing the amount of required sample crystals for recording a complete dataset. From the advances in microfluidic technology presented here, high-throughput room-temperature crystallography experiments may become routine and should be easily extended to industrial use.

PROXIMA-1 beamline for macromolecular crystallography measurements at Synchrotron SOLEIL.

The undulator beamline PROXIMA-1 at Synchrotron SOLEIL scheduled its first users in March 2008. The endstation is dedicated to biomolecular crystallography experiments, with a layout designed to favour anomalous data recording and studies of crystals with large cell dimensions. In 12 years, the beamline has accommodated 4267 shifts of 8 h and more than 6300 visitors. By the end of 2020, it saw 1039 identified published scientific papers referring to 1415 coordinates deposited in the Protein Data Bank. The current paper describes the PROXIMA-1 beamline, including the recent specific implementations developed for the sample environment. The setup installed in the experimental station contains numerous beam-shaping equipment, a chi-geometry three-axis goniometer, a single-photon-counting pixel-array X-ray detector, combined with a medium-throughput sample exchange robot. As part of a standard experimental scheme, PROXIMA-1 can also be accessed via `mail-in' services or remotely.

Role of the C-terminal Extension of Formin 2 in Its Activation by Spire Protein and Processive Assembly of Actin Filaments.

Formin 2 (Fmn2), a member of the FMN family of formins, plays an important role in early development. This formin cooperates with profilin and Spire, a WASP homology domain 2 (WH2) repeat protein, to stimulate assembly of a dynamic cytoplasmic actin meshwork that facilitates translocation of the meiotic spindle in asymmetric division of mouse oocytes. The kinase-like non-catalytic domain (KIND) of Spire directly interacts with the C-terminal extension of the formin homology domain 2 (FH2) domain of Fmn2, called FSI. This direct interaction is required for the synergy between the two proteins in actin assembly. We have recently demonstrated how Spire, which caps barbed ends via its WH2 domains, activates Fmn2. Fmn2 by itself associates very poorly to filament barbed ends but is rapidly recruited to Spire-capped barbed ends via the KIND domain, and it subsequently displaces Spire from the barbed end to elicit rapid processive assembly from profilin·actin. Here, we address the mechanism by which Spire and Fmn2 compete at barbed ends and the role of FSI in orchestrating this competition as well as in the processivity of Fmn2. We have combined microcalorimetric, fluorescence, and hydrodynamic binding assays, as well as bulk solution and single filament measurements of actin assembly, to show that removal of FSI converts Fmn2 into a Capping Protein. This activity is mimicked by association of KIND to Fmn2. In addition, FSI binds actin at filament barbed ends as a weak capper and plays a role in displacing the WH2 domains of Spire from actin, thus allowing the association of actin-binding regions of FH2 to the barbed end.

Control of polarized assembly of actin filaments in cell motility.

Actin cytoskeleton remodeling, which drives changes in cell shape and motility, is orchestrated by a coordinated control of polarized assembly of actin filaments. Signal responsive, membrane-bound protein machineries initiate and regulate polarized growth of actin filaments by mediating transient links with their barbed ends, which elongate from polymerizable actin monomers. The barbed end of an actin filament thus stands out as a hotspot of regulation of filament assembly. It is the target of both soluble and membrane-bound agonists as well as antagonists of filament assembly. Here, we review the molecular mechanisms by which various regulators of actin dynamics bind, synergize or compete at filament barbed ends. Two proteins can compete for the barbed end via a mutually exclusive binding scheme. Alternatively, two regulators acting individually at barbed ends may be bound together transiently to terminal actin subunits at barbed ends, leading to the displacement of one by the other. The kinetics of these reactions is a key in understanding how filament length and membrane-filament linkage are controlled. It is also essential for understanding how force is produced to shape membranes by mechano-sensitive, processive barbed end tracking machineries like formins and by WASP-Arp2/3 branched filament arrays. A combination of biochemical and biophysical approaches, including bulk solution assembly measurements using pyrenyl-actin fluorescence, single filament dynamics, single molecule fluorescence imaging and reconstituted self-organized filament assemblies, have provided mechanistic insight into the role of actin polymerization in motile processes.

Spire and Formin 2 synergize and antagonize in regulating actin assembly in meiosis by a ping-pong mechanism.

In mammalian oocytes, three actin binding proteins, Formin 2 (Fmn2), Spire, and profilin, synergistically organize a dynamic cytoplasmic actin meshwork that mediates translocation of the spindle toward the cortex and is required for successful fertilization. Here we characterize Fmn2 and elucidate the molecular mechanism for this synergy, using bulk solution and individual filament kinetic measurements of actin assembly dynamics. We show that by capping filament barbed ends, Spire recruits Fmn2 and facilitates its association with barbed ends, followed by rapid processive assembly and release of Spire. In the presence of actin, profilin, Spire, and Fmn2, filaments display alternating phases of rapid processive assembly and arrested growth, driven by a "ping-pong" mechanism, in which Spire and Fmn2 alternately kick off each other from the barbed ends. The results are validated by the effects of injection of Spire, Fmn2, and their interacting moieties in mouse oocytes. This original mechanism of regulation of a Rho-GTPase-independent formin, recruited by Spire at Rab11a-positive vesicles, supports a model for modulation of a dynamic actin-vesicle meshwork in the oocyte at the origin of asymmetric positioning of the meiotic spindle.

Mutagenetic and electron microscopy analysis of actin filament severing by Cordon-Bleu, a WH2 domain protein.

Cordon-Bleu (Cobl) is a regulator of actin dynamics in neural development and ciliogenesis. Its function is associated with three adjacent actin binding WASP Homology 2 (WH2) domains. We showed that these WH2 repeats confer multifunctional regulation of actin dynamics, which makes Cobl a « dynamizer ¼ of actin assembly, inducing fast turnover of actin filaments and oscillatory polymerization regime via nucleation, severing, and rapid depolymerization activities. Cobl is the most efficient severer of actin filaments characterized so far. To understand which primary sequence elements determine the filament severing activity of the WH2 repeats, here we combine a mutagenetic/domain swapping approach of the minimal fully active Cobl-KAB construct, which comprises the lysine rich region K preceding the two first WH2 domains A and B. The mutated Cobl constructs display variable loss of the original filament nucleating activities of native Cobl-KAB, without any strict correlation with a loss in actin binding, which emphasizes the functional importance of the electrostatic environment of WH2 domains. Filament severing displayed the greatest stringency and was abolished in all mutated forms of Cobl-KAB. Filament severing and re-annealing by Cobl-KAB, which is key in its rapid remodeling of a population of actin filaments, and most likely responsible for its function in ciliogenesis, was analyzed by electron microscopy in comparison with Spire and ADF.

Determination of membrane protein structures using solution and solid-state NMR.

NMR is an essential tool to characterize the structure, dynamics, and interactions of biomolecules at an atomic level. Its application to membrane protein (MP) structure determination is challenging and currently an active and rapidly developing field. Main difficulties are the low sensitivity of the technique, the size limitation, and the intrinsic motional properties of the system under investigation. Solution and solid-state NMR (ssNMR) have common and own specific requirements. Solution NMR requires a careful choice of the detergent, elaborated stable isotope labelling schemes to overcome signal overlaps and to collect distance restraints. Excessive spectra crowding hampered large MP structure determination by ssNMR, and so far only high resolution structure of small or fragments of MP have been determined. However, ssNMR provides the unique opportunity to obtain atomic level information of MP in phospholipid bilayers such as orientation of the protein in the membrane. Specific and careful sample preparations are required in combination with uniformly and partially labelled protein for ssNMR spectra assignment. Distance restraints measurements benefit from methodologies currently developed for small soluble proteins in micro-crystalline state.Recent advances in the field increased the releasing rate of high resolution MP structures, providing unprecedented structural and dynamics information making NMR a powerful tool for structural and functional membrane protein studies.

Structural determinants for Ca2+ and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate binding by the C2A domain of rabphilin-3A.

Rabphilin-3A is a neuronal C2 domain tandem containing protein involved in vesicle trafficking. Both its C2 domains (C2A and C2B) are able to bind phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, a key player in the neurotransmitter release process. The rabphilin-3A C2A domain has previously been shown to bind inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3; phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate headgroup) in a Ca2+-dependent manner with a relatively high affinity (50 microm) in the presence of saturating concentrations of Ca2+. Moreover, IP3 and Ca2+ binding to the C2A domain mutually enhance each other. Here we present the Ca2+-bound solution structure of the C2A domain. Structural comparison with the previously published Ca2+-free crystal structure revealed that Ca2+ binding induces a conformational change of Ca2+ binding loop 3 (CBL3). Our IP3 binding studies as well as our IP3-C2A docking model show the active involvement of CBL3 in IP3 binding, suggesting that the conformational change on CBL3 upon Ca2+ binding enables the interaction with IP3 and vice versa, in line with a target-activated messenger affinity mechanism. Our data provide detailed structural insight into the functional properties of the rabphilin-3A C2A domain and reveal for the first time the structural determinants of a target-activated messenger affinity mechanism.

The PIP2 binding mode of the C2 domains of rabphilin-3A.

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) is a key player in the neurotransmitter release process. Rabphilin-3A is a neuronal C2 domain tandem containing protein that is involved in this process. Both its C2 domains (C2A and C2B) are able to bind PIP2. The investigation of the interactions of the two C2 domains with the PIP2 headgroup IP3 (inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate) by NMR showed that a well-defined binding site can be described on the concave surface of each domain. The binding modes of the two domains are different. The binding of IP3 to the C2A domain is strongly enhanced by Ca(2+) and is characterized by a K(D) of 55 microM in the presence of a saturating concentration of Ca(2+) (5 mM). Reciprocally, the binding of IP3 increases the apparent Ca(2+)-binding affinity of the C2A domain in agreement with a Target-Activated Messenger Affinity (TAMA) mechanism. The C2B domain binds IP3 in a Ca(2+)-independent fashion with low affinity. These different PIP2 headgroup recognition modes suggest that PIP2 is a target of the C2A domain of rabphilin-3A while this phospholipid is an effector of the C2B domain.

The C2A-C2B linker defines the high affinity Ca(2+) binding mode of rabphilin-3A.

The Ca(2+) binding properties of C2 domains are essential for the function of their host proteins. We present here the first crystal structures showing an unexpected Ca(2+) binding mode of the C2B domain of rabphilin-3A in atomic detail. Acidic residues from the linker region between the C2A and C2B domains of rabphilin-3A interact with the Ca(2+)-binding region of the C2B domain. Because of these interactions, the coordination sphere of the two bound Ca(2+) ions is almost complete. Mutation of these acidic residues to alanine resulted in a 10-fold decrease in the intrinsic Ca(2+) binding affinity of the C2B domain. Using NMR spectroscopy, we show that this interaction occurred only in the Ca(2+)-bound state of the C2B domain. In addition, this Ca(2+) binding mode was maintained in the C2 domain tandem fragment. In NMR-based liposome binding assays, the linker was not released upon phospholipid binding. Therefore, this unprecedented Ca(2+) binding mode not only shows how a C2 domain increases its intrinsic Ca(2+) affinity, but also provides the structural base for an atypical protein-Ca(2+)-phospholipid binding mode of rabphilin-3A.

Structure of the C2A domain of rabphilin-3A.

Rabphilin-3A is a neuronal protein containing a C2-domain tandem. To date, only the structure of the C2B domain has been solved. The crystal structure of the Ca2+-free C2A domain has been solved by molecular replacement and refined to 1.92 A resolution. It adopts the classical C2-domain fold consisting of an eight-stranded antiparallel beta-sandwich with type I topology. In agreement with its Ca2+-dependent negatively charged membrane-binding properties, this C2 domain contains all the conserved acidic residues responsible for calcium binding. However, the replacement of a conserved aspartic acid residue by glutamic acid allows formation of an additional strong hydrogen bond, resulting in increased rigidity of calcium-binding loop 1. The electrostatic surface of the C2A domain consists of a large positively charged belt surrounded by two negatively charged patches located at both tips of the domain. In comparison, the structurally very similar C2A domain of synaptotagmin I has a highly acidic electrostatic surface, suggesting completely unrelated functions for these two C2A domains.

A new consensus sequence for phosphatidylserine recognition by annexins.

Annexins are abundant and ubiquitous proteins that bind, by their four structurally identical domain cores, to phosphatidylserine-containing membranes in the presence of Ca2+. Using molecular simulation and mutagenesis, we have identified a new phosphatidylserine-binding site in annexin V domain 1 and established its structure. The residues involved in this site constitute a consensus sequence highly conserved in all annexins. Remarkably, this consensus sequence is exclusively found in domains 1 or 2, sometimes in both, but never in domains 3 and 4. Such a pattern actually delineates three classes of annexins, shedding new light on the role played by the four-domain core of annexins that could encode specific information discriminating the different annexins that compete within a given cell for membrane binding. Our findings thus provide new strategies for understanding the regulation of the cellular functions of annexins.