TY - JOUR AB - From a simple thought to a multicellular movement AU - Amberg, Nicole AU - Stouffer, Melissa A AU - Vercellino, Irene ID - 12282 IS - 8 JF - Journal of Cell Science SN - 0021-9533 TI - Operation STEM fatale – how an equity, diversity and inclusion initiative has brought us to reflect on the current challenges in cell biology and science as a whole VL - 135 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Mica-titania pearlescent pigments (MTs) were previously coated with organic molecules to obtain combination pigments (CPs) for achieving certain improvements or functionalities. Anthocyanins (ACNs) are molecules that can be extracted from natural resources and exhibit color changes via pH modifications of the enclosing medium. The purpose of the study was to produce a new series of CPs by depositing ACNs on MTs at different pH values, to observe the changes in color, and to associate these changes to thermogravimetrically determined deposition efficiencies in light of spectral differences. The extraction and deposition methods were based on aqueous chemistry and were straightforward. The ACN deposition generally increased with increasing pH and correlated with the consistency between the charges of the MT surfaces and the dominant ACN species at a specific pH value. The fluorescence of the CPs was inversely correlated with the deposition quantities invoking the possibility of a quenching effect. AU - Çoruh, Mehmet Orkun AU - Gündüz, Güngör AU - Çolak, Üner AU - Maviş, Bora ID - 10945 IS - 2 JF - Colorants SN - 2079-6447 TI - pH-dependent coloring of combination effect pigments with anthocyanins from Brassica oleracea var. capitata F. rubra VL - 1 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Nanobodies (VHH) from camelid antibody libraries hold great promise as therapeutic agents and components of immunoassay systems. Synthetic antibody libraries that could be designed and generated once and for various applications could yield binders to virtually any targets, even for non-immunogenic or toxic ones, in a short term. One of the most difficult tasks is to obtain antibodies with a high affinity and specificity to polyglycosylated proteins. It requires antibody libraries with extremely high functional diversity and the use of sophisticated selection techniques. Here we report a development of a novel sandwich immunoassay involving a combination of the synthetic library-derived VHH-Fc fusion protein as a capture antibody and the immune single-chain fragment variable (scFv) as a tracer for the detection of pregnancy-associated glycoprotein (PAG) of cattle (Bos taurus). We succeeded in the generation of a number of specific scFv antibodies against PAG from the mouse immune library. Subsequent selection using the immobilized scFv-Fc capture antibody allowed to isolate 1.9 nM VHH binder from the diverse synthetic library without any overlapping with the capture antibody binding site. The prototype sandwich ELISA based on the synthetic VHH and the immune scFv was established. This is the first successful example of the combination of synthetic and immune antibody libraries in a single sandwich immunoassay. Thus, our approach could be used for the express isolation of antibody pairs and the development of sandwich immunoassays for challenging antigens. AU - Dormeshkin, Dmitri AU - Shapira, Michail AU - Karputs, Alena AU - Kavaleuski, Anton AU - Kuzminski, Ivan AU - Stepanova, Elena AU - Gilep, Andrei ID - 11462 JF - Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology SN - 0175-7598 TI - Combining of synthetic VHH and immune scFv libraries for pregnancy-associated glycoproteins ELISA development VL - 106 ER - TY - JOUR AB - N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA) is a key inhibitor of directional (polar) transport of the hormone auxin in plants. For decades, it has been a pivotal tool in elucidating the unique polar auxin transport-based processes underlying plant growth and development. Its exact mode of action has long been sought after and is still being debated, with prevailing mechanistic schemes describing only indirect connections between NPA and the main transporters responsible for directional transport, namely PIN auxin exporters. Here we present data supporting a model in which NPA associates with PINs in a more direct manner than hitherto postulated. We show that NPA inhibits PIN activity in a heterologous oocyte system and that expression of NPA-sensitive PINs in plant, yeast, and oocyte membranes leads to specific saturable NPA binding. We thus propose that PINs are a bona fide NPA target. This offers a straightforward molecular basis for NPA inhibition of PIN-dependent auxin transport and a logical parsimonious explanation for the known physiological effects of NPA on plant growth, as well as an alternative hypothesis to interpret past and future results. We also introduce PIN dimerization and describe an effect of NPA on this, suggesting that NPA binding could be exploited to gain insights into structural aspects of PINs related to their transport mechanism. AU - Abas, Lindy AU - Kolb, Martina AU - Stadlmann, Johannes AU - Janacek, Dorina P. AU - Lukic, Kristina AU - Schwechheimer, Claus AU - Sazanov, Leonid A AU - Mach, Lukas AU - Friml, Jiří AU - Hammes, Ulrich Z. ID - 8993 IS - 1 JF - PNAS SN - 00278424 TI - Naphthylphthalamic acid associates with and inhibits PIN auxin transporters VL - 118 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Cryo-EM grid preparation is an important bottleneck in protein structure determination, especially for membrane proteins, typically requiring screening of a large number of conditions. We systematically investigated the effects of buffer components, blotting conditions and grid types on the outcome of grid preparation of five different membrane protein samples. Aggregation was the most common type of problem which was addressed by changing detergents, salt concentration or reconstitution of proteins into nanodiscs or amphipols. We show that the optimal concentration of detergent is between 0.05 and 0.4% and that the presence of a low concentration of detergent with a high critical micellar concentration protects the proteins from denaturation at the air-water interface. Furthermore, we discuss the strategies for achieving an adequate ice thickness, particle coverage and orientation distribution on free ice and on support films. Our findings provide a clear roadmap for comprehensive screening of conditions for cryo-EM grid preparation of membrane proteins. AU - Kampjut, Domen AU - Steiner, Julia AU - Sazanov, Leonid A ID - 9205 IS - 3 JF - iScience TI - Cryo-EM grid optimization for membrane proteins VL - 24 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The enzymes of the mitochondrial electron transport chain are key players of cell metabolism. Despite being active when isolated, in vivo they associate into supercomplexes1, whose precise role is debated. Supercomplexes CIII2CIV1-2 (refs. 2,3), CICIII2 (ref. 4) and CICIII2CIV (respirasome)5,6,7,8,9,10 exist in mammals, but in contrast to CICIII2 and the respirasome, to date the only known eukaryotic structures of CIII2CIV1-2 come from Saccharomyces cerevisiae11,12 and plants13, which have different organization. Here we present the first, to our knowledge, structures of mammalian (mouse and ovine) CIII2CIV and its assembly intermediates, in different conformations. We describe the assembly of CIII2CIV from the CIII2 precursor to the final CIII2CIV conformation, driven by the insertion of the N terminus of the assembly factor SCAF1 (ref. 14) deep into CIII2, while its C terminus is integrated into CIV. Our structures (which include CICIII2 and the respirasome) also confirm that SCAF1 is exclusively required for the assembly of CIII2CIV and has no role in the assembly of the respirasome. We show that CIII2 is asymmetric due to the presence of only one copy of subunit 9, which straddles both monomers and prevents the attachment of a second copy of SCAF1 to CIII2, explaining the presence of one copy of CIV in CIII2CIV in mammals. Finally, we show that CIII2 and CIV gain catalytic advantage when assembled into the supercomplex and propose a role for CIII2CIV in fine tuning the efficiency of electron transfer in the electron transport chain. AU - Vercellino, Irene AU - Sazanov, Leonid A ID - 10146 IS - 7880 JF - Nature SN - 0028-0836 TI - Structure and assembly of the mammalian mitochondrial supercomplex CIII2CIV VL - 598 ER - TY - JOUR AB - A high-resolution structure of trimeric cyanobacterial Photosystem I (PSI) from Thermosynechococcus elongatus was reported as the first atomic model of PSI almost 20 years ago. However, the monomeric PSI structure has not yet been reported despite long-standing interest in its structure and extensive spectroscopic characterization of the loss of red chlorophylls upon monomerization. Here, we describe the structure of monomeric PSI from Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1. Comparison with the trimer structure gave detailed insights into monomerization-induced changes in both the central trimerization domain and the peripheral regions of the complex. Monomerization-induced loss of red chlorophylls is assigned to a cluster of chlorophylls adjacent to PsaX. Based on our findings, we propose a role of PsaX in the stabilization of red chlorophylls and that lipids of the surrounding membrane present a major source of thermal energy for uphill excitation energy transfer from red chlorophylls to P700. AU - Çoruh, Mehmet Orkun AU - Frank, Anna AU - Tanaka, Hideaki AU - Kawamoto, Akihiro AU - El-Mohsnawy, Eithar AU - Kato, Takayuki AU - Namba, Keiichi AU - Gerle, Christoph AU - Nowaczyk, Marc M. AU - Kurisu, Genji ID - 10310 IS - 1 JF - Communications Biology KW - general agricultural and biological Sciences KW - general biochemistry KW - genetics and molecular biology KW - medicine (miscellaneous) SN - 2399-3642 TI - Cryo-EM structure of a functional monomeric Photosystem I from Thermosynechococcus elongatus reveals red chlorophyll cluster VL - 4 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Mutations in NDUFS4, which encodes an accessory subunit of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complex I (CI), induce Leigh syndrome (LS). LS is a poorly understood pediatric disorder featuring brain-specific anomalies and early death. To study the LS pathomechanism, we here compared OXPHOS proteomes between various Ndufs4−/− mouse tissues. Ndufs4−/− animals displayed significantly lower CI subunit levels in brain/diaphragm relative to other tissues (liver/heart/kidney/skeletal muscle), whereas other OXPHOS subunit levels were not reduced. Absence of NDUFS4 induced near complete absence of the NDUFA12 accessory subunit, a 50% reduction in other CI subunit levels, and an increase in specific CI assembly factors. Among the latter, NDUFAF2 was most highly increased. Regarding NDUFS4, NDUFA12 and NDUFAF2, identical results were obtained in Ndufs4−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and NDUFS4-mutated LS patient cells. Ndufs4−/− MEFs contained active CI in situ but blue-native-PAGE highlighted that NDUFAF2 attached to an inactive CI subcomplex (CI-830) and inactive assemblies of higher MW. In NDUFA12-mutated LS patient cells, NDUFA12 absence did not reduce NDUFS4 levels but triggered NDUFAF2 association to active CI. BN-PAGE revealed no such association in LS patient fibroblasts with mutations in other CI subunit-encoding genes where NDUFAF2 was attached to CI-830 (NDUFS1, NDUFV1 mutation) or not detected (NDUFS7 mutation). Supported by enzymological and CI in silico structural analysis, we conclude that absence of NDUFS4 induces near complete absence of NDUFA12 but not vice versa, and that NDUFAF2 stabilizes active CI in Ndufs4−/− mice and LS patient cells, perhaps in concert with mitochondrial inner membrane lipids. AU - Adjobo-Hermans, Merel J.W. AU - De Haas, Ria AU - Willems, Peter H.G.M. AU - Wojtala, Aleksandra AU - Van Emst-De Vries, Sjenet E. AU - Wagenaars, Jori A. AU - Van Den Brand, Mariel AU - Rodenburg, Richard J. AU - Smeitink, Jan A.M. AU - Nijtmans, Leo G. AU - Sazanov, Leonid A AU - Wieckowski, Mariusz R. AU - Koopman, Werner J.H. ID - 7788 IS - 8 JF - Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Bioenergetics SN - 00052728 TI - NDUFS4 deletion triggers loss of NDUFA12 in Ndufs4−/− mice and Leigh syndrome patients: A stabilizing role for NDUFAF2 VL - 1861 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The mitochondrial respiratory chain, formed by five protein complexes, utilizes energy from catabolic processes to synthesize ATP. Complex I, the first and the largest protein complex of the chain, harvests electrons from NADH to reduce quinone, while pumping protons across the mitochondrial membrane. Detailed knowledge of the working principle of such coupled charge-transfer processes remains, however, fragmentary due to bottlenecks in understanding redox-driven conformational transitions and their interplay with the hydrated proton pathways. Complex I from Thermus thermophilus encases 16 subunits with nine iron–sulfur clusters, reduced by electrons from NADH. Here, employing the latest crystal structure of T. thermophilus complex I, we have used microsecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations to study the chemo-mechanical coupling between redox changes of the iron–sulfur clusters and conformational transitions across complex I. First, we identify the redox switches within complex I, which allosterically couple the dynamics of the quinone binding pocket to the site of NADH reduction. Second, our free-energy calculations reveal that the affinity of the quinone, specifically menaquinone, for the binding-site is higher than that of its reduced, menaquinol form—a design essential for menaquinol release. Remarkably, the barriers to diffusive menaquinone dynamics are lesser than that of the more ubiquitous ubiquinone, and the naphthoquinone headgroup of the former furnishes stronger binding interactions with the pocket, favoring menaquinone for charge transport in T. thermophilus. Our computations are consistent with experimentally validated mutations and hierarchize the key residues into three functional classes, identifying new mutation targets. Third, long-range hydrogen-bond networks connecting the quinone-binding site to the transmembrane subunits are found to be responsible for proton pumping. Put together, the simulations reveal the molecular design principles linking redox reactions to quinone turnover to proton translocation in complex I. AU - Gupta, Chitrak AU - Khaniya, Umesh AU - Chan, Chun Kit AU - Dehez, Francois AU - Shekhar, Mrinal AU - Gunner, M. R. AU - Sazanov, Leonid A AU - Chipot, Christophe AU - Singharoy, Abhishek ID - 8040 IS - 20 JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society SN - 00027863 TI - Charge transfer and chemo-mechanical coupling in respiratory complex I VL - 142 ER - TY - GEN AB - The mitochondrial respiratory chain, formed by five protein complexes, utilizes energy from catabolic processes to synthesize ATP. Complex I, the first and the largest protein complex of the chain, harvests electrons from NADH to reduce quinone, while pumping protons across the mitochondrial membrane. Detailed knowledge of the working principle of such coupled charge-transfer processes remains, however, fragmentary due to bottlenecks in understanding redox-driven conformational transitions and their interplay with the hydrated proton pathways. Complex I from Thermus thermophilus encases 16 subunits with nine iron–sulfur clusters, reduced by electrons from NADH. Here, employing the latest crystal structure of T. thermophilus complex I, we have used microsecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations to study the chemo-mechanical coupling between redox changes of the iron–sulfur clusters and conformational transitions across complex I. First, we identify the redox switches within complex I, which allosterically couple the dynamics of the quinone binding pocket to the site of NADH reduction. Second, our free-energy calculations reveal that the affinity of the quinone, specifically menaquinone, for the binding-site is higher than that of its reduced, menaquinol forma design essential for menaquinol release. Remarkably, the barriers to diffusive menaquinone dynamics are lesser than that of the more ubiquitous ubiquinone, and the naphthoquinone headgroup of the former furnishes stronger binding interactions with the pocket, favoring menaquinone for charge transport in T. thermophilus. Our computations are consistent with experimentally validated mutations and hierarchize the key residues into three functional classes, identifying new mutation targets. Third, long-range hydrogen-bond networks connecting the quinone-binding site to the transmembrane subunits are found to be responsible for proton pumping. Put together, the simulations reveal the molecular design principles linking redox reactions to quinone turnover to proton translocation in complex I. AU - Gupta, Chitrak AU - Khaniya, Umesh AU - Chan, Chun AU - Dehez, Francois AU - Shekhar, Mrinal AU - Gunner, M. R. AU - Sazanov, Leonid A AU - Chipot, Christophe AU - Singharoy, Abhishek ID - 9326 TI - Charge transfer and chemo-mechanical coupling in respiratory complex I ER -