SummaryPhotosystem II (PSII) is a huge membrane-protein complex consisting of 20 different subunits with a total molecular mass of 350 kDa for a monomer, and catalyzes light-driven water oxidation at its catalytic center, the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) [1][2][3] . The structure of PSII has been analyzed at 1.9 Å resolution by synchrotron radiation X-rays, which revealed that OEC is a Mn4CaO5 cluster organized in an asymmetric, "distorted-chair" form 4 . This structure was further analyzed with femtosecond X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), providing the "radiation damage-free" 5 structure. The mechanism of O=O bond formation, however, remains obscure due to the lack of intermediate state structures. Here we report the structural changes of PSII induced by 2-flash (2F) illumination at room temperature at a resolution of 2.35 Å using time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) with an XFEL provided by the SPring-8 angstrom compact free-electron laser (SACLA). Isomorphous differenceFourier map between the 2F and dark-adapted states revealed two areas of apparent changes; they are around QB/non-heme iron and the Mn4CaO5 cluster. The changes around the QB/non-heme iron region reflected the electron and proton transfers induced by the 2F-illumination. In the region around the Mn4CaO5 cluster, a water molecule located 3.5 Å from the Mn4CaO5 cluster disappeared from the map upon 2Fillumination, leading to a closer distance between another water molecule and O4, suggesting also the occurrence of proton transfer. Importantly, the 2F-dark isomorphous difference Fourier map showed an apparent positive peak around O5, a unique μ3-oxo-bridge located in the quasi-center of Mn1 and Mn4 4,5 . This suggests an insertion of a new oxygen atom (O6) close to O5, providing an O=O distance of 1.5 Å between these two oxygen atoms. This provides a mechanism for the O=O bond formation 4 consistent with that proposed by Siegbahn 6,7 . Fig. 1a shows organization of the electron transfer chain of PSII in a pseudo-C2 symmetry by two subunits D1 and D2. The water-oxidation reaction proceeds via the Si-state cycle 8 (with i=0-4), where dioxygen is produced in the transition of S3→(S4)→S0 (Fig. 1b). The high-resolution structures of PSII analyzed so far were for the dark-stable S1 state 4,5 , although a few studies on the low-resolution intermediate S-state structures have been reported by TR-SFX [9][10][11] . During the revision of our manuscript, Young et al. reported a 2F-illuminated state structure at 2.25 Å resolution where no apparent changes around O5 were observed 12 , although estimations of the resolution could yield somewhat different values so that small movement of some water molecules may escape the detection. In order to achieve resolution high enough to uncover small structural changes induced by flash illuminations yet allowing Si-state transition to proceed efficiently, we determined the optimal crystal size of PSII with a maximum length of 100 µm, which diffracted up to a resolution of 2.1 Å by a SACLA-XFEL ...

Photosynthetic water oxidation is catalyzed by the Mn4CaO5 cluster of photosystem II (PSII) with linear progression through five S-state intermediates (S0 to S4). To reveal the mechanism of water oxidation, we analyzed structures of PSII in the S1, S2, and S3 states by x-ray free-electron laser serial crystallography. No insertion of water was found in S2, but flipping of D1 Glu189 upon transition to S3 leads to the opening of a water channel and provides a space for incorporation of an additional oxygen ligand, resulting in an open cubane Mn4CaO6 cluster with an oxyl/oxo bridge. Structural changes of PSII between the different S states reveal cooperative action of substrate water access, proton release, and dioxygen formation in photosynthetic water oxidation.

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Trinitrophenyl derivatives of adenine nucleotides are widely used for probing ATP-binding sites. Here we describe crystal structures of Ca 2þ -ATPase, a representative P-type ATPase, in the absence of Ca 2þ with bound ATP, trinitrophenyl-ATP, -ADP, and -AMP at better than 2.4-Å resolution, stabilized with thapsigargin, a potent inhibitor. These crystal structures show that the binding mode of the trinitrophenyl derivatives is distinctly different from the parent adenine nucleotides. The adenine binding pocket in the nucleotide binding domain of Ca 2þ -ATPase is now occupied by the trinitrophenyl group, and the side chains of two arginines sandwich the adenine ring, accounting for the much higher affinities of the trinitrophenyl derivatives. Trinitrophenyl nucleotides exhibit a pronounced fluorescence in the E2P ground state but not in the other E2 states. Crystal structures of the E2P and E2 ∼ P analogues of Ca 2þ -ATPase with bound trinitrophenyl-AMP show that different arrangements of the three cytoplasmic domains alter the orientation and water accessibility of the trinitrophenyl group, explaining the origin of "superfluorescence." Thus, the crystal structures demonstrate that ATP and its derivatives are highly adaptable to a wide range of site topologies stabilized by a variety of interactions.crystallography | ion pump | nucleotide derivatives T rinitrophenyl (TNP)-nucleotides (1) are often used for probing the structure of ATP-binding sites and conformational changes arising from nucleotide binding (2, 3), and for measuring the affinity of ATP by competition experiments (2, 4). It is a preferred ATP analogue for photochemical crosslinking with azide derivatives (5). These applications utilize the enhancement of fluorescence or absorption of visible light of the TNP group upon binding to a protein (6). Because of its sensitivity, competition with ATP/ADP has been a valuable means for examining mutational effects on nucleotide affinity (7). Thus, TNP nucleotides have been widely used with F1 (8), myosin (1), and P-type ATPases (2-5, 7, 9, 10), among others.Nonetheless, whether TNP derivatives are good mimics of authentic adenine nucleotides (AxPs) may be questionable. In several proteins TNP nucleotides have much higher affinities than the genuine AxPs. For instance, TNP-ATP is a high affinity (nM) antagonist of P2X receptors, which have IC 50 for ATP (or AMPPCP) in the μM range (11). The affinity is at least one order of magnitude higher in the E2 states of Ca 2þ -ATPase (3, 12) and Na þ , K þ -ATPase (4), representative P-type ATPases. Furthermore, TNP-AMP binds to Ca 2þ -ATPase similarly to or even more strongly than TNP-ATP (12), in marked contrast to AxPs. Thus, a substantially different binding mode of TNP derivatives is suggested. Although more than 20 entries are registered in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) for Ca 2þ -ATPase (reviewed in ref. 13), no structure with a bound TNP nucleotide exists. In fact, only three crystal structures have been published with bound TNP nucleotides. They are a bacterial h...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) act as a mediator of ionizing radiation-induced cellular damage. Previous studies have indicated that MnSOD (SOD2) plays a critical role in protection against ionizing radiation in mammalian cells. In this study, we constructed two types of stable HeLa cell lines overexpressing SOD2, HeLa S3/SOD2 and T-REx HeLa/SOD2, to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the protection against radiation by SOD2. SOD2 overexpression in mitochondria enhanced the survival of HeLa S3 and T-REx HeLa cells following γ-irradiation. The levels of γH2AX significantly decreased in HeLa S3/SOD2 and T-REx HeLa/SOD2 cells compared with those in the control cells. MitoSox(TM) Red assays showed that both lines of SOD2-expressing cells showed suppression of the superoxide generation in mitochondria. Furthermore, flow cytometry with a fluorescent probe (2',7'-dichlorofluorescein) revealed that the cellular levels of ROS increased in HeLa S3 cells during post-irradiation incubation, but the increase was markedly attenuated in HeLa S3/SOD2 cells. DNA microarray analysis revealed that, of 47,000 probe sets analyzed, 117 and 166 probes showed more than 2-fold changes after 5.5 Gy of γ-irradiation in control and HeLa S3/SOD2 cells, respectively. Pathway analysis revealed different expression profiles in irradiated control cells and irradiated SOD2-overexpressing cells. These results indicate that SOD2 protects HeLa cells against cellular effects of γ-rays through suppressing oxidative stress in irradiated cells caused by ROS generated in the mitochondria and through regulating the expression of genes which play a critical role in protection against ionizing radiation.