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SAD urges Punjab govt to declare there will be no tampering with reservation policy




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Girish Nadda's Pushkar wedding to bring BJP-SAD closer




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SGPC flags off free bus service from Golden Temple, Amritsar to Dera Baba Nanak for Kartarpur pilgrims




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Punjab Govt extends services of doctors and paramedical staff till Sept 30




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SGCP members hand out masks, sanitisers to devotees at Golden Temple




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Punjab to shut public bus service from Sat midnight




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COVID-19: PGI-Chandigarh shuts OPD services




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Barring essential services, lockdown in Punjab till March 31




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Punjab people express gratitude to providers of essential services




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Chandigarh's PGIMER to start teleconsultation service amid COVID-19 lockdown




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Company gives 30,000 masks, sanitisers to Punjab Police




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PGI-Chandigarh starts tele-consultation service




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COVID-19 : Punjab distilleries begins manufacturing sanitisers




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Punjab CM orders extension in services of retiring police personnel, home guards




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Seriously thinking on extending lockdown: Punjab CM




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Home delivery services stopped in Ludhiana




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Learning app offers free service

Edusap can be downloaded from Playstore and Appstore




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‘Release Tablighis who served quarantine period’

567 foreigners to be handed over to police






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Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers records 35 per cent hike in sale of ‘Suphala’ fertilisers

A PIB press statement said that Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd (RCF) has registered a hike of 35.47 per cent in the sale of fertilisers und




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DNA Exclusive: Arti Singh remembers how her first letter to mother brought them closer

Arti Singh remembered her first letter to mother on the occasion of Mothers' Day




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Andy Serkis says The Batman will be darker than previous films




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Russo Brothers to recommend and discuss movies as a part of Instagram series




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Generating three-color pulses in high-gain harmonic-generation free-electron lasers with a tilted electron bunch

A multi-color light source is a significant tool for nonlinear optics experiments, pump–dump/repump–probe experiments and in other fields. Here, a novel method is proposed to create three-color pulses based on a high-gain harmonic-generation (HGHG) free-electron laser with a tilted electron bunch. In this method, the initial bunch tilt is created by transverse wakefields after the bunch passes through a corrugated structure with an off-axis orbit, and is further enlarged in a following drift section. Then the tilted bunch experiences the off-axis field of a quadrupole magnet to cool down the large transverse velocity induced before. After that, it enters an HGHG configuration adopting a transverse gradient undulator (TGU) as the radiator, where only three separated fractions of the tilted bunch will resonate at three adjacent harmonics of the seed wavelength and are enabled to emit three-color pulses simultaneously. In addition, the use of the natural transverse gradient of a normal planar undulator instead of the TGU radiator to emit three-color pulses is also studied in detail. Numerical simulations including the generation of the tilted bunch and the free-electron laser radiation confirm the validity and feasibility of this scheme both for the TGU radiator and the natural gradient in the extreme-ultraviolet waveband.




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Reducing sample consumption for serial crystallography using acoustic drop ejection

Efficient sample delivery is an essential aspect of serial crystallography at both synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers. Rastering fixed target chips through the X-ray beam is an efficient method for serial delivery from the perspectives of both sample consumption and beam time usage. Here, an approach for loading fixed targets using acoustic drop ejection is presented that does not compromise crystal quality, can reduce sample consumption by more than an order of magnitude and allows serial diffraction to be collected from a larger proportion of the crystals in the slurry.




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X-ray fluorescence detection for serial macromolecular crystallography using a JUNGFRAU pixel detector

Detection of heavy elements, such as metals, in macromolecular crystallography (MX) samples by X-ray fluorescence is a function traditionally covered at synchrotron MX beamlines by silicon drift detectors, which cannot be used at X-ray free-electron lasers because of the very short duration of the X-ray pulses. Here it is shown that the hybrid pixel charge-integrating detector JUNGFRAU can fulfill this function when operating in a low-flux regime. The feasibility of precise position determination of micrometre-sized metal marks is also demonstrated, to be used as fiducials for offline prelocation in serial crystallography experiments, based on the specific fluorescence signal measured with JUNGFRAU, both at the synchrotron and at SwissFEL. Finally, the measurement of elemental absorption edges at a synchrotron beamline using JUNGFRAU is also demonstrated.




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A portable on-axis laser-heating system for near-90° X-ray spectroscopy: application to ferropericlase and iron silicide

A portable IR fiber laser-heating system, optimized for X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS) spectroscopy with signal collection through the radial opening of diamond anvil cells near 90°with respect to the incident X-ray beam, is presented. The system offers double-sided on-axis heating by a single laser source and zero attenuation of incoming X-rays other than by the high-pressure environment. A description of the system, which has been tested for pressures above 100 GPa and temperatures up to 3000 K, is given. The XES spectra of laser-heated Mg0.67Fe0.33O demonstrate the potential to map the iron spin state in the pressure–temperature range of the Earth's lower mantle, and the NIS spectra of laser-heated FeSi give access to the sound velocity of this candidate of a phase inside the Earth's core. This portable system represents one of the few bridges across the gap between laser heating and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies with signal collection near 90°.




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X-ray free-electron laser wavefront sensing using the fractional Talbot effect

Wavefront sensing at X-ray free-electron lasers is important for quantitatively understanding the fundamental properties of the laser, for aligning X-ray instruments and for conducting scientific experimental analysis. A fractional Talbot wavefront sensor has been developed. This wavefront sensor enables measurements over a wide range of energies, as is common on X-ray instruments, with simplified mechanical requirements and is compatible with the high average power pulses expected in upcoming X-ray free-electron laser upgrades. Single-shot measurements were performed at 500 eV, 1000 eV and 1500 eV at the Linac Coherent Light Source. These measurements were applied to study both mirror alignment and the effects of undulator tapering schemes on source properties. The beamline focal plane position was tracked to an uncertainty of 0.12 mm, and the source location for various undulator tapering schemes to an uncertainty of 1 m, demonstrating excellent sensitivity. These findings pave the way to use the fractional Talbot wavefront sensor as a routine, robust and sensitive tool at X-ray free-electron lasers as well as other high-brightness X-ray sources.




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The HARE chip for efficient time-resolved serial synchrotron crystallography

Serial synchrotron crystallography (SSX) is an emerging technique for static and time-resolved protein structure determination. Using specifically patterned silicon chips for sample delivery, the `hit-and-return' (HARE) protocol allows for efficient time-resolved data collection. The specific pattern of the crystal wells in the HARE chip provides direct access to many discrete time points. HARE chips allow for optical excitation as well as on-chip mixing for reaction initiation, making a large number of protein systems amenable to time-resolved studies. Loading of protein microcrystals onto the HARE chip is streamlined by a novel vacuum loading platform that allows fine-tuning of suction strength while maintaining a humid environment to prevent crystal dehydration. To enable the widespread use of time-resolved serial synchrotron crystallography (TR-SSX), detailed technical descriptions of a set of accessories that facilitate TR-SSX workflows are provided.




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The indexing ambiguity in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) resolved using an expectation maximization algorithm

An expectation maximization algorithm is implemented to resolve the indexing ambiguity which arises when merging data from many crystals in protein crystallography, especially in cases where partial reflections are recorded in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at XFELs.









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Crystal structures of a series of 6-aryl-1,3-diphenyl­fulvenes

The synthesis and crystal structures of a series of 6-aryl­fuvlenes (fulvene is 5-methyl­idene­cyclo­penta-1,3-diene) with varying methyl­ation patterns on the 6-phenyl substituent are reported, namely 6-(3-methyl­phen­yl)-1,3-di­phenyl­fulvene (C25H20), 6-(4-methyl­phen­yl)-1,3-di­phenyl­fulvene (C25H20), 6-mesityl-3-di­phenyl­fulvene (C27H24) and 6-(2,3,4,5,6-penta­methyl­phen­yl)-1,3-di­phenyl­fulvene (C29H28). The bond lengths are typical of those observed in related fulvenes. A network of C—H⋯π ring inter­actions consolidates the packing in each structure.




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Two new glaserite-type orthovanadates: Rb2KDy(VO4)2 and Cs1.52K1.48Gd(VO4)2

The crystal structures of dirubidium potassium dysprosium bis­(vanadate), Rb2KDy(VO4)2, and caesium potassium gadolinium bis­(vanadate), Cs1.52K1.48Gd(VO4)2, were solved from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Both compounds, synthesized by the reactive flux method, crystallize in the space group Poverline{3}m1 with the glaserite structure type. VO4 tetra­hedra are linked to DyO6 or GdO6 octa­hedra by common vertices to form sheets stacking along the c axis. The large twelve-coordinate Cs+ or Rb+ cations are sandwiched between these layers in tunnels along the a and b axes, while the K+ cations, surrounded by ten oxygen atoms, are localized in cavities.




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Crystal structures and Hirshfeld surface analysis of a series of 4-O-aryl­perfluoro­pyridines

Five new crystal structures of perfluoro­pyridine substituted in the 4-position with phen­oxy, 4-bromo­phen­oxy, naphthalen-2-yl­oxy, 6-bromo­naphthalen-2-yl­oxy, and 4,4'-biphen­oxy are reported, viz. 2,3,5,6-tetra­fluoro-4-phen­oxy­pyridine, C11H5F4NO (I), 4-(4-bromo­phen­oxy)-2,3,5,6-tetra­fluoro­pyridine, C11H4BrF4NO (II), 2,3,5,6-tetra­fluoro-4-[(naphthalen-2-yl)­oxy]pyridine, C15H7F4NO (III), 4-[(6-bromo­naphthalen-2-yl)­oxy]-2,3,5,6-tetra­fluoropyridine, C15H6BrF4NO (IV), and 2,2'-bis­[(perfluoro­pyridin-4-yl)­oxy]-1,1'-biphenyl, C22H8F8N2O2 (V). The dihedral angles between the aromatic ring systems in I–IV are 78.74 (8), 56.35 (8), 74.30 (7), and 64.34 (19)°, respectively. The complete mol­ecule of V is generated by a crystallographic twofold axis: the dihedral angle between the pyridine ring and adjacent phenyl ring is 80.89 (5)° and the equivalent angle between the biphenyl rings is 27.30 (5)°. In each crystal, the packing is driven by C—H⋯F inter­actions, along with a variety of C—F⋯π, C—H⋯π, C—Br⋯N, C—H⋯N, and C—Br⋯π contacts. Hirshfeld surface analysis was conducted to aid in the visualization of these various influences on the packing.




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Crystal structures and hydrogen-bonding analysis of a series of solvated ammonium salts of molybdenum(II) chloride clusters

Charge-assisted hydrogen bonding plays a significant role in the crystal structures of solvates of ionic com­pounds, especially when the cation or cations are primary ammonium salts. We report the crystal structures of four ammonium salts of molybdenum halide cluster solvates where we observe significant hydrogen bonding between the solvent molecules and cations. The crystal structures of bis­(anilinium) octa-μ3-chlorido-hexa­chlorido-octa­hedro-hexa­molybdate N,N-di­­methyl­formamide tetra­solvate, (C6H8N)2[Mo6Cl8Cl6]·4C3H7NO, (I), p-phenyl­enedi­ammonium octa-μ3-chlorido-hexa­chlorido-octa­hedro-hexa­mol­yb­date N,N-di­methyl­formamide hexa­solvate, (C6H10N2)[Mo6Cl8Cl6]·6C3H7NO, (II), N,N'-(1,4-phenyl­ene)bis­(propan-2-iminium) octa-μ3-chlorido-hexa­chlo­rido-octa­hedro-hexa­molybdate acetone tris­olvate, (C12H18N2)[Mo6Cl8Cl6]·3C3H6O, (III), and 1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium octa-μ3-chlo­rido-hexa­chlorido-octa­hedro-hexa­molybdate N,N-di­methyl­formamide tetra­solvate, (C12H14N2)[Mo6Cl8Cl6]·4C3H7NO, (IV), are reported and described. In (I), the anilinium cations and N,N-di­methyl­formamide (DMF) solvent mol­ecules form a cyclic R42(8) hydrogen-bonded motif centered on a crystallographic inversion center with an additional DMF mol­ecule forming a D(2) inter­action. The p-phenyl­enedi­ammonium cation in (II) forms three D(2) inter­actions between the three N—H bonds and three independent N,N-di­methyl­formamide mol­ecules. The dication in (III) is a protonated Schiff base solvated by acetone mol­ecules. Compound (IV) contains a methyl viologen dication with N,N-di­methyl­formamide mol­ecules forming close contacts with both aromatic and methyl H atoms.




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3D-printed holders for in meso in situ fixed-target serial X-ray crystallography

The in meso in situ serial X-ray crystallography method was developed to ease the handling of small fragile crystals of membrane proteins and for rapid data collection on hundreds of microcrystals directly in the growth medium without the need for crystal harvesting. To facilitate mounting of these in situ samples on a goniometer at cryogenic or at room temperatures, two new 3D-printed holders have been developed. They provide for cubic and sponge phase sample stability in the X-ray beam and are compatible with sample-changing robots. The holders can accommodate a variety of window material types, as well as bespoke samples for diffraction screening and data collection at conventional macromolecular crystallography beamlines. They can be used for convenient post-crystallization treatments such as ligand and heavy-atom soaking. The design, assembly and application of the holders for in situ serial crystallography are described. Files for making the holders using a 3D printer are included as supporting information.




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On-chip crystallization for serial crystallography experiments and on-chip ligand-binding studies

Efficient and reliable sample delivery has remained one of the bottlenecks for serial crystallography experiments. Compared with other methods, fixed-target sample delivery offers the advantage of significantly reduced sample consumption and shorter data collection times owing to higher hit rates. Here, a new method of on-chip crystallization is reported which allows the efficient and reproducible growth of large numbers of protein crystals directly on micro-patterned silicon chips for in-situ serial crystallography experiments. Crystals are grown by sitting-drop vapor diffusion and previously established crystallization conditions can be directly applied. By reducing the number of crystal-handling steps, the method is particularly well suited for sensitive crystal systems. Excessive mother liquor can be efficiently removed from the crystals by blotting, and no sealing of the fixed-target sample holders is required to prevent the crystals from dehydrating. As a consequence, `naked' crystals are obtained on the chip, resulting in very low background scattering levels and making the crystals highly accessible for external manipulation such as the application of ligand solutions. Serial diffraction experiments carried out at cryogenic temperatures at a synchrotron and at room temperature at an X-ray free-electron laser yielded high-quality X-ray structures of the human membrane protein aquaporin 2 and two new ligand-bound structures of thermolysin and the human kinase DRAK2. The results highlight the applicability of the method for future high-throughput on-chip screening of pharmaceutical compounds.




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Automated serial rotation electron diffraction combined with cluster analysis: an efficient multi-crystal workflow for structure determination

Serial rotation electron diffraction (SerialRED) has been developed as a fully automated technique for three-dimensional electron diffraction data collection that can run autonomously without human intervention. It builds on the previously established serial electron diffraction technique, in which submicrometre-sized crystals are detected using image processing algorithms. Continuous rotation electron diffraction (cRED) data are collected on each crystal while dynamically tracking the movement of the crystal during rotation using defocused diffraction patterns and applying a set of deflector changes. A typical data collection screens up to 500 crystals per hour, and cRED data are collected from suitable crystals. A data processing pipeline is developed to process the SerialRED data sets. Hierarchical cluster analysis is implemented to group and identify the different phases present in the sample and to find the best matching data sets to be merged for subsequent structure analysis. This method has been successfully applied to a series of zeolites and a beam-sensitive metal–organic framework sample to study its capability for structure determination and refinement. Two multi-phase samples were tested to show that the individual crystal phases can be identified and their structures determined. The results show that refined structures obtained using automatically collected SerialRED data are indistinguishable from those collected manually using the cRED technique. At the same time, SerialRED has lower requirements of expertise in transmission electron microscopy and is less labor intensive, making it a promising high-throughput crystal screening and structure analysis tool.




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Symmetry-mode analysis for intuitive observation of structure–property relationships in the lead-free antiferroelectric (1−x)AgNbO3–xLiTaO3

Functional materials are of critical importance to electronic and smart devices. A deep understanding of the structure–property relationship is essential for designing new materials. In this work, instead of utilizing conventional atomic coordinates, a symmetry-mode approach is successfully used to conduct structure refinement of the neutron powder diffraction data of (1−x)AgNbO3–xLiTaO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.09) ceramics. This provides rich structural information that not only clarifies the controversial symmetry assigned to pure AgNbO3 but also explains well the detailed structural evolution of (1−x)AgNbO3–xLiTaO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.09) ceramics, and builds a comprehensive and straightforward relationship between structural distortion and electrical properties. It is concluded that there are four relatively large-amplitude major modes that dominate the distorted Pmc21 structure of pure AgNbO3, namely a Λ3 antiferroelectric mode, a T4+ a−a−c0 octahedral tilting mode, an H2 a0a0c+/a0a0c− octahedral tilting mode and a Γ4− ferroelectric mode. The H2 and Λ3 modes become progressively inactive with increasing x and their destabilization is the driving force behind the composition-driven phase transition between the Pmc21 and R3c phases. This structural variation is consistent with the trend observed in the measured temperature-dependent dielectric properties and polarization–electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops. The mode crystallography applied in this study provides a strategy for optimizing related properties by tuning the amplitudes of the corresponding modes in these novel AgNbO3-based (anti)ferroelectric materials.




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Catalytically important damage-free structures of a copper nitrite reductase obtained by femtosecond X-ray laser and room-temperature neutron crystallography

Copper-containing nitrite reductases (CuNiRs) that convert NO2− to NO via a CuCAT–His–Cys–CuET proton-coupled redox system are of central importance in nitrogen-based energy metabolism. These metalloenzymes, like all redox enzymes, are very susceptible to radiation damage from the intense synchrotron-radiation X-rays that are used to obtain structures at high resolution. Understanding the chemistry that underpins the enzyme mechanisms in these systems requires resolutions of better than 2 Å. Here, for the first time, the damage-free structure of the resting state of one of the most studied CuNiRs was obtained by combining X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) and neutron crystallography. This represents the first direct comparison of neutron and XFEL structural data for any protein. In addition, damage-free structures of the reduced and nitrite-bound forms have been obtained to high resolution from cryogenically maintained crystals by XFEL crystallography. It is demonstrated that AspCAT and HisCAT are deprotonated in the resting state of CuNiRs at pH values close to the optimum for activity. A bridging neutral water (D2O) is positioned with one deuteron directed towards AspCAT Oδ1 and one towards HisCAT N∊2. The catalytic T2Cu-ligated water (W1) can clearly be modelled as a neutral D2O molecule as opposed to D3O+ or OD−, which have previously been suggested as possible alternatives. The bridging water restricts the movement of the unprotonated AspCAT and is too distant to form a hydrogen bond to the O atom of the bound nitrite that interacts with AspCAT. Upon the binding of NO2− a proton is transferred from the bridging water to the Oδ2 atom of AspCAT, prompting electron transfer from T1Cu to T2Cu and reducing the catalytic redox centre. This triggers the transfer of a proton from AspCAT to the bound nitrite, enabling the reaction to proceed.




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1 kHz fixed-target serial crystallography using a multilayer monochromator and an integrating pixel detector

Reliable sample delivery and efficient use of limited beam time have remained bottlenecks for serial crystallography (SX). Using a high-intensity polychromatic X-ray beam in combination with a newly developed charge-integrating JUNGFRAU detector, we have applied the method of fixed-target SX to collect data at a rate of 1 kHz at a synchrotron-radiation facility. According to our data analysis for the given experimental conditions, only about 3 000 diffraction patterns are required for a high-quality diffraction dataset. With indexing rates of up to 25%, recording of such a dataset takes less than 30 s.




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High-throughput structures of protein–ligand complexes at room temperature using serial femtosecond crystallography

High-throughput X-ray crystal structures of protein–ligand complexes are critical to pharmaceutical drug development. However, cryocooling of crystals and X-ray radiation damage may distort the observed ligand binding. Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) can produce radiation-damage-free room-temperature structures. Ligand-binding studies using SFX have received only modest attention, partly owing to limited beamtime availability and the large quantity of sample that is required per structure determination. Here, a high-throughput approach to determine room-temperature damage-free structures with excellent sample and time efficiency is demonstrated, allowing complexes to be characterized rapidly and without prohibitive sample requirements. This yields high-quality difference density maps allowing unambiguous ligand placement. Crucially, it is demonstrated that ligands similar in size or smaller than those used in fragment-based drug design may be clearly identified in data sets obtained from <1000 diffraction images. This efficiency in both sample and XFEL beamtime opens the door to true high-throughput screening of protein–ligand complexes using SFX.




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Toward G protein-coupled receptor structure-based drug design using X-ray lasers

Rational structure-based drug design (SBDD) relies on the availability of a large number of co-crystal structures to map the ligand-binding pocket of the target protein and use this information for lead-compound optimization via an iterative process. While SBDD has proven successful for many drug-discovery projects, its application to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has been limited owing to extreme difficulties with their crystallization. Here, a method is presented for the rapid determination of multiple co-crystal structures for a target GPCR in complex with various ligands, taking advantage of the serial femtosecond crystallography approach, which obviates the need for large crystals and requires only submilligram quantities of purified protein. The method was applied to the human β2-adrenergic receptor, resulting in eight room-temperature co-crystal structures with six different ligands, including previously unreported structures with carvedilol and propranolol. The generality of the proposed method was tested with three other receptors. This approach has the potential to enable SBDD for GPCRs and other difficult-to-crystallize membrane proteins.




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A fixed-target platform for serial femtosecond crystallography in a hydrated environment

For serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers, which entails collection of single-pulse diffraction patterns from a constantly refreshed supply of microcrystalline sample, delivery of the sample into the X-ray beam path while maintaining low background remains a technical challenge for some experiments, especially where this methodology is applied to relatively low-ordered samples or those difficult to purify and crystallize in large quantities. This work demonstrates a scheme to encapsulate biological samples using polymer thin films and graphene to maintain sample hydration in vacuum conditions. The encapsulated sample is delivered into the X-ray beam on fixed targets for rapid scanning using the Roadrunner fixed-target system towards a long-term goal of low-background measurements on weakly diffracting samples. As a proof of principle, we used microcrystals of the 24 kDa rapid encystment protein (REP24) to provide a benchmark for polymer/graphene sandwich performance. The REP24 microcrystal unit cell obtained from our sandwiched in-vacuum sample was consistent with previously established unit-cell parameters and with those measured by us without encapsulation in humidified helium, indicating that the platform is robust against evaporative losses. While significant scattering from water was observed because of the sample-deposition method, the polymer/graphene sandwich itself was shown to contribute minimally to background scattering.




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3D-MiXD: 3D-printed X-ray-compatible microfluidic devices for rapid, low-consumption serial synchrotron crystallography data collection in flow

Serial crystallography has enabled the study of complex biological questions through the determination of biomolecular structures at room temperature using low X-ray doses. Furthermore, it has enabled the study of protein dynamics by the capture of atomically resolved and time-resolved molecular movies. However, the study of many biologically relevant targets is still severely hindered by high sample consumption and lengthy data-collection times. By combining serial synchrotron crystallography (SSX) with 3D printing, a new experimental platform has been created that tackles these challenges. An affordable 3D-printed, X-ray-compatible microfluidic device (3D-MiXD) is reported that allows data to be collected from protein microcrystals in a 3D flow with very high hit and indexing rates, while keeping the sample consumption low. The miniaturized 3D-MiXD can be rapidly installed into virtually any synchrotron beamline with only minimal adjustments. This efficient collection scheme in combination with its mixing geometry paves the way for recording molecular movies at synchrotrons by mixing-triggered millisecond time-resolved SSX.