Robert F. Standaert

Predicting the range of substrates accepted by an enzyme from its amino acid sequence is challenging. Although sequence‐ and structure‐based annotation approaches are often accurate for predicting broad categories of substrate specificity, they generally cannot predict which specific molecules will be accepted as substrates for a given enzyme, particularly within a class of closely related molecules. Combining targeted experimental activity data with structural modeling, ligand docking, and physicochemical properties of proteins and ligands with various machine learning models provides complementary information that can lead to accurate predictions of substrate scope for related enzymes. Here we describe such an approach that can predict the substrate scope of bacterial nitrilases, which catalyze the hydrolysis of nitrile compounds to the corresponding carboxylic acids and ammonia. Each of the four machine learning models (logistic regression, random forest, gradient‐boosted decision trees, and support vector machines) performed similarly (average ROC = 0.9, average accuracy = ~82%) for predicting substrate scope for this dataset, although random forest offers some advantages. This approach is intended to be highly modular with respect to physicochemical property calculations and software used for structural modeling and docking.

Separation of ²²⁵Ra (t_1/2 = 15 d) from its daughter isotope ²²⁵Ac (t_1/2 = 10 d) is necessary to obtain pure ²²⁵Ac for cancer alpha-therapy. In this study, microscale separation of ²²⁵Ra from its daughter ²²⁵Ac using BioRad AG50X4 cation exchange resin was achieved with good reproducibility across microdevices, and ≥90% purity was achieved for ²²⁵Ac, which is comparable to conventional chromatography. These results indicate the potential for greater use of microfluidics for biomedical radiochemistry. The modularity of the system and its compatibility with different resins allows for quick and easy adaptation to the various needs of a separation campaign.

Metabolic pathway assembly typically involves the expression of enzymes from multiple organisms in a single heterologous host. Ensuring that each enzyme functions effectively can be challenging, since many potential factors can disrupt proper pathway flux. These challenges are amplified when the enzymes are expressed at single copy from the chromosome. We have explored these issues using 4-hydroxybenzoate monooxygenase homologs heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. Initial chromosomal enzyme expression was insufficient to support consistent growth with 4-hydroxybenzoate. Experimental evolution identified mutations that improved pathway activity. One set of mutations was common between homologs, while a second class of mutations was homolog-specific. Ultimately, we were able to identify a set of mutations that provided sufficient activity for growth with 4-hydroxybenzoate while maintaining or improving growth with protocatechuate. These findings demonstrate the potential for flexible, scalable chromosomal pathway engineering, as well as the value of directed evolution strategies to rapidly identify and overcome diverse factors limiting enzyme activity.

Bacteriophage T4 lysozyme (T4L) has been used as a paradigm for seminal biophysical studies on protein structure, dynamics, and stability. Approximately 700 mutants of this protein and their respective complexes have been characterized by X‐ray crystallography; however, despite the high resolution diffraction limits attained in several studies, no hydrogen atoms were reported being visualized in the electron density maps. To address this, a 2.2 Å‐resolution neutron data set was collected at 80 K from a crystal of perdeuterated T4L pseudo‐wild type. We describe a near complete atomic structure of T4L, which includes the positions of 1737 hydrogen atoms determined by neutron crystallography. The cryogenic neutron model reveals explicit detail of the hydrogen bonding interactions in the protein, in addition to the protonation states of several important residues.

Lipid extracts are an excellent choice of model biomembrane; however at present, there are no commercially available lipid extracts or computational models that mimic microbial membranes containing the branched-chain fatty acids found in many pathogenic and industrially relevant bacteria. We advance the extract of Bacillus subtilis as a standard model for these diverse systems, providing a detailed experimental description and equilibrated atomistic bilayer model included as Supporting Information to this Letter and at (http://cmb.ornl.gov/members/cheng). The development and validation of this model represents an advance that enables more realistic simulations and experiments on bacterial membranes and reconstituted bacterial membrane proteins.

Examining the fundamental structure and processes of living cells at the nanoscale poses a unique analytical challenge, as cells are dynamic, chemically diverse, and fragile. A case in point is the cell membrane, which is too small to be seen directly with optical microscopy and provides little observational contrast for other methods. As a consequence, nanoscale characterization of the membrane has been performed ex vivo or in the presence of exogenous labels used to enhance contrast and impart specificity. Here, we introduce an isotopic labeling strategy in the gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis to investigate the nanoscale structure and organization of its plasma membrane in vivo. Through genetic and chemical manipulation of the organism, we labeled the cell and its membrane independently with specific amounts of hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D). These isotopes have different neutron scattering properties without altering the chemical composition of the cells. From neutron scattering spectra, we confirmed that the B. subtilis cell membrane is lamellar and determined that its average hydrophobic thickness is 24.3 ± 0.9 Ångstroms (Å). Furthermore, by creating neutron contrast within the plane of the membrane using a mixture of H- and D-fatty acids, we detected lateral features smaller than 40 nm that are consistent with the notion of lipid rafts. These experiments—performed under biologically relevant conditions—answer long-standing questions in membrane biology and illustrate a fundamentally new approach for systematic in vivo investigations of cell membrane structure. The structure and organization of the cell membrane are central to many biological functions, and although they have been extensively studied, there is still much that we don’t understand. A wealth of detailed information has been obtained from studies of model lipid membranes. However, these systems are often highly simplified in composition and always lack the active processes found in cells. The major obstacle to studying membranes in vivo in living cells has been that high-resolution physical methods used to investigate membrane structure are not compatible with living organisms. To overcome this obstacle, we employed a new in vivo approach that allows membrane structure to be observed directly in the gram-positive bacterium B. subtilis. This approach relies on tuning the isotopic content of hydrogen within the membrane, and other parts of the bacterium, to generate neutron scattering spectra exclusively from the membrane. Using this approach, we confirmed that the structure of the B. subtilis membrane is lamellar and has an average hydrophobic thickness of 23.9 ± 0.9 Ångstroms (Å). We were also able to observe nanoscopic lateral membrane structures, consistent with the notion of lipid rafts. This experimental approach will allow for a wide range of future structural studies of the cell membrane (and possibly other classes of biomolecules) without the need for extrinsic probes or labels. In this way, it fundamentally changes the scope of nanoscale structural questions that can be addressed in vivo.

Diverse pathogen-derived molecules, such as bacterial flagellin and its conserved peptide flg22, are recognized in plants via plasma membrane receptors and induce both local and systemic immune responses. The fate of such ligands was unknown: whether and by what mechanism(s) they enter plant cells and whether they are transported to distal tissues. We used biologically active fluorophore and radiolabeled peptides to establish that flg22 moves to distal organs with the closest vascular connections. Remarkably, entry into the plant cell via endocytosis together with the FLS2 receptor is needed for delivery to vascular tissue and long-distance transport of flg22. This contrasts with known routes of long distance transport of other non-cell-permeant molecules in plants, which require membrane-localized transporters for entry to vascular tissue. Thus, a plasma membrane receptor acts as a transporter to enable access of its ligand to distal trafficking routes.

Cholesterol is an essential biomolecule of animal cell membranes, and an important precursor for the biosynthesis of certain hormones and vitamins. It is also thought to play a key role in cell signaling processes associated with functional plasma membrane microdomains (domains enriched in cholesterol), commonly referred to as rafts. In all of these diverse biological phenomena, the transverse location of cholesterol in the membrane is almost certainly an important structural feature. Using a combination of neutron scattering and solid-state ²H NMR, we have determined the location and orientation of cholesterol in phosphatidylcholine (PC) model membranes having fatty acids of different lengths and degrees of unsaturation. The data establish that cholesterol reorients rapidly about the bilayer normal in all the membranes studied, but is tilted and forced to span the bilayer midplane in the very thin bilayers. The possibility that cholesterol lies flat in the middle of bilayers, including those made from PC lipids containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), is ruled out. These results support the notion that hydrophobic thickness is the primary determinant of cholesterol's location in membranes.