During transcription, RNA polymerase II (Pol II) associates with the conserved elongation factor DSIF. DSIF renders the elongation complex stable and functions during Pol II pausing and RNA ...processing. We combined cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of the mammalian Pol II-DSIF elongation complex at a nominal resolution of 3.4 Å. Human DSIF has a modular structure with two domains forming a DNA clamp, two domains forming an RNA clamp, and one domain buttressing the RNA clamp. The clamps maintain the transcription bubble, position upstream DNA, and retain the RNA transcript in the exit tunnel. The mobile C-terminal region of DSIF is located near exiting RNA, where it can recruit factors for RNA processing. The structure provides insight into the roles of DSIF during mRNA synthesis.
Significance Biological electron cryomicroscopy is limited by the radiation sensitivity of the samples and the consequent need to minimize exposure to the beam. This, in turn, results in low-contrast ...images with a poor signal-to-noise ratio. The current practice to improve phase contrast by defocusing results in contrast transfer functions necessitating image restoration to provide interpretable data. Phase plates enable in-focus phase contrast, but the existing ones, including the thin film Zernike-type phase plate, suffer from severe limitations, such as a short usable life span, fringing artifacts, and problems in using them in automated data acquisition procedures. The Volta phase plate presented here solves those problems and has the potential to become a practical solution for in-focus phase contrast in transmission electron microscopy.
We describe a phase plate for transmission electron microscopy taking advantage of a hitherto-unknown phenomenon, namely a beam-induced Volta potential on the surface of a continuous thin film. The Volta potential is negative, indicating that it is not caused by beam-induced electrostatic charging. The film must be heated to ∼200 °C to prevent contamination and enable the Volta potential effect. The phase shift is created “on the fly” by the central diffraction beam eliminating the need for precise phase plate alignment. Images acquired with the Volta phase plate (VPP) show higher contrast and unlike Zernike phase plate images no fringing artifacts. Following installation into the microscope, the VPP has an initial settling time of about a week after which the phase shift behavior becomes stable. The VPP has a long service life and has been used for more than 6 mo without noticeable degradation in performance. The mechanism underlying the VPP is the same as the one responsible for the degradation over time of the performance of thin-film Zernike phase plates, but in the VPP it is used in a constructive way. The exact physics and/or chemistry behind the process causing the Volta potential are not fully understood, but experimental evidence suggests that radiation-induced surface modification combined with a chemical equilibrium between the surface and residual gases in the vacuum play an important role.
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RNA polymerase (Pol) II produces messenger RNA during transcription of protein-coding genes in all eukaryotic cells. The Pol II structure is known at high resolution from X-ray crystallography for ...two yeast species. Structural studies of mammalian Pol II, however, remain limited to low-resolution electron microscopy analysis of human Pol II and its complexes with various proteins. Here we report the 3.4 Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of mammalian Pol II in the form of a transcribing complex comprising DNA template and RNA transcript. We use bovine Pol II, which is identical to the human enzyme except for seven amino-acid residues. The obtained atomic model closely resembles its yeast counterpart, but also reveals unknown features. Binding of nucleic acids to the polymerase involves 'induced fit' of the mobile Pol II clamp and active centre region. DNA downstream of the transcription bubble contacts a conserved 'TPSA motif' in the jaw domain of the Pol II subunit RPB5, an interaction that is apparently already established during transcription initiation. Upstream DNA emanates from the active centre cleft at an angle of approximately 105° with respect to downstream DNA. This position of upstream DNA allows for binding of the general transcription elongation factor DSIF (SPT4-SPT5) that we localize over the active centre cleft in a conserved position on the clamp domain of Pol II. Our results define the structure of mammalian Pol II in its functional state, indicate that previous crystallographic analysis of yeast Pol II is relevant for understanding gene transcription in all eukaryotes, and provide a starting point for a mechanistic analysis of human transcription.
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IJS, KISLJ, NUK, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Magnetosomes of magnetotactic bacteria contain well-ordered nanocrystals for magnetic navigation and have recently emerged as the most sophisticated model system to study the formation of membrane ...bounded organelles in prokaryotes. Magnetosome biosynthesis is thought to begin with the formation of a dedicated compartment, the magnetosome membrane (MM), in which the biosynthesis of a magnetic mineral is strictly controlled. While the biomineralization of magnetosomes and their subsequent assembly into linear chains recently have become increasingly well studied, the molecular mechanisms and early stages involved in MM formation remained poorly understood. In the Alphaproteobacterium Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense, approximately 30 genes were found to control magnetosome biosynthesis. By cryo-electron tomography of several key mutant strains we identified the gene complement controlling MM formation in this model organism. Whereas the putative magnetosomal iron transporter MamB was most crucial for the process and caused the most severe MM phenotype upon elimination, MamM, MamQ and MamL were also required for the formation of wild-type-like MMs. A subset of seven genes (mamLQBIEMO) combined within a synthetic operon was sufficient to restore the formation of intracellular membranes in the absence of other genes from the key mamAB operon. Tracking of de novo magnetosome membrane formation by genetic induction revealed that magnetosomes originate from unspecific cytoplasmic membrane locations before alignment into coherent chains. Our results indicate that no single factor alone is essential for MM formation, which instead is orchestrated by the cumulative action of several magnetosome proteins.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•This review gives an introduction into cryo-FIB applications in structural biology.•We comprehensively cover previous work and the literature.•The impact of the technology for electron ...cryo-microscopy is discussed.
The ability to precisely control the preparation of biological samples for investigations by electron cryo-microscopy is becoming increasingly important for ultrastructural imaging in biology. Precision machining instruments such as the focused ion beam microscope (FIB) were originally developed for applications in materials science. However, today we witness a growing use of these tools in the life sciences mainly due to their versatility, since they can be used both as manipulation and as imaging devices, when complemented with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The advent of cryo-preparation equipment and accessories made it possible to pursue work on frozen-hydrated biological specimens with these two beam (FIB/SEM) instruments. In structural biology, the cryo-FIB can be used to site-specifically thin vitrified specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and tomography. Having control over the specimen thickness is a decisive factor for TEM imaging, as the thickness of the object under scrutiny determines the attainable resolution. Besides its use for TEM preparation, the FIB/SEM microscope can be additionally used to obtain three-dimensional volumetric data from biological specimens. The unique combination of an imaging and precision manipulation tool allows sequentially removing material with the ion beam and imaging the milled block faces by scanning with the electron beam, an approach known as FIB/SEM tomography. This review covers both fields of cryo-FIB applications: specimen preparation for TEM cryo-tomography and volume imaging by cryo-FIB/SEM tomography.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
While cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) can reveal biological structures in their native state within the cellular environment, it requires the production of high-quality frozen-hydrated sections ...that are thinner than 300nm. Sample requirements are even more stringent for the visualization of membrane-bound protein complexes within dense cellular regions. Focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a well-established technique in material science, but there are only few examples of biological samples exhibiting sufficient quality for high-resolution in situ investigation by cryo-ET. In this work, we present a comprehensive description of a cryo-sample preparation workflow incorporating additional conductive-coating procedures. These coating steps eliminate the adverse effects of sample charging on imaging with the Volta phase plate, allowing data acquisition with improved contrast. We discuss optimized FIB milling strategies adapted from material science and each critical step required to produce homogeneously thin, non-charging FIB lamellas that make large areas of unperturbed HeLa and Chlamydomonas cells accessible for cryo-ET at molecular resolution.
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The molecular organization of eukaryotic nuclear volumes remains largely unexplored. Here we combined recent developments in cryo–electron tomography (cryo-ET) to produce three-dimensional snapshots ...of the HeLa cell nuclear periphery. Subtomogram averaging and classification of ribosomes revealed the native structure and organization of the cytoplasmic translation machinery. Analysis of a large dynamic structure—the nuclear pore complex—revealed variations detectable at the level of individual complexes. Cryo-ET was used to visualize previously elusive structures, such as nucleosome chains and the filaments of the nuclear lamina, in situ. Elucidation of the lamina structure provides insight into its contribution to metazoan nuclear stiffness.
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The development of cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) for the thinning of frozen-hydrated biological specimens enabled cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) analysis in unperturbed cells and tissues. ...However, the volume represented within a typical FIB lamella constitutes a small fraction of the biological specimen. Retaining low-abundance and dynamic subcellular structures or macromolecular assemblies within such limited volumes requires precise targeting of the FIB milling process. In this study, we present the development of a cryo-stage allowing for spinning-disk confocal light microscopy at cryogenic temperatures and describe the incorporation of the new hardware into existing workflows for cellular sample preparation by cryo-FIB. Introduction of fiducial markers and subsequent computation of three-dimensional coordinate transformations provide correlation between light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy/FIB. The correlative approach is employed to guide the FIB milling process of vitrified cellular samples and to capture specific structures, namely fluorescently labeled lipid droplets, in lamellas that are 300 nm thick. The correlation procedure is then applied to localize the fluorescently labeled structures in the transmission electron microscopy image of the lamella. This approach can be employed to navigate the acquisition of cryo-ET data within FIB-lamellas at specific locations, unambiguously identified by fluorescence microscopy.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Lipid droplets (LDs) are ubiquitous organelles comprising a central hub for cellular lipid metabolism and trafficking. This role is tightly associated with their interactions with several cellular ...organelles. Here, we provide a systematic and quantitative structural description of LDs in their native state in HeLa cells enabled by cellular cryoelectron microscopy. LDs consist of a hydrophobic neutral lipid mixture of triacylglycerols (TAG) and cholesteryl esters (CE), surrounded by a single monolayer of phospholipids. We show that under normal culture conditions, LDs are amorphous and that they transition into a smectic liquid-crystalline phase surrounding an amorphous core at physiological temperature under certain cell-cycle stages or metabolic scenarios. Following determination of the crystal lattice spacing of 3.5 nm and of a phase transition temperature below 43 °C, we attributed the liquid-crystalline phase to CE. We suggest that under mitotic arrest and starvation, relative CE levels increase, presumably due to the consumption of TAG metabolites for membrane synthesis and mitochondrial respiration, respectively, supported by direct visualization of LD–mitochondrial membrane contact sites. We hypothesize that the structural phase transition may have a major impact on the accessibility of lipids in LDs to enzymes or lipid transporters. These may become restricted in the smectic phase, affecting the exchange rate of lipids with surrounding membranes and lead to a different surface occupancy of LD-associated proteins. Therefore, the composition and the resulting internal structure of LDs is expected to play a key role in their function as hubs of cellular lipid flux.
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Cyanobacteria have a robust circadian oscillator, known as the Kai system. Reconstituted from the purified protein components KaiC, KaiB, and KaiA, it can tick autonomously in the presence of ...adenosine 5ʹ-triphosphate (ATP). The KaiC hexamers enter a natural 24-hour reaction cycle of autophosphorylation and assembly with KaiB and KaiA in numerous diverse forms. We describe the preparation of stoichiometrically well-defined assemblies of KaiCB and KaiCBA, as monitored by native mass spectrometry, allowing for a structural characterization by single-particle cryo–electron microscopy and mass spectrometry. Our data reveal details of the interactions between the Kai proteins and provide a structural basis to understand periodic assembly of the protein oscillator.
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