A novel high-throughput screen for identifying lipids that stabilise membrane proteins in detergent based solution.

Membrane proteins have a range of crucial biological functions and are the target of about 60% of all prescribed drugs. For most studies, they need to be extracted out of the lipid-bilayer, e.g.

An ELISA method to estimate the mono ADP-ribosyltransferase activities: e.g in pertussis toxin and vaccines.

ADP-ribosyltransferase activities have been observed in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic species and viruses and are involved in many cellular processes, including cell signalling, DNA repair, gene regulation and apoptosis. In a number of bacterial toxins, mono ADP-ribosyltransferase is the main cause of host cell cytotoxicity. Several approaches have been used to analyse this biological system from measuring its enzyme products to its functions.

Re-refinement of 4g4a: room-temperature X-ray diffraction study of cisplatin and its binding to His15 of HEWL after 14 months chemical exposure in the presence of DMSO.

A re-refinement of 4g4a, the room-temperature X-ray diffraction study of cisplatin and its binding to His15 of HEWL after 14 months chemical exposure in the presence of DMSO is published as an addendum to Tanley et al. [(2012), Acta Cryst. F68, 1300-1306].

Re-refinement of 4xan: hen egg-white lysozyme with carboplatin in sodium bromide solution.

A re-refinement of 4xan, hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) with carboplatin crystallized in NaBr solution, has been made and is published here as an addendum to Tanley et al. [(2014), Acta Cryst. F70, 1135-1142].

X-ray diffraction in temporally and spatially resolved biomolecular science.

Time-resolved Laue protein crystallography at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) opened up the field of sub-nanosecond protein crystal structure analyses. There are a limited number of such time-resolved studies in the literature. Why is this? The X-ray laser now gives us femtosecond (fs) duration pulses, typically 10 fs up to ∼50 fs.

Carboplatin binding to histidine.

Carboplatin is a second-generation platinum anticancer agent used for the treatment of a variety of cancers. Previous X-ray crystallographic studies of carboplatin binding to histidine (in hen egg-white lysozyme; HEWL) showed the partial conversion of carboplatin to cisplatin owing to the high NaCl concentration used in the crystallization conditions. HEWL co-crystallizations with carboplatin in NaBr conditions have now been carried out to confirm whether carboplatin converts to the bromine form and whether this takes place in a similar way to the partial conversion of carboplatin to cisplatin observed previously in NaCl conditions.

The binding of platinum hexahalides (Cl, Br and I) to hen egg-white lysozyme and the chemical transformation of the PtI6 octahedral complex to a PtI3 moiety bound to His15.

This study examines the binding and chemical stability of the platinum hexahalides K2PtCl6, K2PtBr6 and K2PtI6 when soaked into pre-grown hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) crystals as the protein host. Direct comparison of the iodo complex with the chloro and bromo complexes shows that the iodo complex is partly chemically transformed to a square-planar PtI3 complex bound to the N(δ) atom of His15, a chemical behaviour that is not exhibited by the chloro or bromo complexes. Each complex does, however, bind to HEWL in its octahedral form either at one site (PtI6) or at two sites (PtBr6 and PtCl6).

Chemical conversion of cisplatin and carboplatin with histidine in a model protein crystallized under sodium iodide conditions.

Cisplatin and carboplatin are platinum anticancer agents that are used to treat a variety of cancers. Previous X-ray crystallographic studies of carboplatin binding to histidine in hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) showed a partial chemical conversion of carboplatin to cisplatin owing to the high sodium chloride concentration used in the crystallization conditions. Also, the co-crystallization of HEWL with carboplatin in sodium bromide conditions resulted in the partial conversion of carboplatin to the transbromoplatin form, with a portion of the cyclobutanedicarboxylate (CBDC) moiety still present.

Urinary tract effects of HPSE2 mutations.

Urofacial syndrome (UFS) is an autosomal recessive congenital disease featuring grimacing and incomplete bladder emptying. Mutations of HPSE2, encoding heparanase 2, a heparanase 1 inhibitor, occur in UFS, but knowledge about the HPSE2 mutation spectrum is limited. Here, seven UFS kindreds with HPSE2 mutations are presented, including one with deleted asparagine 254, suggesting a role for this amino acid, which is conserved in vertebrate orthologs.

Structural dynamics of cisplatin binding to histidine in a protein.

The platinum anti-cancer agents cisplatin and carboplatin bind to the histidine 15 residue in the model protein hen egg white lysozyme. By using temperatures either side of the protein glass transition state (∼180 K), several platinum binding modes are seen and show that not all these platinum modes are stable. In particular, the mean square displacement vibration amplitudes of the cisplatin and of the histidine to which it is bound are analysed in detail.

Experiences with archived raw diffraction images data: capturing cisplatin after chemical conversion of carboplatin in high salt conditions for a protein crystal.

The archiving of raw diffraction images data is the focus of an IUCr Diffraction Data Deposition Working Group (see http://forums.iucr.org/).

Experience with exchange and archiving of raw data: comparison of data from two diffractometers and four software packages on a series of lysozyme crystals.

The International Union of Crystallography has for many years been advocating archiving of raw data to accompany structural papers. Recently, it initiated the formation of the Diffraction Data Deposition Working Group with the aim of developing standards for the representation of these data. A means of studying this issue is to submit exemplar publications with associated raw data and metadata.

The crystal structure analysis of the relative binding of cisplatin and carboplatin in a mixture with histidine in a protein studied at 100 and 300 K with repeated X-ray irradiation.

The anticancer agents cisplatin and carboplatin bind to histidine in a protein. This crystal structure study at data-collection temperatures of 100 and 300 K examines their relative binding affinities to a histidine side chain and the effect of a high X-ray radiation dose of up to ∼1.8 MGy on the stability of the subsequent protein-Pt adducts.

Room-temperature X-ray diffraction studies of cisplatin and carboplatin binding to His15 of HEWL after prolonged chemical exposure.

The anticancer complexes cisplatin and carboplatin are known to bind to both the Nδ and the Nℇ atoms of His15 of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). However, neither binds in aqueous media after 4 d of crystallization and crystal growth, suggesting that DMSO facilitates cisplatin/carboplatin binding to the N atoms of His15 by an unknown mechanism. Crystals of HEWL cocrystallized with cisplatin in both aqueous and DMSO media, of HEWL cocrystallized with carboplatin in DMSO medium and of HEWL cocrystallized with cisplatin and N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) in DMSO medium were stored for between seven and 15 months.

Structural studies of the effect that dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has on cisplatin and carboplatin binding to histidine in a protein.

The anticancer complexes cisplatin and carboplatin target the DNA major groove, forming intrastrand and interstrand cross-links between guanine bases through their N7 atoms, causing distortion of the DNA helix and apoptotic cell death. A major side effect of these drugs is toxicity, which is caused via binding to many proteins in the body. A range of crystallographic studies have been carried out involving the cocrystallization of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) as a test protein with cisplatin and carboplatin in aqueous and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) conditions.