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Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction

The advent and application of the X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) has uncovered the structures of proteins that could not previously be solved using traditional crystallography. While this new technology is powerful, optimization of the process is still needed to improve data quality and analysis e...

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Autores principales: Abdallah, Bahige G., Zatsepin, Nadia A., Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi, Coe, Jesse, Conrad, Chelsie E., Dörner, Katerina, Sierra, Raymond G., Stevenson, Hilary P., Camacho-Alanis, Fernanda, Grant, Thomas D., Nelson, Garrett, James, Daniel, Calero, Guillermo, Wachter, Rebekka M., Spence, John C. H., Weierstall, Uwe, Fromme, Petra, Ros, Alexandra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Crystallographic Association 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4711642/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26798818
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4928688
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author Abdallah, Bahige G.
Zatsepin, Nadia A.
Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi
Coe, Jesse
Conrad, Chelsie E.
Dörner, Katerina
Sierra, Raymond G.
Stevenson, Hilary P.
Camacho-Alanis, Fernanda
Grant, Thomas D.
Nelson, Garrett
James, Daniel
Calero, Guillermo
Wachter, Rebekka M.
Spence, John C. H.
Weierstall, Uwe
Fromme, Petra
Ros, Alexandra
author_facet Abdallah, Bahige G.
Zatsepin, Nadia A.
Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi
Coe, Jesse
Conrad, Chelsie E.
Dörner, Katerina
Sierra, Raymond G.
Stevenson, Hilary P.
Camacho-Alanis, Fernanda
Grant, Thomas D.
Nelson, Garrett
James, Daniel
Calero, Guillermo
Wachter, Rebekka M.
Spence, John C. H.
Weierstall, Uwe
Fromme, Petra
Ros, Alexandra
author_sort Abdallah, Bahige G.
collection PubMed
description The advent and application of the X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) has uncovered the structures of proteins that could not previously be solved using traditional crystallography. While this new technology is powerful, optimization of the process is still needed to improve data quality and analysis efficiency. One area is sample heterogeneity, where variations in crystal size (among other factors) lead to the requirement of large data sets (and thus 10–100 mg of protein) for determining accurate structure factors. To decrease sample dispersity, we developed a high-throughput microfluidic sorter operating on the principle of dielectrophoresis, whereby polydisperse particles can be transported into various fluid streams for size fractionation. Using this microsorter, we isolated several milliliters of photosystem I nanocrystal fractions ranging from 200 to 600 nm in size as characterized by dynamic light scattering, nanoparticle tracking, and electron microscopy. Sorted nanocrystals were delivered in a liquid jet via the gas dynamic virtual nozzle into the path of the XFEL at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We obtained diffraction to ∼4 Å resolution, indicating that the small crystals were not damaged by the sorting process. We also observed the shape transforms of photosystem I nanocrystals, demonstrating that our device can optimize data collection for the shape transform-based phasing method. Using simulations, we show that narrow crystal size distributions can significantly improve merged data quality in serial crystallography. From this proof-of-concept work, we expect that the automated size-sorting of protein crystals will become an important step for sample production by reducing the amount of protein needed for a high quality final structure and the development of novel phasing methods that exploit inter-Bragg reflection intensities or use variations in beam intensity for radiation damage-induced phasing. This method will also permit an analysis of the dependence of crystal quality on crystal size.
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spelling pubmed-47116422016-01-21 Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction Abdallah, Bahige G. Zatsepin, Nadia A. Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi Coe, Jesse Conrad, Chelsie E. Dörner, Katerina Sierra, Raymond G. Stevenson, Hilary P. Camacho-Alanis, Fernanda Grant, Thomas D. Nelson, Garrett James, Daniel Calero, Guillermo Wachter, Rebekka M. Spence, John C. H. Weierstall, Uwe Fromme, Petra Ros, Alexandra Struct Dyn SPECIAL TOPIC: BIOLOGY WITH X-RAY LASERS 2 The advent and application of the X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) has uncovered the structures of proteins that could not previously be solved using traditional crystallography. While this new technology is powerful, optimization of the process is still needed to improve data quality and analysis efficiency. One area is sample heterogeneity, where variations in crystal size (among other factors) lead to the requirement of large data sets (and thus 10–100 mg of protein) for determining accurate structure factors. To decrease sample dispersity, we developed a high-throughput microfluidic sorter operating on the principle of dielectrophoresis, whereby polydisperse particles can be transported into various fluid streams for size fractionation. Using this microsorter, we isolated several milliliters of photosystem I nanocrystal fractions ranging from 200 to 600 nm in size as characterized by dynamic light scattering, nanoparticle tracking, and electron microscopy. Sorted nanocrystals were delivered in a liquid jet via the gas dynamic virtual nozzle into the path of the XFEL at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We obtained diffraction to ∼4 Å resolution, indicating that the small crystals were not damaged by the sorting process. We also observed the shape transforms of photosystem I nanocrystals, demonstrating that our device can optimize data collection for the shape transform-based phasing method. Using simulations, we show that narrow crystal size distributions can significantly improve merged data quality in serial crystallography. From this proof-of-concept work, we expect that the automated size-sorting of protein crystals will become an important step for sample production by reducing the amount of protein needed for a high quality final structure and the development of novel phasing methods that exploit inter-Bragg reflection intensities or use variations in beam intensity for radiation damage-induced phasing. This method will also permit an analysis of the dependence of crystal quality on crystal size. American Crystallographic Association 2015-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4711642/ /pubmed/26798818 http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4928688 Text en © 2015 Author(s). 2329-7778/2015/2(4)/041719/14 All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
spellingShingle SPECIAL TOPIC: BIOLOGY WITH X-RAY LASERS 2
Abdallah, Bahige G.
Zatsepin, Nadia A.
Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi
Coe, Jesse
Conrad, Chelsie E.
Dörner, Katerina
Sierra, Raymond G.
Stevenson, Hilary P.
Camacho-Alanis, Fernanda
Grant, Thomas D.
Nelson, Garrett
James, Daniel
Calero, Guillermo
Wachter, Rebekka M.
Spence, John C. H.
Weierstall, Uwe
Fromme, Petra
Ros, Alexandra
Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction
title Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction
title_full Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction
title_fullStr Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction
title_full_unstemmed Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction
title_short Microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for X-ray free-electron laser diffraction
title_sort microfluidic sorting of protein nanocrystals by size for x-ray free-electron laser diffraction
topic SPECIAL TOPIC: BIOLOGY WITH X-RAY LASERS 2
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4711642/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26798818
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4928688
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