Structural basis for Cas9 off-target activity.

The target DNA specificity of the CRISPR-associated genome editor nuclease Cas9 is determined by complementarity to a 20-nucleotide segment in its guide RNA. However, Cas9 can bind and cleave partially complementary off-target sequences, which raises safety concerns for its use in clinical applications. Here, we report crystallographic structures of Cas9 bound to bona fide off-target substrates, revealing that off-target binding is enabled by a range of noncanonical base-pairing interactions within the guide:off-target heteroduplex. Off-target substrates containing single-nucleotide deletions relative to the guide RNA are accommodated by base skipping or multiple noncanonical base pairs rather than RNA bulge formation. Finally, PAM-distal mismatches result in duplex unpairing and induce a conformational change in the Cas9 REC lobe that perturbs its conformational activation. Together, these insights provide a structural rationale for the off-target activity of Cas9 and contribute to the improved rational design of guide RNAs and off-target prediction algorithms.

Potent cross-reactive antibodies following Omicron breakthrough in vaccinees.

Highly transmissible Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 currently dominate globally. Here, we compare neutralization of Omicron BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2. BA.2 RBD has slightly higher ACE2 affinity than BA.1 and slightly reduced neutralization by vaccine serum, possibly associated with its increased transmissibility. Neutralization differences between sub-lineages for mAbs (including therapeutics) mostly arise from variation in residues bordering the ACE2 binding site; however, more distant mutations S371F (BA.2) and R346K (BA.1.1) markedly reduce neutralization by therapeutic antibody Vir-S309. In-depth structure-and-function analyses of 27 potent RBD-binding mAbs isolated from vaccinated volunteers following breakthrough Omicron-BA.1 infection reveals that they are focused in two main clusters within the RBD, with potent right-shoulder antibodies showing increased prevalence. Selection and somatic maturation have optimized antibody potency in less-mutated epitopes and recovered potency in highly mutated epitopes. All 27 mAbs potently neutralize early pandemic strains, and many show broad reactivity with variants of concern.

Structure and mechanism of human cystine exporter cystinosin.

Lysosomal amino acid efflux by proton-driven transporters is essential for lysosomal homeostasis, amino acid recycling, mTOR signaling, and maintaining lysosomal pH. To unravel the mechanisms of these transporters, we focus on cystinosin, a prototypical lysosomal amino acid transporter that exports cystine to the cytosol, where its reduction to cysteine supplies this limiting amino acid for diverse fundamental processes and controlling nutrient adaptation. Cystinosin mutations cause cystinosis, a devastating lysosomal storage disease. Here, we present structures of human cystinosin in lumen-open, cytosol-open, and cystine-bound states, which uncover the cystine recognition mechanism and capture the key conformational states of the transport cycle. Our structures, along with functional studies and double electron-electron resonance spectroscopic investigations, reveal the molecular basis for the transporter's conformational transitions and protonation switch, show conformation-dependent Ragulator-Rag complex engagement, and demonstrate an unexpected activation mechanism. These findings provide molecular insights into lysosomal amino acid efflux and a potential therapeutic strategy.

GPC3-Unc5 receptor complex structure and role in cell migration.

Neural migration is a critical step during brain development that requires the interactions of cell-surface guidance receptors. Cancer cells often hijack these mechanisms to disseminate. Here, we reveal crystal structures of Uncoordinated-5 receptor D (Unc5D) in complex with morphogen receptor glypican-3 (GPC3), forming an octameric glycoprotein complex. In the complex, four Unc5D molecules pack into an antiparallel bundle, flanked by four GPC3 molecules. Central glycan-glycan interactions are formed by N-linked glycans emanating from GPC3 (N241 in human) and C-mannosylated tryptophans of the Unc5D thrombospondin-like domains. MD simulations, mass spectrometry and structure-based mutants validate the crystallographic data. Anti-GPC3 nanobodies enhance or weaken Unc5-GPC3 binding and, together with mutant proteins, show that Unc5/GPC3 guide migrating pyramidal neurons in the mouse cortex, and cancer cells in an embryonic xenograft neuroblastoma model. The results demonstrate a conserved structural mechanism of cell guidance, where finely balanced Unc5-GPC3 interactions regulate cell migration.

An Overview of Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (MicroED).

The bedrock of drug discovery and a key tool for understanding cellular function and drug mechanisms of action is the structure determination of chemical compounds, peptides, and proteins. The development of new structure characterization tools, particularly those that fill critical gaps in existing methods, presents important steps forward for structural biology and drug discovery. The emergence of microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) expands the application of cryo-electron microscopy to include samples ranging from small molecules and membrane proteins to even large protein complexes using crystals that are one-billionth the size of those required for X-ray crystallography. This review outlines the conception, achievements, and exciting future trajectories for MicroED, an important addition to the existing biophysical toolkit.

The epitope arrangement on flavivirus particles contributes to Mab C10's extraordinary neutralization breadth across Zika and dengue viruses.

The human monoclonal antibody C10 exhibits extraordinary cross-reactivity, potently neutralizing Zika virus (ZIKV) and the four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV1-DENV4). Here we describe a comparative structure-function analysis of C10 bound to the envelope (E) protein dimers of the five viruses it neutralizes. We demonstrate that the C10 Fab has high affinity for ZIKV and DENV1 but not for DENV2, DENV3, and DENV4. We further show that the C10 interaction with the latter viruses requires an E protein conformational landscape that limits binding to only one of the three independent epitopes per virion. This limited affinity is nevertheless counterbalanced by the particle's icosahedral organization, which allows two different dimers to be reached by both Fab arms of a C10 immunoglobulin. The epitopes' geometric distribution thus confers C10 its exceptional neutralization breadth. Our results highlight the importance not only of paratope/epitope complementarity but also the topological distribution for epitope-focused vaccine design.

RNA Splicing by the Spliceosome.

The spliceosome removes introns from messenger RNA precursors (pre-mRNA). Decades of biochemistry and genetics combined with recent structural studies of the spliceosome have produced a detailed view of the mechanism of splicing. In this review, we aim to make this mechanism understandable and provide several videos of the spliceosome in action to illustrate the intricate choreography of splicing. The U1 and U2 small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) mark an intron and recruit the U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP. Transfer of the 5' splice site (5'SS) from U1 to U6 snRNA triggers unwinding of U6 snRNA from U4 snRNA. U6 folds with U2 snRNA into an RNA-based active site that positions the 5'SS at two catalytic metal ions. The branch point (BP) adenosine attacks the 5'SS, producing a free 5' exon. Removal of the BP adenosine from the active site allows the 3'SS to bind, so that the 5' exon attacks the 3'SS to produce mature mRNA and an excised lariat intron.

Current Understanding of the Mechanism of Water Oxidation in Photosystem II and Its Relation to XFEL Data.

The investigation of water oxidation in photosynthesis has remained a central topic in biochemical research for the last few decades due to the importance of this catalytic process for technological applications. Significant progress has been made following the 2011 report of a high-resolution X-ray crystallographic structure resolving the site of catalysis, a protein-bound Mn4CaOx complex, which passes through ≥5 intermediate states in the water-splitting cycle. Spectroscopic techniques complemented by quantum chemical calculations aided in understanding the electronic structure of the cofactor in all (detectable) states of the enzymatic process. Together with isotope labeling, these techniques also revealed the binding of the two substrate water molecules to the cluster. These results are described in the context of recent progress using X-ray crystallography with free-electron lasers on these intermediates. The data are instrumental for developing a model for the biological water oxidation cycle.

Assembly Mechanism of Mucin and von Willebrand Factor Polymers.

The respiratory and intestinal tracts are exposed to physical and biological hazards accompanying the intake of air and food. Likewise, the vasculature is threatened by inflammation and trauma. Mucin glycoproteins and the related von Willebrand factor guard the vulnerable cell layers in these diverse systems. Colon mucins additionally house and feed the gut microbiome. Here, we present an integrated structural analysis of the intestinal mucin MUC2. Our findings reveal the shared mechanism by which complex macromolecules responsible for blood clotting, mucociliary clearance, and the intestinal mucosal barrier form protective polymers and hydrogels. Specifically, cryo-electron microscopy and crystal structures show how disulfide-rich bridges and pH-tunable interfaces control successive assembly steps in the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. Remarkably, a densely O-glycosylated mucin domain performs an organizational role in MUC2. The mucin assembly mechanism and its adaptation for hemostasis provide the foundation for rational manipulation of barrier function and coagulation.

Single Residue Variation in Skeletal Muscle Myosin Enables Direct and Selective Drug Targeting for Spasticity and Muscle Stiffness.

Muscle spasticity after nervous system injuries and painful low back spasm affect more than 10% of global population. Current medications are of limited efficacy and cause neurological and cardiovascular side effects because they target upstream regulators of muscle contraction. Direct myosin inhibition could provide optimal muscle relaxation; however, targeting skeletal myosin is particularly challenging because of its similarity to the cardiac isoform. We identified a key residue difference between these myosin isoforms, located in the communication center of the functional regions, which allowed us to design a selective inhibitor, MPH-220. Mutagenic analysis and the atomic structure of MPH-220-bound skeletal muscle myosin confirmed the mechanism of specificity. Targeting skeletal muscle myosin by MPH-220 enabled muscle relaxation, in human and model systems, without cardiovascular side effects and improved spastic gait disorders after brain injury in a disease model. MPH-220 provides a potential nervous-system-independent option to treat spasticity and muscle stiffness.

Discovery of a Regulatory Subunit of the Yeast Fatty Acid Synthase.

Fatty acid synthases (FASs) are central to metabolism but are also of biotechnological interest for the production of fine chemicals and biofuels from renewable resources. During fatty acid synthesis, the growing fatty acid chain is thought to be shuttled by the dynamic acyl carrier protein domain to several enzyme active sites. Here, we report the discovery of a γ subunit of the 2.6 megadalton α6-ß6S. cerevisiae FAS, which is shown by high-resolution structures to stabilize a rotated FAS conformation and rearrange ACP domains from equatorial to axial positions. The γ subunit spans the length of the FAS inner cavity, impeding reductase activities of FAS, regulating NADPH turnover by kinetic hysteresis at the ketoreductase, and suppressing off-pathway reactions at the enoylreductase. The γ subunit delineates the functional compartment within FAS. As a scaffold, it may be exploited to incorporate natural and designed enzymatic activities that are not present in natural FAS.

Dual Functions of a Rubisco Activase in Metabolic Repair and Recruitment to Carboxysomes.

Rubisco, the key enzyme of CO2 fixation in photosynthesis, is prone to inactivation by inhibitory sugar phosphates. Inhibited Rubisco undergoes conformational repair by the hexameric AAA+ chaperone Rubisco activase (Rca) in a process that is not well understood. Here, we performed a structural and mechanistic analysis of cyanobacterial Rca, a close homolog of plant Rca. In the Rca:Rubisco complex, Rca is positioned over the Rubisco catalytic site under repair and pulls the N-terminal tail of the large Rubisco subunit (RbcL) into the hexamer pore. Simultaneous displacement of the C terminus of the adjacent RbcL opens the catalytic site for inhibitor release. An alternative interaction of Rca with Rubisco is mediated by C-terminal domains that resemble the small Rubisco subunit. These domains, together with the N-terminal AAA+ hexamer, ensure that Rca is packaged with Rubisco into carboxysomes. The cyanobacterial Rca is a dual-purpose protein with functions in Rubisco repair and carboxysome organization.

Structural Basis of Functional Transitions in Mammalian NMDA Receptors.

Excitatory neurotransmission meditated by glutamate receptors including N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) is pivotal to brain development and function. NMDARs are heterotetramers composed of GluN1 and GluN2 subunits, which bind glycine and glutamate, respectively, to activate their ion channels. Despite importance in brain physiology, the precise mechanisms by which activation and inhibition occur via subunit-specific binding of agonists and antagonists remain largely unknown. Here, we show the detailed patterns of conformational changes and inter-subunit and -domain reorientation leading to agonist-gating and subunit-dependent competitive inhibition by providing multiple structures in distinct ligand states at 4 Å or better. The structures reveal that activation and competitive inhibition by both GluN1 and GluN2 antagonists occur by controlling the tension of the linker between the ligand-binding domain and the transmembrane ion channel of the GluN2 subunit. Our results provide detailed mechanistic insights into NMDAR pharmacology, activation, and inhibition, which are fundamental to the brain physiology.

Soluble Methane Monooxygenase.

Aerobic life is possible because the molecular structure of oxygen (O2) makes direct reaction with most organic materials at ambient temperatures an exceptionally slow process. Of course, these reactions are inherently very favorable, and they occur rapidly with the release of a great deal of energy at high temperature. Nature has been able to tap this sequestered reservoir of energy with great spatial and temporal selectivity at ambient temperatures through the evolution of oxidase and oxygenase enzymes. One mechanism used by these enzymes for O2 activation has been studied in detail for the soluble form of the enzyme methane monooxygenase. These studies have revealed the step-by-step process of O2 activation and insertion into the ultimately stable C-H bond of methane. Additionally, an elegant regulatory mechanism has been defined that enlists size selection and quantum tunneling to allow methane oxidation to occur specifically in the presence of more easily oxidized substrates.

X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers for the Structure and Dynamics of Macromolecules.

X-ray free-electron lasers provide femtosecond-duration pulses of hard X-rays with a peak brightness approximately one billion times greater than is available at synchrotron radiation facilities. One motivation for the development of such X-ray sources was the proposal to obtain structures of macromolecules, macromolecular complexes, and virus particles, without the need for crystallization, through diffraction measurements of single noncrystalline objects. Initial explorations of this idea and of outrunning radiation damage with femtosecond pulses led to the development of serial crystallography and the ability to obtain high-resolution structures of small crystals without the need for cryogenic cooling. This technique allows the understanding of conformational dynamics and enzymatics and the resolution of intermediate states in reactions over timescales of 100 fs to minutes. The promise of more photons per atom recorded in a diffraction pattern than electrons per atom contributing to an electron micrograph may enable diffraction measurements of single molecules, although challenges remain.

Bacteriorhodopsin: Structural Insights Revealed Using X-Ray Lasers and Synchrotron Radiation.

Directional transport of protons across an energy transducing membrane-proton pumping-is ubiquitous in biology. Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a light-driven proton pump that is activated by a buried all-trans retinal chromophore being photoisomerized to a 13-cis conformation. The mechanism by which photoisomerization initiates directional proton transport against a proton concentration gradient has been studied by a myriad of biochemical, biophysical, and structural techniques. X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) have created new opportunities to probe the structural dynamics of bR at room temperature on timescales from femtoseconds to milliseconds using time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX). Wereview these recent developments and highlight where XFEL studies reveal new details concerning the structural mechanism of retinal photoisomerization and proton pumping. We also discuss the extent to which these insights were anticipated by earlier intermediate trapping studies using synchrotron radiation. TR-SFX will open up the field for dynamical studies of other proteins that are not naturally light-sensitive.

The Structure of the Nuclear Pore Complex (An Update).

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) serves as the sole bidirectional gateway of macromolecules in and out of the nucleus. Owing to its size and complexity (∼1,000 protein subunits, ∼110 MDa in humans), the NPC has remained one of the foremost challenges for structure determination. Structural studies have now provided atomic-resolution crystal structures of most nucleoporins. The acquisition of these structures, combined with biochemical reconstitution experiments, cross-linking mass spectrometry, and cryo-electron tomography, has facilitated the determination of the near-atomic overall architecture of the symmetric core of the human, fungal, and algal NPCs. Here, we discuss the insights gained from these new advances and outstanding issues regarding NPC structure and function. The powerful combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches toward determining the structure of the NPC offers a paradigm for uncovering the architectures of other complex biological machines to near-atomic resolution.

Biophysical Techniques in Structural Biology.

Over the past six decades, steadily increasing progress in the application of the principles and techniques of the physical sciences to the study of biological systems has led to remarkable insights into the molecular basis of life. Of particular significance has been the way in which the determination of the structures and dynamical properties of proteins and nucleic acids has so often led directly to a profound understanding of the nature and mechanism of their functional roles. The increasing number and power of experimental and theoretical techniques that can be applied successfully to living systems is now ushering in a new era of structural biology that is leading to fundamentally new information about the maintenance of health, the origins of disease, and the development of effective strategies for therapeutic intervention. This article provides a brief overview of some of the most powerful biophysical methods in use today, along with references that provide more detailed information about recent applications of each of them. In addition, this article acts as an introduction to four authoritative reviews in this volume. The first shows the ways that a multiplicity of biophysical methods can be combined with computational techniques to define the architectures of complex biological systems, such as those involving weak interactions within ensembles of molecular components. The second illustrates one aspect of this general approach by describing how recent advances in mass spectrometry, particularly in combination with other techniques, can generate fundamentally new insights into the properties of membrane proteins and their functional interactions with lipid molecules. The third reviewdemonstrates the increasing power of rapidly evolving diffraction techniques, employing the very short bursts of X-rays of extremely high intensity that are now accessible as a result of the construction of free-electron lasers, in particular to carry out time-resolved studies of biochemical reactions. The fourth describes in detail the application of such approaches to probe the mechanism of the light-induced changes associated with bacteriorhodopsin's ability to convert light energy into chemical energy.

Human Antibodies that Slow Erythrocyte Invasion Potentiate Malaria-Neutralizing Antibodies.

The Plasmodium falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 (PfRH5) is the leading target for next-generation vaccines against the disease-causing blood-stage of malaria. However, little is known about how human antibodies confer functional immunity against this antigen. We isolated a panel of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against PfRH5 from peripheral blood B cells from vaccinees in the first clinical trial of a PfRH5-based vaccine. We identified a subset of mAbs with neutralizing activity that bind to three distinct sites and another subset of mAbs that are non-functional, or even antagonistic to neutralizing antibodies. We also identify the epitope of a novel group of non-neutralizing antibodies that significantly reduce the speed of red blood cell invasion by the merozoite, thereby potentiating the effect of all neutralizing PfRH5 antibodies as well as synergizing with antibodies targeting other malaria invasion proteins. Our results provide a roadmap for structure-guided vaccine development to maximize antibody efficacy against blood-stage malaria.

Cryo-EM Structure of Chikungunya Virus in Complex with the Mxra8 Receptor.

Mxra8 is a receptor for multiple arthritogenic alphaviruses that cause debilitating acute and chronic musculoskeletal disease in humans. Herein, we present a 2.2 Å resolution X-ray crystal structure of Mxra8 and 4 to 5 Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstructions of Mxra8 bound to chikungunya (CHIKV) virus-like particles and infectious virus. The Mxra8 ectodomain contains two strand-swapped Ig-like domains oriented in a unique disulfide-linked head-to-head arrangement. Mxra8 binds by wedging into a cleft created by two adjacent CHIKV E2-E1 heterodimers in one trimeric spike and engaging a neighboring spike. Two binding modes are observed with the fully mature VLP, with one Mxra8 binding with unique contacts. Only the high-affinity binding mode was observed in the complex with infectious CHIKV, as viral maturation and E3 occupancy appear to influence receptor binding-site usage. Our studies provide insight into how Mxra8 binds CHIKV and creates a path for developing alphavirus entry inhibitors.