Fatty Acid Biosynthesis: Chain-Length Regulation and Control.

De novo biosynthesis of fatty acids is an iterative process requiring strict regulation of the lengths of the produced fatty acids. In this review, we focus on the factors determining chain lengths in fatty acid biosynthesis. In a nutshell, the process of chain-length regulation can be understood as the output of a chain-elongating C-C bond forming reaction competing with a terminating fatty acid release function. At the end of each cycle in the iterative process, the synthesizing enzymes need to "decide" whether the growing chain is to be elongated through another cycle or released as the "mature" fatty acid. Recent research has shed light on the factors determining fatty acid chain length and has also achieved control over chain length for the production of the technologically interesting short-chain (C4 -C8 ) and medium-chain (C10 -C14 ) fatty acids.

Absorbed dose calculations for macromolecular crystals: improvements to RADDOSE. Erratum.

Corrections to an equation and a figure in the paper by Paithankar et al. (2009). [J. Synchrotron Rad. 16, 152-162] are made.

Facilities for macromolecular crystallography at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.

Three macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) are available for the regional, national and international structural biology user community. The state-of-the-art synchrotron beamlines for MX BL14.1, BL14.2 and BL14.3 are located within the low-ß section of the BESSY II electron storage ring. All beamlines are fed from a superconducting 7 T wavelength-shifter insertion device. BL14.1 and BL14.2 are energy tunable in the range 5-16 keV, while BL14.3 is a fixed-energy side station operated at 13.8 keV. All three beamlines are equipped with CCD detectors. BL14.1 and BL14.2 are in regular user operation providing about 200 beam days per year and about 600 user shifts to approximately 50 research groups across Europe. BL14.3 has initially been used as a test facility and was brought into regular user mode operation during the year 2010. BL14.1 has recently been upgraded with a microdiffractometer including a mini-κ goniometer and an automated sample changer. Additional user facilities include office space adjacent to the beamlines, a sample preparation laboratory, a biology laboratory (safety level 1) and high-end computing resources. In this article the instrumentation of the beamlines is described, and a summary of the experimental possibilities of the beamlines and the provided ancillary equipment for the user community is given.

Simultaneous X-ray diffraction from multiple single crystals of macromolecules.

The potential in macromolecular crystallography for using multiple crystals to collect X-ray diffraction data simultaneously from assemblies of up to seven crystals is explored. The basic features of the algorithms used to extract data and their practical implementation are described. The procedure could be useful both in relation to diffraction data obtained from intergrown crystals and to alleviate the problem of rapid diffraction decay arising from the effects of radiation damage.

Solution Structure and Conformational Flexibility of a Polyketide Synthase Module.

Polyketide synthases (PKSs) are versatile C-C bond-forming enzymes that are broadly distributed in bacteria and fungi. The polyketide compound family includes many clinically useful drugs such as the antibiotic erythromycin, the antineoplastic epothilone, and the cholesterol-lowering lovastatin. Harnessing PKSs for custom compound synthesis remains an open challenge, largely because of the lack of knowledge about key structural properties. Particularly, the domains-well characterized on their own-are poorly understood in their arrangement, conformational dynamics, and interplay in the intricate quaternary structure of modular PKSs. Here, we characterize module 2 from the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase by small-angle X-ray scattering and cross-linking mass spectrometry with coarse-grained structural modeling. The results of this hybrid approach shed light on the solution structure of a cis-AT type PKS module as well as its inherent conformational dynamics. Supported by a directed evolution approach, we also find that acyl carrier protein (ACP)-mediated substrate shuttling appears to be steered by a nonspecific electrostatic interaction network.

Know your dose: RADDOSE.

The program RADDOSE is widely used to compute the dose absorbed by a macromolecular crystal during an X-ray diffraction experiment. A number of factors affect the absorbed dose, including the incident X-ray flux density, the photon energy and the composition of the macromolecule and of the buffer in the crystal. An experimental dose limit for macromolecular crystallography (MX) of 30 MGy at 100 K has been reported, beyond which the biological information obtained may be compromised. Thus, for the planning of an optimized diffraction experiment the estimation of dose has become an additional tool. A number of approximations were made in the original version of RADDOSE. Recently, the code has been modified in order to take into account fluorescent X-ray escape from the crystal (version 2) and the inclusion of incoherent (Compton) scattering into the dose calculation is now reported (version 3). The Compton cross-section, although negligible at the energies currently commonly used in MX, should be considered in dose calculations for incident energies above 20 keV. Calculations using version 3 of RADDOSE reinforce previous studies that predict a reduction in the absorbed dose when data are collected at higher energies compared with data collected at 12.4 keV. Hence, a longer irradiation lifetime for the sample can be achieved at these higher energies but this is at the cost of lower diffraction intensities. The parameter 'diffraction-dose efficiency', which is the diffracted intensity per absorbed dose, is revisited in an attempt to investigate the benefits and pitfalls of data collection using higher and lower energy radiation, particularly for thin crystals.

Type I fatty acid synthase trapped in the octanoyl-bound state.

De novo fatty acid biosynthesis in humans is accomplished by a multidomain protein, the Type I fatty acid synthase (FAS). Although ubiquitously expressed in all tissues, fatty acid synthesis is not essential in normal healthy cells due to sufficient supply with fatty acids by the diet. However, FAS is overexpressed in cancer cells and correlates with tumor malignancy, which makes FAS an attractive selective therapeutic target in tumorigenesis. Herein, we present a crystal structure of the condensing part of murine FAS, highly homologous to human FAS, with octanoyl moieties covalently bound to the transferase (MAT-malonyl-/acetyltransferase) and the condensation (KS-ß-ketoacyl synthase) domain. The MAT domain binds the octanoyl moiety in a novel (unique) conformation, which reflects the pronounced conformational dynamics of the substrate-binding site responsible for the MAT substrate promiscuity. In contrast, the KS binding pocket just subtly adapts to the octanoyl moiety upon substrate binding. Besides the rigid domain structure, we found a positive cooperative effect in the substrate binding of the KS domain by a comprehensive enzyme kinetic study. These structural and mechanistic findings contribute significantly to our understanding of the mode of action of FAS and may guide future rational inhibitor designs.

The resolution revolution in cryoEM requires high-quality sample preparation: a rapid pipeline to a high-resolution map of yeast fatty acid synthase.

Single-particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryoEM) has undergone a 'resolution revolution' that makes it possible to characterize megadalton (MDa) complexes at atomic resolution without crystals. To fully exploit the new opportunities in molecular microscopy, new procedures for the cloning, expression and purification of macromolecular complexes need to be explored. Macromolecular assemblies are often unstable, and invasive construct design or inadequate purification conditions and sample-preparation methods can result in disassembly or denaturation. The structure of the 2.6 MDa yeast fatty acid synthase (FAS) has been studied by electron microscopy since the 1960s. Here, a new, streamlined protocol for the rapid production of purified yeast FAS for structure determination by high-resolution cryoEM is reported. Together with a companion protocol for preparing cryoEM specimens on a hydrophilized graphene layer, the new protocol yielded a 3.1 Šresolution map of yeast FAS from 15 000 automatically picked particles within a day. The high map quality enabled a complete atomic model of an intact fungal FAS to be built.

Probing the modularity of megasynthases by rational engineering of a fatty acid synthase Type I.

Modularity is a fundamental property of megasynthases such as polyketide synthases (PKSs). In this study, we exploit the close resemblance between PKSs and animal fatty acid synthase (FAS) to re-engineer animal FAS to probe the modularity of the FAS/PKS family. Guided by sequence and structural information, we truncate and dissect animal FAS into its components, and reassemble them to generate new PKS-like modules as well as bimodular constructs. The novel re-engineered modules resemble all four common types of PKSs and demonstrate that this approach can be a powerful tool to deliver products with higher catalytic efficiency. Our data exemplify the inherent plasticity and robustness of the overall FAS/PKS fold, and open new avenues to explore FAS-based biosynthetic pathways for custom compound design.

Characterization of the Polyspecific Transferase of Murine Type I Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS) and Implications for Polyketide Synthase (PKS) Engineering.

Fatty acid synthases (FASs) and polyketide synthases (PKSs) condense acyl compounds to fatty acids and polyketides, respectively. Both, FASs and PKSs, harbor acyltransferases (ATs), which select substrates for condensation by ß-ketoacyl synthases (KSs). Here, we present the structural and functional characterization of the polyspecific malonyl/acetyltransferase (MAT) of murine FAS. We assign kinetic constants for the transacylation of the native substrates, acetyl- and malonyl-CoA, and demonstrate the promiscuity of FAS to accept structurally and chemically diverse CoA-esters. X-ray structural data of the KS-MAT didomain in a malonyl-loaded state suggests a MAT-specific role of an active site arginine in transacylation. Owing to its enzymatic properties and its accessibility as a separate domain, MAT of murine FAS may serve as versatile tool for engineering PKSs to provide custom-tailored access to new polyketides that can be applied in antibiotic and antineoplastic therapy.

Cosubstrate-induced dynamics of D-3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas putida.

D-3-Hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas putida belongs to the family of short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases. We have determined X-ray structures of the D-3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas putida, which was recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli, in three different crystal forms to resolutions between 1.9 and 2.1 A. The so-called substrate-binding loop (residues 187-210) was partially disordered in several subunits, in both the presence and absence of NAD(+). However, in two subunits, this loop was completely defined in an open conformation in the apoenzyme and in a closed conformation in the complex structure with NAD(+). Structural comparisons indicated that the loop moves as a rigid body by about 46 degrees . However, the two small alpha-helices (alphaFG1 and alphaFG2) of the loop also re-orientated slightly during the conformational change. Probably, the interactions of Val185, Thr187 and Leu189 with the cosubstrate induced the conformational change. A model of the binding mode of the substrate D-3-hydroxybutyrate indicated that the loop in the closed conformation, as a result of NAD(+) binding, is positioned competent for catalysis. Gln193 is the only residue of the substrate-binding loop that interacts directly with the substrate. A translation, libration and screw (TLS) analysis of the rigid body movement of the loop in the crystal showed significant librational displacements, describing the coordinated movement of the substrate-binding loop in the crystal. NAD(+) binding increased the flexibility of the substrate-binding loop and shifted the equilibrium between the open and closed forms towards the closed form. The finding that all NAD(+) -bound subunits are present in the closed form and all NAD(+) -free subunits in the open form indicates that the loop closure is induced by cosubstrate binding alone. This mechanism may contribute to the sequential binding of cosubstrate followed by substrate.

Absorbed dose calculations for macromolecular crystals: improvements to RADDOSE.

Radiation damage is an unwelcome and unavoidable aspect of macromolecular crystallography. In order to quantify the extent of X-ray-induced changes, knowledge of the dose (absorbed energy per unit mass) is necessary since it is the obvious metric against which to plot variables such as diffraction intensity loss and B factors. Significant improvements to the program RADDOSE for accurately calculating the dose absorbed by macromolecular crystals are presented here. Specifically, the probability of energy loss through the escape of fluorescent photons from de-excitation of an atom following photoelectric absorption is now included. For lighter elements, both the probability of fluorescence and of its subsequent escape from the crystal are negligible, but for heavier atoms the chance of fluorescence becomes significant (e.g. 30% as opposed to Auger electron decay from a K-shell excited iron atom), and this has the effect of reducing the absorbed dose. The effects of this phenomenon on dose calculations are presented for examples of crystals of an iron-containing protein, 2-selenomethionine proteins, a uranium derivatised protein, and for a nucleic acid sample. For instance, the inclusion of fluorescent escape results in up to a 27% decrease in the calculated absorbed dose for a typical selenomethionine protein crystal irradiated at the selenium K-edge.

Room-temperature scavengers for macromolecular crystallography: increased lifetimes and modified dose dependence of the intensity decay.

The advent of highly intense wiggler and undulator beamlines has reintroduced the problem of X-ray radiation damage in protein crystals even at cryogenic temperatures (100 K). Although cryocrystallography can be utilized for the majority of protein crystals, certain macromolecular crystals (e.g. of viruses) suffer large increases in mosaicity upon flash cooling and data are still collected at room temperature (293 K). An alternative mechanism to cryocooling for prolonging crystal lifetime is the use of radioprotectants. These compounds are able to scavenge the free radical species formed upon X-ray irradiation which are thought to be responsible for part of the observed damage. Three putative radioprotectants, ascorbate, 1,4-benzoquinone and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidone (TEMP), were tested for their ability to prolong lysozyme crystal lifetimes at 293 K. Plots of relative summed intensity against dose were used as a metric to assess radioprotectant ability: ascorbate and 1,4-benzoquinone appear to be effective, whereas studies on TEMP were inconclusive. Ascorbate, which scavenges OH* radicals (k(OH) = 8 x 10(9) M(-1) s(-1)) and electrons with a lower rate constant (k(e-(aq)) = 3.0 x 10(8) M(-1) s(-1)), doubled the crystal dose tolerance, whereas 1,4-benzoquinone, which also scavenges both OH* radicals (k(OH) = 1.2 x 10(9) M(-1) s(-1)) and electrons (k(e-(aq)) = 1.2 x 10(10) M(-1) s(-1)), offered a ninefold increase in dose tolerance at the dose rates used. Pivotally, these preliminary results on a limited number of samples show that the two scavengers also induced a striking change in the dose dependence of the intensity decay from a first-order to a zeroth-order process.