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G Bricogne

Publications and source records attributed to G Bricogne.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Crystal structure of a fungal elicitor secreted by Phytophthora cryptogea, a member of a novel class of plant necrotic proteins.

BACKGROUND: Elicitins form a novel class of plant necrotic proteins which are secreted by Phytophthora and Pythium fungi, parasites of many economically important crops. These proteins induce leaf necrosis in infected plants and elicit an incompatible hypersensitive-like reaction, leading to the development of a systemic acquired resistance against a range of fungal and bacterial plant pathogens. No crystal structures of this class of protein are available. The crystal structure determination of beta-cryptogein (CRY), secreted by Phytophthora cryptogea, was undertaken to identify structural features important for the necrotic activity of elicitins. RESULTS: The structure of CRY was determined using the multiwavelength anomalous diffraction technique and refined to 2.2 A resolution. The overall structure has a novel fold consisting of six alpha helices and a beak-like motif, whose sequence is highly conserved within the family, composed of an antiparallel two-stranded beta sheet and an omega loop. This motif is assumed to be a major recognition site for a putative receptor and/or ligand. Two other distinct binding sites seem to be correlated to the level of necrotic activity of elicitins. CONCLUSIONS: The determination of the crystal structure of a member of the elicitin family may make it possible to separate the activity that causes leaf necrosis from that inducing systemic acquired resistance to pathogens, making it feasible to engineer a non-toxic elicitin that only elicits plant defences. Such studies should aid the development of non-toxic agricultural pest control.

Algal Proteins↗
PubMed1995

Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase crystal structure reveals an unexpected homology to tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase.

BACKGROUND: Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) catalyzes activation of tryptophan by ATP and transfer to tRNA(Trp), ensuring translation of the genetic code for tryptophan. Interest focuses on mechanisms for specific recognition of both amino acid and tRNA substrates. RESULTS: Maximum-entropy methods enabled us to solve the TrpRS structure. Its three parts, a canonical dinucleotide-binding fold, a dimer interface, and a helical domain, have enough structural homology to tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (TyrRS) that the two enzymes can be described as conformational isomers. Structure-based sequence alignment shows statistically significant genetic homology. Structural elements interacting with the activated amino acid, tryptophanyl-5'AMP, are almost exactly as seen in the TyrRS:tyrosyl-5'AMP complex. Unexpectedly, side chains that recognize indole are also highly conserved, and require reorientation of a 'specificity-determining' helix containing a conserved aspartate to assure selection of tryptophan versus tyrosine. The carboxy terminus, which is disordered and therefore not seen in TyrRS, forms part of the dimer interface in TrpRS. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, the Bayesian statistical paradigm of entropy maximization and likelihood scoring has played a critical role in an X-ray structure solution. Sequence relatedness of structurally superimposable residues throughout TrpRS and TyrRS implies that they diverged more recently than most aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Subtle, tertiary structure changes are crucial for specific recognition of the two different amino acids. The conformational isomerism suggests that movement of the KMSKS loop, known to occur in the TyrRS transition state for amino acid activation, may provide a basis for conformational coupling during catalysis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Overcoming non-isomorphism by phase permutation and likelihood scoring: solution of the TrpRS crystal structure.

Entropy maximization to maximum likelihood, constrained jointly by the best available experimental phases and by a sufficiently good envelope, can bring about substantial model-independent map improvement, even at medium (3.1 A) resolution [Xiang, Carter, Bricogne & Gilmore (1993). Acta Cryst. D49, 193-212]. In the crystal structure determination of the Bacillus stearothermophilus tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS), however, the following had to be dealt with simultaneously: (1) a serious lack of isomorphism in the heavy-atom derivatives, resulting in large starting-phase errors; and (2) an initially poorly known molecular envelope. Because the constraints--both phases and envelope--were insufficiently well determined at the outset, maximum-entropy solvent flattening as previously applied was unsuccessful. Rather than improving the maps, it led to a deterioration of their quality, accompanied by a dramatic decrease of the log-likelihood gain as phases were extended from about 5 A resolution to the 2.9 A limit of the diffraction data. This deadlock was broken by the identification of strong reflections, which were initially unphased and which were inaccessible by maximum-entropy extrapolation from the phased ones, and by permutation of the phases of these reflections so as to sample the space of possible electron-density and envelope modifications they represented. Permutation was carried out by successive full and incomplete factorial designs [Carter & Carter (1979). J. Biol. Chem. 254, 12219-12223] for 28 strong reflections selected in decreasing order of their 'renormalized' structure-factor amplitudes. The permuted reflections included one reflection for which the probability distribution from multiple isomorphous replacement with anomalous scattering (MIRAS) indicated an incorrect phase with a high figure of merit and which consequently had a large renormalized structure factor. A similar permutation was carried out for six different binary choices related to the calculation and description of the molecular envelope. Permutation experiments were scored using the log-likelihood gain and contrasts for each main effect were analyzed by multiple-regression least squares. Student t tests provided significant and reliable indications for a large majority of the permuted reflections and for all six hypotheses related to the molecular envelope. The resulting phase improvement made it possible to assign positions (hitherto unobtainable) for nine of the ten selenium atoms in an isomorphous difference Fourier map for selenomethionine-substituted TrpRS crystals and hence to solve the structure. Phase-permutation methods continued to be useful in producing improved maps from all the available isomorphous-replacement phase information and therefore played a critical role in solving the structure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Bayes Theorem↗
PubMed1993

Entropy maximization constrained by solvent flatness: a new method for macromolecular phase extension and map improvement.

A practical generally applicable procedure for exponential modeling to maximum likelihood of macromolecular data sets constrained by a moderately large basis set of reliable phases and a molecular envelope is described, based on the computer program MICE [Bricogne & Gilmore (1990). Acta Cryst. A46, 284-297]. Procedures were first tested with simulated data sets. Exact and randomly perturbed amplitudes and phases were generated, together with a known envelope for solvent-free protein and for protein in an electron-dense crystal mother liquor typical of many real protein crystals. These experiments established useful guidelines and values for various parameters. Tests with basis sets chosen from the largest amplitudes indicate that exponential models with considerable correct extrapolated phase and amplitude information can be constructed from as few as 16% of the total number of reflections, with mean phase errors of about 30 degrees, at resolution limits of either 5 or 3 A. When the shape of the solvent channels in macromolecular crystals is known, it offers an important additional source of information. MICE was, therefore, adapted to average the density outside the molecular boundary defined by an input envelope. This flattening process imposes a uniform density distribution in solvent-filled channels as an additional constraint on the exponential model and is analogous to the treatment of solvent in conventional solvent flattening. Experimental data for cytidine deaminase, a structure recently solved by making extensive use of conventional solvent flattening, provides an example of the performance of maximum-entropy methods in a real situation and a compelling comparison of this method to standard procedures. Exponential models of the electron density constrained by the most reliable phases obtained by multiple isomorphous replacement with anomalous scattering (MIRAS) (figure of merit > 0.7, representing 34% of the total number of reflections) and by the envelope give rise to centroid electron-density maps which are quantitatively superior by numerous statistical criteria to conventionally solvent-flattened density. Similarity of these maps to the 2F(obs) - F(calc) map calculated with phases obtained after crystallographic refinement of the model implies that maximum-entropy extrapolation provides better phases for the remaining 66% of the reflections than the original centroid MIRAS distributions. Importantly, the solvent-flattened electron density, although it did permit interpretation of the map which was not readily accomplished with the MIRAS map, contains substantial errors. It is proposed that errors of this sort may account for previously noted deficiencies of the solvent-flattening method [Fenderson, Herriott & Adman (1990). J. Appl. Cryst. 23, 115-131] and for the occasional tendency of incorrect interpretations to be 'locked in' by crystallographic refinement [Brändén & Jones (1990). Nature (London), 343, 687-689, and references cited therein]. Solvent flattening with combined maximization of entropy and likelihood represents a phase-refinement path independent of atomic models, using the experimental amplitudes and the most reliable phases. It should, therefore, become a valuable and generally useful procedure in macromolecular crystal structure determination.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

Direct phase determination by entropy maximization and likelihood ranking: status report and perspectives.

A new multisolution phasing method based on entropy maximization and likelihood ranking, proposed for the specific purpose of extending probabilistic direct methods to the field of macromolecules, has been implemented in two different computer programs and applied to a wide variety of problems. The latter comprise the determination of small crystal structures from X-ray diffraction data obtained from single crystals or from powders, and from electron diffraction data partially phased by image processing of electron micrographs, the ab initio generation and ranking of phase sets for small proteins; and the improvement of poor quality phases for a larger protein at medium resolution under constraint of solvent flatness. These applications show that the primary goal of this new method - namely increasing the accuracy and sensitivity of probabilistic phase indications compared with conventional direct methods - has been achieved. The main components of the method are (1) a tree-directed search through a space of trial phase sets; (2) the saddle-point method for calculating joint probabilities of structure factors, using entropy maximization; (3) likelihood-based scores to rank trial phase sets and prune the search tree; (4) efficient schemes, based on error-correcting codes, for sampling trial phase sets; (5) a statistical analysis of the scores for automatically selecting reliable phase indications. They have been implemented to varying degrees of completeness in a computer program (BUSTER) and tested on two small structures as well as on the small protein crambin. The main obstructions to successful ab initio phasing in the latter case seem to reside in the accumulation of phase sampling errors and in the lack of a properly defined molecular envelope, both of which can be remedied within the methods proposed. A review of the Bayesian statistical theory encompassing all phasing procedures, proposed earlier as an extension of the initial theory, shows that the techniques now available in BUSTER bring closer a number of major enhancements of standard macromolecular phasing techniques, namely isomorphous replacement, molecular replacement, solvent flattening and non-crystallographic symmetry averaging. The gradual implementation of the successive stages of this 'Bayesian programme' should lead to an increasingly integrated, effective and dependable phasing procedure for macromolecular structure determination.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1991

A multisolution method of phase determination by combined maximization of entropy and likelihood. V. The use of likelihood as a discriminator of phase sets produced by the SAYTAN program for a small protein.

The use of a likelihood criterion associated with maximum-entropy (ME) extrapolation for selecting phase sets as part of a new multisolution phasing strategy, already applied to solving small crystal structures from single-crystal data [Gilmore, Bricogne & Bannister (1990). Acta Cryst. A46, 297-308] and X-ray powder diffraction data [Gilmore, Henderson & Bricogne (1991). Acta Cryst. A47, 830-841], has been tested on the small protein avian pancreatic polypeptide (APP) with 301 non-H atoms in the asymmetric unit in space group C2. A collection of 50 phase sets for APP were provided by Woolfson & Yao. They had been generated from random starting phases by the SAYTAN procedure [Woolfson & Yao (1990). Acta Cryst. A46, 409-413] using data to a resolution of 0.98 A. Six of these had an unweighted mean absolute phase error, mean value of magnitude of delta phi, of less than 50 degrees, the remainder having phase errors of 60 degrees or more. However, none of the conventional figures of merit were able to identify these preferred sets. Each phase set was subjected to our standard procedure of entropy maximization and of evaluation of the log-likelihood gain resulting from the associated ME extrapolation. With only a small subset of data (to 2 A resolution), the likelihood criterion identified unambiguously the phase sets with mean value of magnitude of delta phi less than 50 degrees. In contrast, conventional figures of merit showed no such ability.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Pancreatic Polypeptide↗
PubMed1991

Intramolecular dielectric screening in proteins.

This paper investigates the microscopic mechanisms of charge screening by proteins. For this purpose, we introduce the generalized susceptibility of a protein in response to a point charge, which is a scalar quantity dependent on position within the protein. The contribution to the susceptibility from atomic polarizabilities, associated with electronic degrees of freedom, is found to be highly uniform. By contrast, that from dynamic dipolar relaxation, associated with nuclear degrees of freedom, varies greatly between different regions of the protein. We investigate the possible rôle of this variation in the activity of proteins that interact functionally with charged species, and we formulate and test the hypothesis that this variation is correlated to functional activity. Model calculations give encouraging support to this hypothesis. The protein's dielectric properties are represented by a standard model in which electronic relaxation is described by a set of atomic polarizabilities, and dipolar relaxation is treated as a perturbation to normal mode dynamics. The model yields the desired susceptibility in closed form. Its obvious limitations are discussed. It is applied to several test systems, and is compared to various continuum models. Four model alpha-helices are considered, three of which play a rôle in vivo in the binding of charged ligands. We show that the intramolecular screening, and its spatial variation, can indeed play a part in this binding. The electron transfer between ferri- and ferrocytochrome c is considered. The dielectric relaxation of each molecule, associated respectively with its oxidation or its reduction, is known to be directly related to the activation free energy for the electron transfer reaction. Our analysis of the dielectric susceptibility will thus permit an estimate of this activation free energy. We show that the relaxation of the atomic positions ("dipolar relaxation") contributes 1 kcal/mol to this activation free energy, and that the molecule achieves this low value by providing a low dipolar susceptibility throughout its central part. In this case, the spatial variation of the susceptibility has a clear functional rôle.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Direct phase determination for the molecular envelope of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase from Bacillus stearothermophilus by X-ray contrast variation.

Monoclinic crystals of Bacillus stearothermophilus tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase grown in the presence of substrate tryptophan (space group P2(1)) display evidence of a low-resolution trigonal space group (P321). The origin and averaging transformations for the local 32 point group of this unusually clear sixfold non-crystallographic symmetry may be inferred without prior estimation of the electron density. This local symmetry was exploited in conjunction with solvent density contrast variation to determine the shape of the molecular envelope. X-ray intensities measured from crystals equilibrated in mother liquors of three different electron densities were used to estimate three parameters for each reflection: the modulus of the envelope transform, [Gh]; and components, Xh and Yh, relative to Gh, of the structure-factor vector for the transform of intramolecular density fluctuations. The moduli ([Gh]) behave somewhat like structure-factor amplitudes from small-molecule crystals, and estimation of their unknown phases was successfully carried out by statistical direct methods. Reflections to 18 A resolution, which obey rather well the symmetry of space group P321, were merged to produce an asymmetric unit in that space group. [Gh] values for the 34 strongest of these were phased using the small-molecule direct-methods package MITHRIL [Gilmore (1984). J. Appl Cryst. 17, 42-46]. The best phase set was expanded back to the P2(1) lattice and negative density was truncated to generate initial phases for all reflections to 18 A resolution. Phase refinement by iterative imposition of the local 32 symmetry produced an envelope with convincing features consistent with known properties of the enzyme. The envelope implies that the tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase dimer is an elongated structure with an axial ratio of about 4:1, in which the monomers have two distinct domains of unequal size. The smaller of these occurs at the dimer interface, and resembles the nucleotide binding portion of the tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase. It may therefore contain the amino-terminal one hundred or so residues, including all three cysteines, previously suggested to comprise a nucleotide-binding domain in the tryptophanyl enzyme. A purely crystallographic test of the overall features of this envelope was carried out by transporting it to a tetragonal crystal form of the same protein in which the asymmetric unit is a monomer. The small domain fits snugly inside three mercury and one gold heavy-atom binding sites for this crystal form; and symmetry-related molecules provide excellent, but very different, lattice contacts in nearly all directions.

Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases↗
PubMed1983

Structure of tomato busy stunt virus IV. The virus particle at 2.9 A resolution.

The structure of tomato bushy stunt virus has been determined crystallographically to 2.9 A resolution. Details are presented of both the molecular structure and the methods by which it has been solved. The icosahedrally symmetric viral shell is composed of 180 protein subunits (Mr 43,000), with three similar but distinct modes of subunit bonding. This capacity for alternative packing is due to localized flexibility in the folded polypeptide (hinges between domains) and to multiple conformations for surface side-chains. The polypeptide backbone has an essentially invariant fold within a compact domain. A mechanism for correct positioning of the different modes of subunit interaction is evident from the structure of the TBSV particle. Thirty-five residues of the polypeptide chain fold in an ordered way on 60 of the 180 subunits, forming an internal framework. Interaction of folded domains with this framework permits accuracy of long-range geometry (correct curvature and closure) to be determined by unambiguous switching between alternative local contact angles. RNA packs tightly into the particle interior. Protein-RNA interactions occur through parts of the subunit that are flexibly linked to the well-ordered domains of the shell. This variable interaction imposes minimum restrictions on the folding of the RNA chain.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1977

Tomato bushy stunt virus at 5.5-A resolution.

The coat of tomato bushy stunt virus is built from protein subunits having rigid domains connected by a flexible hinge. Two states of the hinge are present in the T=3 icosahedral structure. Each subunit has a binding site for RNA on its inner surface.

Nucleic Acid Conformation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Maximum-entropy three-dimensional reconstruction with deconvolution of the contrast transfer function: a test application with adenovirus.

We have developed an objective, quantitative, and general algorithm to improve the fidelity of three-dimensional reconstructions made from electron micrographs while at the same time filtering much of the noise present in the recorded data. The new technique is called constrained maximum entropy tomography (COMET). The essence of the method is that it will produce the most featureless reconstruction that fits the projection data within their observational accuracy. In particular, the COMET procedure will minimise the detrimental effects of errors in the measured data and deconvolute the effects of the contrast transfer function. An objective test has been performed using COMET on a conventional image reconstruction obtained from cryo-electron micrographs of adenovirus. The density for hexon, the major coat protein of the virus, which is known to high resolution from X-ray crystallography, provided a known high-resolution control. The COMET reconstruction is in considerably better agreement with the crystallographic electron density than the original reconstruction, throughout the entire resolution range.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The structure of the protein disk of tobacco mosaic virus to 5A resolution.

An electron density map of the TMV disk at 5A resolution has been obtained using isomorphous replacement and non-crystallographic symmetry. The polypeptide chain can be traced with little ambiguity. The axial contacts between protein subunits are unlike those in the virus, the disk being a more open structure apparently designed for rapid interaction with the RNA.

Models, Molecular↗