skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Crystallization of ApoA1 and ApoE4 Nanolipoprotein Particles and Initial XFEL-Based Structural Studies

Journal Article · · Crystals
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [5];  [3]; ORCiD logo [6];  [6]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [7];  [6];  [6]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  3. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States); Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Inst., Buffalo, NY (United States)
  4. Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Inst., Buffalo, NY (United States)
  5. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA (United States)
  6. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  7. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs), also called “nanodiscs”, are discoidal particles with a patch of lipid bilayer corralled by apolipoproteins. NLPs have long been of interest due to both their utility as membrane-model systems into which membrane proteins can be inserted and solubilized and their physiological role in lipid and cholesterol transport via high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) maturation, which are important for human health. Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) is a powerful approach for structural biology of membrane proteins, which are traditionally difficult to crystallize as large single crystals capable of producing high-quality diffraction suitable for structure determination. To facilitate understanding of the specific role of two apolipoprotein/lipid complexes, ApoA1 and ApoE4, in lipid binding and HDL/LDL particle maturation dynamics, and to develop new SFX methods involving NLP membrane protein encapsulation, we have prepared and crystallized homogeneous populations of ApoA1 and ApoE4 NLPs. Crystallization of empty NLPs yields semi-ordered objects that appear crystalline and give highly anisotropic and diffuse X-ray diffraction, similar to fiber diffraction. Several unit cell parameters were approximately determined for both NLPs from these measurements. Thus, low-background, sample conservative methods of delivery are critical. Here we implemented a fixed target sample delivery scheme utilizing the Roadrunner fast-scanning system and ultra-thin polymer/graphene support films, providing a low-volume, low-background approach to membrane protein SFX. This study represents initial steps in obtaining structural information for ApoA1 and ApoE4 NLPs and developing this system as a supporting scaffold for future structural studies of membrane proteins crystalized in a native lipid environment.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; 1R01GM117342; U19AI144184; STC-1231306; AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1770133
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1860863
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-814942; TRN: US2206796
Journal Information:
Crystals, Vol. 10, Issue 10; ISSN 2073-4352
Publisher:
MDPICopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (71)

Single mimivirus particles intercepted and imaged with an X-ray laser journal February 2011
Cheetah : software for high-throughput reduction and analysis of serial femtosecond X-ray diffraction data journal May 2014
Femtosecond X-ray coherent diffraction of aligned amyloid fibrils on low background graphene journal May 2018
Reactivity of human lipoproteins with purified lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase during incubations in vitro journal June 1985
Different Apolipoproteins Impact Nanolipoprotein Particle Formation
  • Chromy, Brett A.; Arroyo, Erin; Blanchette, Craig D.
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 129, Issue 46, p. 14348-14354 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja074753y
journal November 2007
Role of plasma lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase in the metabolism of high density lipoproteins journal September 1966
Determination and application of empirically derived detergent phase boundaries to effectively crystallize membrane proteins journal September 2009
TRPV1 structures in nanodiscs reveal mechanisms of ligand and lipid action journal May 2016
High-speed fixed-target serial virus crystallography journal June 2017
Assembly of single bacteriorhodopsin trimers in bilayer nanodiscs journal June 2006
High-Resolution Protein Structure Determination by Serial Femtosecond Crystallography journal May 2012
Three dimensional structure of the anthrax toxin translocon-lethal factor complex by cryo-electron microscopy: CryoEM Imaging and 3D Reconstruction of LF journal March 2013
Femtosecond protein nanocrystallography—data analysis methods journal January 2010
Structural and Functional Characterization of the Integral Membrane Protein VDAC-1 in Lipid Bilayer Nanodiscs journal December 2009
Femtosecond X-ray protein nanocrystallography journal February 2011
A 3-Dimensional Trimeric β-Barrel Model for Chlamydia MOMP Contains Conserved and Novel Elements of Gram-Negative Bacterial Porins journal July 2013
MT1-MMP Binds Membranes by Opposite Tips of Its β Propeller to Position It for Pericellular Proteolysis journal February 2019
Controlling the diameter, monodispersity, and solubility of ApoA1 nanolipoprotein particles using telodendrimer chemistry: Size and Stability of NLPs journal June 2013
Elucidating the Native Architecture of the YidC: Ribosome Complex journal November 2013
Full spatial characterization of a nanofocused x-ray free-electron laser beam by ptychographic imaging journal April 2013
Solution structure of discoidal high-density lipoprotein particles with a shortened apolipoprotein A-I journal December 2016
Asymmetric Cryo-EM Structure of Anthrax Toxin Protective Antigen Pore with Lethal Factor N-Terminal Domain journal September 2017
Cell-free expression as an emerging technique for the large scale production of integral membrane protein journal September 2006
The 3.5-Å CryoEM Structure of Nanodisc-Reconstituted Yeast Vacuolar ATPase Vo Proton Channel journal March 2018
Characterization and Purification of Polydisperse Reconstituted Lipoproteins and Nanolipoprotein Particles journal July 2009
Three-dimensional structure of the anthrax toxin pore inserted into lipid nanodiscs and lipid vesicles journal February 2010
Potential for biomolecular imaging with femtosecond X-ray pulses journal August 2000
Time-resolved cryo-electron microscopy: Recent progress journal December 2017
Structure of the human TRPM4 ion channel in a lipid nanodisc journal December 2017
Resolution extension by image summing in serial femtosecond crystallography of two-dimensional membrane-protein crystals journal January 2018
A protein cofactor of lecithin:Cholesterol acyltransferase journal February 1972
Current Status of Single Particle Imaging with X-ray Lasers journal January 2018
OnDA : online data analysis and feedback for serial X-ray imaging journal May 2016
Ribosome dynamics and tRNA movement by time-resolved electron cryomicroscopy journal July 2010
Recent developments in CrystFEL journal March 2016
Tertiary structure of apolipoprotein A-I in nascent high-density lipoproteins journal April 2018
Cell-free production of a functional oligomeric form of a Chlamydia major outer-membrane protein (MOMP) for vaccine development journal July 2017
Quantifying size distributions of nanolipoprotein particles with single-particle analysis and molecular dynamic simulations journal April 2008
Modular microfluidics enables kinetic insight from time-resolved cryo-EM journal July 2020
Cell-free Co-expression of Functional Membrane Proteins and Apolipoprotein, Forming Soluble Nanolipoprotein Particles journal July 2008
1 kHz fixed-target serial crystallography using a multilayer monochromator and an integrating pixel detector journal August 2019
Cryo-EM structure of the ribosome–SecYE complex in the membrane environment journal April 2011
Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of apolipoprotein E-containing lipoprotein particles
  • Newhouse, Yvonne; Peters-Libeu, Clare; Weisgraber, Karl H.
  • Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology and Crystallization Communications, Vol. 61, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1107/S1744309105032410
journal October 2005
Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering of the Cholesterol Incorporation into Human ApoA1-POPC Discoidal Particles journal July 2015
7 Å resolution in protein two-dimensional-crystal X-ray diffraction at Linac Coherent Light Source journal July 2014
High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Particle Concentrations, Carotid Atherosclerosis, and Coronary Events journal August 2012
Differentially charged isoforms of apolipoprotein E from human blood are potential biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease journal January 2014
Possibilities for serial femtosecond crystallography sample delivery at future light sourcesa) journal May 2015
Room-temperature macromolecular crystallography using a micro-patterned silicon chip with minimal background scattering journal May 2016
Discoidal complexes of A and C apolipoproteins with lipids and their reactions with lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase. journal May 1984
HDL-C vs HDL-P: How Changing One Letter Could Make a Difference in Understanding the Role of High-Density Lipoprotein in Disease journal November 2014
Combination of cell-free expression and NMR spectroscopy as a new approach for structural investigation of membrane proteins journal January 2006
Model of Biologically Active Apolipoprotein E Bound to Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine journal November 2005
Femtosecond X-ray diffraction from two-dimensional protein crystals journal February 2014
Late steps in bacterial translation initiation visualized using time-resolved cryo-EM journal May 2019
A micro-patterned silicon chip as sample holder for macromolecular crystallography experiments with minimal background scattering journal May 2015
Magic-Angle Spinning Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy of Nanodisc-Embedded Human CYP3A4 journal December 2007
Area per molecule and distribution of water in fully hydrated dilauroylphosphatidylethanolamine bilayers journal August 1986
The plasma lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase reaction journal March 1968
Atomic force microscopy differentiates discrete size distributions between membrane protein containing and empty nanolipoprotein particles journal March 2009
Lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase in the metabolism of high-density lipoproteins journal July 1991
A deliberate approach to screening for initial crystallization conditions of biological macromolecules journal April 2003
XFELs for structure and dynamics in biology journal May 2017
Activation of lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase by HDL ApoA-I central helices journal February 2009
Assembly of anthrax toxin pore: Lethal-factor complexes into lipid nanodiscs: Assembly of Anthrax Toxin Pore: Lethal Factor Complexes journal February 2013
HDL-replacement therapy: mechanism of action, types of agents and potential clinical indications journal October 2008
Small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering demonstrates that cell-free expression produces properly formed disc-shaped nanolipoprotein particles: SANS/SAXS Studies of NLP Assembly Methods journal February 2018
Morphology and structure of lipoproteins revealed by an optimized negative-staining protocol of electron microscopy journal October 2010
Time-resolved cryo-EM using Spotiton journal August 2020
Membrane protein assembly into Nanodiscs journal October 2009
Hydration force and bilayer deformation: a reevaluation journal July 1986