Category Archives: Uncategorized

Nature May 2018: Abstract

Ling Zhang, Jake B. Bailey, Rohit H. Subramanian, Alexander Groisman, and F. Akif Tezcan

The formation of condensed matter typically involves a trade-off between structural order and flexibility. As the extent and directionality of interactions between atomic or molecular components increase, materials generally become more ordered but less compliant, and vice versa. Nevertheless, high levels of structural order and flexibility are not necessarily mutually exclusive; there are many biological (such as microtubules, flagella, viruses) and synthetic assemblies (for example, dynamic molecular crystals and frameworks) that can undergo considerable structural transformations without losing their crystalline order and that have remarkable mechanical properties that are useful in diverse applications, such as selective sorption, separation, sensing and mechanoactuation. However, the extent of structural changes and the elasticity of such flexible crystals are constrained by the necessity to maintain a continuous network of bonding interactions between the constituents of the lattice. Consequently, even the most dynamic porous materials tend to be brittle and isolated as microcrystalline powders, whereas flexible organic or inorganic molecular crystals cannot expand without fracturing. Owing to their rigidity, crystalline materials rarely display self-healing behaviour. Here we report that macromolecular ferritin crystals with integrated hydrogel polymers can isotropically expand to 180 per cent of their original dimensions and more than 500 per cent of their original volume while retaining periodic order and faceted Wulff morphologies. Even after the separation of neighbouring ferritin molecules by 50 ångströms upon lattice expansion, specific molecular contacts between them can be reformed upon lattice contraction, resulting in the recovery of atomic-level periodicity and the highest-resolution ferritin structure reported so far. Dynamic bonding interactions between the hydrogel network and the ferritin molecules endow the crystals with the ability to resist fragmentation and self-heal efficiently, whereas the chemical tailorability of the ferritin molecules enables the creation of chemically and mechanically differentiated domains within single crystals.

This work was featured in a News & Views article and by Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN)! C&EN Article

Read the Behind the Paper post by Ling Zhang here!

Full Text

Nature Chemistry April 2018: Abstract

Robert Alberstein, Yuta Suzuki, Francesco Paesani, and F. Akif Tezcan

De novo design and construction of stimuli-responsive protein assemblies that predictably switch between discrete conformational states remains an essential but highly challenging goal in biomolecular design. We previously reported synthetic, two-dimensional protein lattices self-assembled via disulfide bonding interactions, which endows them with a unique capacity to undergo coherent conformational changes without losing crystalline order. Here, we carried out all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to map the free-energy landscape of these lattices, validated this landscape through extensive structural characterization by electron microscopy and established that it is predominantly governed by solvent reorganization entropy. Subsequent redesign of the protein surface with conditionally repulsive electrostatic interactions enabled us to predictably perturb the free-energy landscape and obtain a new protein lattice whose conformational dynamics can be chemically and mechanically toggled between three different states with varying porosities and molecular densities.

Read the Behind the Paper post by Robert Alberstein here!

Check out the writeup and podcast by the Texas Advanced Computing Center covering this work here!

Full Text

JACS September 2016: Abstract

Lewis A. Churchfield, Annette Medina-Morales, Jeffrey D. Brodin, Alfredo Perez, and F. Akif Tezcan

A major goal in metalloprotein design is to build protein scaffolds from scratch that allow precise control over metal coordination. A particular challenge in this regard is the construction of allosteric systems in which metal coordination equilibria are coupled to other chemical events that take place elsewhere in the protein scaffold. We previously developed a metal-templated self-assembly strategy (MeTIR) to build supramolecular protein complexes with tailorable interfaces from monomeric building blocks. Here, using this strategy, we have incorporated multiple disulfide bonds into the interfaces of a Zn-templated cytochrome cb562 assembly in order to create mechanical strain on the quaternary structural level. Structural and biophysical analyses indicate that this strain leads to an allosteric system in which Zn2+ binding and dissociation are remotely coupled to the formation and breakage of a disulfide bond over a distance of >14 Å. The breakage of this strained bond upon Zn2+ dissociation occurs in the absence of any reductants, apparently through a hydrolytic mechanism that generates a sulfenic acid/thiol pair.

This work was featured by Chemistry & Engineering News (C&EN)! C&EN Article

Full Text

JACS August 2016: Abstract

Cedric P. Owens, Faith E. H. Katz, Cole H. Carter, Victoria F. Oswald, and F. Akif Tezcan

The P-cluster is a unique iron–sulfur center that likely functions as a dynamic electron (e–) relay site between the Fe-protein and the catalytic FeMo-cofactor in nitrogenase. The P-cluster has been shown to undergo large conformational changes upon 2-e– oxidation which entail the coordination of two of the Fe centers to a Ser side chain and a backbone amide N, respectively. Yet, how and if this 2-e– oxidized state (POX) is involved in catalysis by nitrogenase is not well established. Here, we present the crystal structures of reduced and oxidized MoFe-protein (MoFeP) from Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus (Gd), which natively possesses an Ala residue in the position of the Ser ligand to the P-cluster. While reduced Gd-MoFeP is structurally identical to previously characterized counterparts around the FeMo-cofactor, oxidized Gd-MoFeP features an unusual Tyr coordination to its P-cluster along with ligation by a backbone amide nitrogen. EPR analysis of the oxidized Gd-MoFeP P-cluster confirmed that it is a 2-e– oxidized, integer-spin species. Importantly, we have found that the sequence positions corresponding to the Ser and Tyr ligands are almost completely covariant among Group I nitrogenases. These findings strongly support the possibility that the POX state is functionally relevant in nitrogenase catalysis and that a hard, O-based anionic ligand serves to stabilize this state in a switchable fashion.

Full Text

Nature (May 2016): Abstract

Yuta Suzuki, Giovanni Cardone, David Restrepo, Pablo D. Zavattieri, Timothy S. Baker & F. Akif Tezcan

Two-dimensional (2D) crystalline materials possess unique structural, mechanical and electronic properties that make them highly attractive in many applications. Although there have been advances in preparing 2D materials that consist of one or a few atomic or molecular layers, bottom-up assembly of 2D crystalline materials remains a challenge and an active area of development. More challenging is the design of dynamic 2D lattices that can undergo large-scale motions without loss of crystallinity. Dynamic behaviour in porous three-dimensional (3D) crystalline solids has been exploited for stimuli-responsive functions and adaptive behaviour. As in such 3D materials, integrating flexibility and adaptiveness into crystalline 2D lattices would greatly broaden the functional scope of 2D materials. Here we report the self-assembly of unsupported, 2D protein lattices with precise spatial arrangements and patterns using a readily accessible design strategy. Three single- or double-point mutants of the C4-symmetric protein RhuA were designed to assemble via different modes of intermolecular interactions (single-disulfide, double-disulfide and metal-coordination) into crystalline 2D arrays. Owing to the flexibility of the single-disulfide interactions, the lattices of one of the variants (C98RhuA) are essentially defect-free and undergo substantial, but fully correlated, changes in molecular arrangement, yielding coherently dynamic 2D molecular lattices. C98RhuA lattices display a Poisson’s ratio of −1 — the lowest thermodynamically possible value for an isotropic material—making them auxetic.

Full Text

JACS September 2015: Abstract

Cedric P. Owens, Faith E. H. Katz, Cole H. Carter, Maria A. Luca, and F. Akif Tezcan

Nitrogenase is the only enzyme that can convert atmospheric dinitrogen (N2) into biologically usable ammonia (NH3). To achieve this multielectron redox process, the nitrogenase component proteins, MoFe-protein (MoFeP) and Fe-protein (FeP), repeatedly associate and dissociate in an ATP-dependent manner, where one electron is transferred from FeP to MoFeP per association. Here, we provide experimental evidence that encounter complexes between FeP and MoFeP play a functional role in nitrogenase catalysis. The encounter complexes are stabilized by electrostatic interactions involving a positively charged patch on the β-subunit of MoFeP. Three single mutations (βAsn399Glu, βLys400Glu, and βArg401Glu) in this patch were generated in Azotobacter vinelandii MoFeP. All of the resulting variants displayed decreases in specific catalytic activity, with the βK400E mutation showing the largest effect. As simulated by the Thorneley–Lowe kinetic scheme, this single mutation lowered the rate constant for FeP-MoFeP association 5-fold. We also found that the βK400E mutation did not affect the coupling of ATP hydrolysis with electron transfer (ET) between FeP and MoFeP. These data suggest a mechanism where FeP initially forms encounter complexes on the MoFeP β-subunit surface en route to the ATP-activated, ET-competent complex over the αβ-interface.

Full Text

JACS Communication August 2015: Abstract

Pamela A. Sontz, Jake B. Bailey, Sunhyung Ahn, and F. Akif Tezcan

We describe here the construction of a three-dimensional, porous, crystalline framework formed by spherical protein nodes that assemble into a prescribed lattice arrangement through metal–organic linker-directed interactions. The octahedral iron storage enzyme, ferritin, was engineered in its C3 symmetric pores with tripodal Zn coordination sites. Dynamic light scattering and crystallographic studies established that this Zn-ferritin construct could robustly self-assemble into the desired bcc-type crystals upon coordination of a ditopic linker bearing hydroxamic acid functional groups. This system represents the first example of a ternary protein–metal–organic crystalline framework whose formation is fully dependent on each of its three components.

Full Text

JACS August 2015: Abstract

Jeffrey D. Brodin, Sarah J. Smith, Jessica R. Carr, and F. Akif Tezcan

Due to their structural and mechanical properties, 1D helical protein assemblies represent highly attractive design targets for biomolecular engineering and protein design. Here we present a designed, tetrameric protein building block, Zn8R4, which assembles via Zn coordination interactions into a series of crystalline, helical nanotubes whose widths can be controlled by solution conditions. X-ray crystallography and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements indicate that all classes of protein nanotubes are constructed through the same 2D arrangement of Zn8R4 tetramers held together by Zn coordination. The mechanical properties of these nanotubes are correlated with their widths. All Zn8R4 nanotubes are found to be highly flexible despite possessing crystalline order, owing to their minimal interbuilding-block interactions mediated solely by metal coordination.

Full Text