research papers
Exploiting distant homologues for phasing through the generation of compact fragments, local fold
and partial solution combinationaCrystallographic Methods, Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB–CSIC), Barcelona Science Park, Helix Building, Baldiri Reixac 15, 08028 Barcelona, Spain, bDepartment of Structural Chemistry, Georg August University of Göttingen, Tammannstrasse 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany, cCambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 OXY, England, dXALOC Beamline, Experiments Division, ALBA Synchrotron Light Source, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08290 Barcelona, Spain, eBrazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Caixa Postal 6192, 13083-970 Campinas-SP, Brazil, fBiochemize S.L, Barcelona Advanced Industry, C/Marie Curie 8-14, 08042 Barcelona, Spain, gDepartment of Crystallography and Structural Biology, Instituto Química-Física `Rocasolano' CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), Serrano 119, 28006 Madrid, Spain, and hICREA, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
*Correspondence e-mail: uson@ibmb.csic.es
Macromolecular structures can be solved by ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER uses fragments derived from distant homologues in a brute-force approach driven by the experimental data, instead of by sequence similarity. The new algorithms implemented in ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER are described in detail, illustrating its characteristic aspects in the solution of new and test structures. In an advance from the previously published algorithm, which was based on omitting or extracting contiguous polypeptide spans, model generation now uses three-dimensional volumes respecting structural units. The optimal fragment size is estimated from the expected log-likelihood gain (LLG) values computed assuming that a can be found with a level of accuracy near that required for successful extension of the structure, typically below 0.6 Å root-mean-square deviation (r.m.s.d.) from the target. Better sampling is attempted through model trimming or decomposition into rigid groups and optimization through Phaser's gyre Also, after model translation, packing filtering and models are either disassembled into predetermined rigid groups and refined (gimble refinement) or Phaser's LLG-guided pruning is used to trim the model of residues that are not contributing signal to the LLG at the target r.m.s.d. value. Phase combination among consistent partial solutions is performed in with ALIXE. Finally, density modification and main-chain autotracing in SHELXE serve to expand to the full structure and identify successful solutions. The performance on test data and the solution of new structures are described.
provided that suitable search models are available. Models from distant homologues may deviate too much from the target structure to succeed, notwithstanding an overall similar fold or even their featuring areas of very close geometry. Successful methods to make the most of such templates usually rely on the degree of conservation to select and improve search models.Keywords: phasing; ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER; small fragments; molecular replacement; fragment-based molecular replacement.
1. Introduction
The successful use of distant homologues as search models for Sculptor (Bunkóczi & Read, 2011), combining a range of models (Leahy et al., 1992) as in Ensembler (Bunkóczi et al., 2013), sampling model deformation along normal modes (McCoy et al., 2013; Suhre & Sanejouand, 2004) or modelling within protocols devised for this purpose in Rosetta (DiMaio et al., 2011), QUARK (Xu & Zhang, 2012) or I-TASSER (Zhang, 2008). Fragmenting and reassembling search models has also been explored (Shrestha & Zhang, 2015).
(MR) often requires the initial template to undergo a significant degree of improvement as, notwithstanding the overall correct fold or their featuring areas of close geometry, differences may prevent a solution. Model improvement can be contrived by relying on the degree of conservation as implemented inMethods exploiting the combination of et al., 2006). Programs such as ARCIMBOLDO (Rodríguez et al., 2009) and AMPLE (Bibby et al., 2012) rely on Phaser (McCoy et al., 2007), in particular the rotation (Storoni et al., 2004) and translation functions (McCoy et al., 2005), to place the fragments, and on SHELXE to apply density modification (Sheldrick, 2002) and to extend the very incomplete solutions into an interpretable trace (Sheldrick, 2010).
using partial models or fragments with density modification and automated map interpretation may bootstrap to a full solution even if only a small fraction of the content is placed by MR (YaoIn ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER (Sammito et al., 2014), fragments are derived from a distant homologue template, and their performance is jointly evaluated in a process driven by the experimental data, provided that a resolution of at least 2.5 Å is available. In its original implementation, template trimming relied on a rotation-function-based scoring: the SHRED-LLG. The whole template was initially used to find the maxima of the rotation function. The list of peaks in the rotation function was clustered within a given tolerance. For each of these clusters, the template was systematically shredded (omitting continuous stretches with a range of sizes from the polypeptide chain) and the fragments were scored against each unique solution of the rotation function. The results were then combined into a score per residue and the template was trimmed accordingly. The sequential shredding and its derived model trimming can improve models where the high average deviation from the target is owing to dissimilar or flexible regions reducing the signal from a core of low root-mean-square deviation from the target structure (r.m.s.d.).
An assumed RMSD value is a key parameter in the likelihood calculations, determining the relative weights assigned to low- and high-resolution data (here, RMSD is used to describe the parameter value, to distinguish it from the actual deviation from the final structure, which is denoted r.m.s.d.). Assigning an optimal value for a particular model will yield the highest LLG scores and the best signal to noise in a search with that model (Oeffner et al., 2013). However, in the context of ARCIMBOLDO the requirement is to obtain models that are highly accurate, even at the expense of completeness, because the model-completion step only succeeds when the models have overall r.m.s.d. values below 0.6 Å. Therefore, the goal is to select, from many possible models, models that will provide this level of accuracy, a selection assisted by setting the corresponding target RMSD. Because models can be improved before completion (by the gyre, gimble and pruning steps described in more detail below), the initial search can use a somewhat higher target RMSD, which is gradually reduced throughout the model-improvement steps. Suitable initial values depend on the size of the problem, but can vary from 0.5 to 2.0 Å.
Here, we present a new implementation of the ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER algorithm extended to use fragments defining an approximately spherical volume in order to extract and improve compact structural units from an initial low-identity template. The original implementation of this idea, which aimed to eliminate all the most incorrect regions in the starting model, has been further extended to correct them through Partial models, sometimes comprising as little as 10% of the main-chain atoms in the need to be very accurate (r.m.s.d. of around 0.6 Å) for their correct placement and extension into the full structure at 2 Å resolution. In order to increase the radius of convergence of this approach, additional are given to the models, which are decomposed and subjected to against the intensity-based likelihood rotation-function target (RF; Read & McCoy, 2016) and again after they have been placed in the This is accomplished in Phaser with the gyre and gimble modes (McCoy et al., 2018). The use of the ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER spheres mode on test structures as well as in the solution of previously unknown structures is illustrated.
2. Materials and methods/experimental
2.1. Computing setup
Structure solutions and tests were run on a local HTCondor v.8.4.5 (Tannenbaum et al., 2001) grid made up of 160 nodes totaling 225 GFlops. Submitter machines were eight-core workstations with 24 GB RAM running Debian or Ubuntu Linux. The typical running times on the grid for the cases described in this paper are 2–19 h, but timing is approximate as grid access was shared with other users.
2.2. Software versions
The ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER binary is deployed for Linux and Macintosh current OS (Mavericks to Sierra 10.12.1). It is generated with PyInstaller 3.3 and Python 2.7.12. The experiments described in this study relied on SHELXE versions from 2016 onwards and Phaser versions from 2.7.x onwards. The figures of merit used in decision making were Phaser's intensity-based log-likelihood gain (LLG; Read & McCoy, 2016) and the between observed and calculated normalized intensities (CC; Fujinaga & Read, 1987) calculated by SHELXE (Sheldrick, 2002). Structure-amplitude-weighted mean phase errors (wMPE; Lunin & Woolfson, 1993) were calculated with SHELXE against the models available from the PDB to assess performance.
The model and maps were examined with Coot (Emsley et al., 2010). Figures were prepared with PyMOL (v.1.8; Schrodinger). Tutorials and documentation are available from our website (https://chango.ibmb.csic.es/SHREDDER).
2.3. New structures and test data
The characteristics of all data used in this study are summarized below and relevant statistics are given in Table 1. The set revisits structures first solved using prototypes of the present implementation and includes additional tests with other folds. In most cases correct intermediate solutions are scarce, which shows their difficulty but also hinders systematic testing. The mainly helical structure LTG is the only one where many partial solutions are produced, which allows the effect of parameterization to be probed.
|
2.3.1. Novel structure LTG
LTG is a soluble lytic transglycosylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PDB entry 5ohu, unpublished work). Diffraction data collected at the ALBA synchrotron to 2.1 Å resolution were available. The crystals belonged to P63, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 163.98, c = 56.71 Å. The contains a monomer of 613 residues of the mainly helical structure, along with 61% solvent.
2.3.2. Novel structure Hhed2
Hhed2 is a halohydrin dehalogenase from a gammaproteobacterium (Schallmey et al., 2014; Koopmeiners et al., 2017). Diffraction data collected at the ALBA synchrotron to 1.6 Å resolution were available. The crystals belonged to P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 78.02, b = 94.86, c = 140.27 Å. The contains four copies of a monomer, totalling 922 residues, along with 50% solvent content.
2.3.3. Novel structure PPAD
PPAD is a peptidylarginine deiminase from P. gingivalis (Goulas et al., 2015). 20 diffraction data sets from different crystals were available, ranging from 2.97 to 1.5 Å resolution. 16 of these, with unit cells of similar dimensions and rendering an average Rint of 0.37 and Rσ of 0.02, were combined. The crystals belonged to P212121 and contain one copy of the 432-amino-acid monomer in the corresponding to a solvent content of 40%, which was set to 50% in SHELXE runs to account for possible disordered regions. The structure features short helices and twisted β-sheets along with a high proportion of coil.
2.3.4. Test case 1yzf
PDB entry 1yzf is a lipase/acylhydrolase from Enterococcus faecalis (Midwest Center for Structural Genomics, unpublished work). The structure shows a central β-sheet flanked by helices. Data to 1.9 Å resolution are available from the PDB from crystals belonging to P3221, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 45.92, c = 148.03 Å. There is one monomer totalling 195 residues in the corresponding to a low solvent content of 36%.
2.3.5. Test case 3fp2
PDB entry 3fp2 is the of Tom71 in complex with a C-terminal fragment of Hsp82 (Li et al., 2009). Data to 2.0 Å resolution are available from the PDB from crystals belonging to P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 47.86, b = 116.29, c = 150.74 Å. There is one monomer of Tom71 of 537 residues plus a 12-residue fragment of the ATP-dependent molecular chaperone HSP82, totalling 549 residues, in the corresponding to a solvent content of 63%. The structure is mainly helical.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER spherical mode
Fig. 1 summarizes the program flow of ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER and Table 2 describes all operations to modify the search models throughout the program flow. The grid computing implementation is described in Appendix A.
|
The program accepts a configuration file, with extension .bor, which contains the parameterization of the run. Most parameters have appropriate defaults, and the only mandatory input is the data description, a template model and the shredding mode. The generation and evaluation of sequentially shredded models is mostly unchanged from the algorithm described in 2014 (Sammito et al., 2014), as reviewed in §1. In this paper, the spherical mode shredding by volume and structure is described.
3.2. Solution of an all-helical previously unknown structure: LTG
LTG is a soluble lytic transglycosylase from P. aeruginosa. Data sets were collected on the XALOC beamline at ALBA (Juanhuix et al., 2014). A homology search for the target sequence using HHpred (Söding et al., 2005) provided a list of possible templates for The best-scoring model was another soluble lytic transglycosylase, SLT70 from Escherichia coli (PDB entry 1qsa; van Asselt et al., 1999), with 31% sequence identity. The estimated VRMS for this degree of conservation is 1.5 Å, but on account of its flexibility the r.m.s.d. of the final structure with respect to the 1qsa model is 4.6 Å, as computed with the PyMOL super algorithm on a core of 582 residues. Fig. 2 shows the superposition of the final structure and template (Fig. 2a), the fragments used in the solution (Fig. 2b) and a detail of the electron-density maps before and after expansion (Fig. 2c).
The structure was originally solved with ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER in the first implementation of the spherical mode, which is less developed than that currently released and described here. The full PDB structure of 1qsa was used as the initial template, preserving the coil regions and the original B factors, but trimming the side chains to alanines. Spheres of 20 Å radius centred on each amino acid of the template were defined, without further modification, to extract 619 models. Those models ranged in size from 42 to 177 residues, making the figures of merit not directly comparable across fragments. It should be stressed that all models are naturally superimposed on the template that they derive from and correspond to different parts of a common fold. Therefore, they can be input as a library into ARCIMBOLDO_BORGES. Similar rotations would map fragments to consistent regions of the target structure if the original fold were maintained. Moreover, partially overlapping solutions, if produced, should be found within one rotation cluster and their maps could be combined to improve the starting phases. In this case, one of the rotation clusters stood out through solutions with TFZ scores above 8. Such solutions were used as references to cluster phases. One of the combined phase sets developed into a full solution, with a CC of 48.08% and 563 residues traced in seven chains. All 12 models thus grouped were targeting the same region of the query structure, corresponding to residues 478–592 in the template.
3.3. Solution of a previously unknown structure: PPAD
The structure of the peptidylarginine deaminase from P. gingivalis was originally solved by manually generating fragments from up to six different homologous templates, ranging in sequence identity from 22 to 18%, and using them as search fragments in ARCIMBOLDO runs (Goulas et al., 2015). The common fold in all of these structures is a pentein β/α propeller composed of five α–β–β–α–β units arranged around a pseudo-fivefold axis. One of the models cut out from the 1zbr template (a template with 19% sequence identity and an r.m.s.d. of 1.5 Å over a core of 231 Cα atoms), composed of the polyalanine-trimmed fifth and first repeats, stood out in one of the many parameterizations tested. This case produced a single rotation cluster and a lower number of solutions with a higher LLG than any other trial or model. A resolution cutoff of 2.1 Å was used for the RF, a resolution cutoff of 1.7 Å was used for the translation search and the RMSD was set to 0.8 Å. Still, its expansion did not yield a solution. Using this solution as a reference, phase clustering identified a consistent solution coming from a partially overlapping model and their combination was successfully expanded.
3.4. Solution of a previously unknown structure from an α/β enzyme: Hhed2
Hhed2 is a 230-amino-acid halohydrin dehalogenase from a gammaproteobacterium. Data to a resolution of 1.6 Å were available from crystals belonging to P212121, with four monomers in the totalling 920 residues. A homology search for the target sequence using HHpred provided a list of possible templates for sharing a typical Rossmann fold characterized by a series of alternating β-strand and α-helical segments with the β-strands arranged in a parallel β-sheet.
Three homologues were selected, two of which were from the same family of dehalogenases, HhedB (PDB entry 4zd6) with a sequence identity of 47% and HheA (PDB entry 4z9f) with a sequence identity of 30% (Watanabe et al., 2015), and one of which was from the same superfamily of short-chain dehydrogenase reductases (SDRs), EbN1 (Büsing et al., 2015) with 26% sequence identity.
All three templates lead to a successful solution as shown in Table 3. The two dehalogenases show r.m.s.d.s to the target structure over a core of 185 Cα atoms of 0.7 Å (PDB entry 4z9f) and 1.12 Å (PDB entry 4zd6), respectively; for the SDR (PDB entry 4urf) the r.m.s.d. over a core of 149 Cα atoms is 1.3 Å. The templates were trimmed, removing short α-helices of less than seven residues, β-strands of less than four residues and coil regions. The annotation for the first gyre cycle leaves the central β-sheet present in the fold as a single, indivisible group. A second level of annotations separated the helices as independent groups. Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) show both levels of annotation for PDB entry 4urf which are consistent with those of PDB entries 4zd6 and 4z9f. In all cases, the rotation search and the first cycle of gyre were performed at 0.8 Å RMSD. A second cycle of gyre and subsequent Phaser steps were performed at 0.5 Å RMSD. The size of the search fragments was set in order to achieve a target eLLG of 60 at the last RMSD used in the run (0.5 Å). All relevant parameters and results are described in Table 3.
|
3.4.1. Template 4zd6
The template derived from PDB entry 4zd6 is so close to the target structure that solution is trivial. Fragments derived from this model are correctly placed corresponding to all four monomers in the although approximate alignment of noncrystallographic and axes leads to three, rather than four, rotation clusters. All best-scoring fragments have been improved by gyre and gimble. Consistent solutions were combined using the best-scoring solution, characterized by a TFZ score of 12.6, as a reference. Two consecutive combination steps setting mean phase difference thresholds of 60 and 87° identify the remaining correct solutions placed on the same and different monomers, respectively.
This phase set, when submitted to SHELXE for density modification and autotracing, solves the structure and reaches a CC of 37.99%, with 859 residues traced in 13 chains.
3.4.2. Template 4z9f
The template derived from PDB entry 4z9f also gives rise to two rotation clusters containing correct solutions and characterized by final LLG values clearly discriminating them from the remaining clusters (133 and 129 versus 99). As seen from Table 3, the number of correct partial solutions is markedly lower than with the previous template. Gyre and gimble model improves the wMPE versus the final structure by some 5°. Using the best-scoring solution as a reference for phase combination within a mean phase difference of 60° leads to a cluster of eight phase sets, which SHELXE develops into a full solution after density modification and autotracing, reaching a CC of 38.55% for a main-chain trace comprising 860 residues in 11 chains. As an alternative to gyre and gimble fragment improvement, using the best-scoring fragments to position the complete original template and subjecting it to LLG pruning leads to comparable starting phases and to an equivalent final solution starting from a single monomer.
3.4.3. Template 4urf
PDB entry 4urf displays a higher r.m.s.d. over a smaller core than the previous two search models. In this case, correct solutions are found in a single rotation cluster marked by the highest LLG after as well as the highest TFZ score. The best-scoring solution is consistent with two other correct solutions and their phase combination yields a set with a phase error of 75°, which develops into a full solution with a CC of 38.0% equivalent to the previous solutions after expansion with SHELXE.
3.5. Performance of ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER tests
This section describes a detailed analysis with the final version of the program for the cases of PPAD and LTG, which were originally solved with a prototype and prompted the development of the ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER spheres approach. In addition, the α-helical repeat protein (PDB entry 3fp2) and a mixed α/β protein (PDB entry 1yzf) have been selected to test and illustrate parameterization for ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER.
3.5.1. LTG
In contrast to PPAD, LTG is a highly helical structure (86%) with a low coil fraction. Despite sharing the overall fold, the search template presents an r.m.s.d. versus the true structure of 4.6 Å, but helical fragments should be particularly suited for rigid-body even though the original solution described in §3.2 was obtained with phase combination of partial solutions before gyre and gimble were implemented. In addition, many solutions are produced and the effect of parameterization should be more potent than in borderline cases, when solutions are spurious. In particular, eLLG-derived model size, VRMS and LLG-guided pruning as an alternative to gyre and gimble were probed. In all tests summarized in Table 4, template annotation and therefore model disassembling were predefined as displayed in Fig. 4. If gyre/gimble were performed, a first cycle differentiated four groups in the template, whereas a second cycle would treat each helix as an independent rigid group. Models of 128 or 180 residues were used, corresponding to eLLGs below 30, depending on the RMSD estimation.
|
In conclusion, for this highly helical model with diffraction data to 2 Å resolution, gyre and gimble of individual helices improves the models, provided that the RMSD parameter is set to sufficiently low values of around 1 Å. Solutions can be identified by VRMS while LLG-guided pruning can be also used to trim incorrect fragments and enhances solution.
3.5.2. PPAD
The final structure of PPAD, superimposed on the template used to solve it, is displayed in Fig. 5(a). PDB entry 1zbr (Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium, unpublished work) shares 19% sequence identity with PPAD and the r.m.s.d. over a core of 231 Cα atoms is 1.6 Å. The original solution of this structure (described in §3.3) involved the combination of two partial solutions from overlapping models derived from PDB entry 1zbr. These models contained 108 and 127 residues, respectively, and had been obtained by preserving coil regions in the starting template. Trimming the coil parts eliminates half of the model, and the resulting fragments fail to produce a solution. The PDB annotates this structure as containing 28% α and 28% β based on DSSP (Kabsch & Sander, 1983). Our automated choice of secondary-structure annotation for ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER templates is slightly more conservative, leading to a noticeably low secondary-structure content in the case of this template, with 25% α and 33% β, leaving 41% for coil and turns. Considering the large coil fraction in this structure, and the fact that previous successful solution had been accomplished with models preserving it, maintaining coil residues in model generation in ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER is a choice that may be appropriate in some cases. It must also be considered that the comparatively low fraction of residues in defined secondary-structure elements leads to very fragmented models that are dispersed over a large volume when coil residues are removed. Setting the RMSD to 0.8 Å requires polyalanine models of 101 residues to reach an eLLG of 60. Three runs were compared under such conditions: two of them maintaining the coil regions in the template and one trimming them. In the first two, as the models are continuous, local folds are not disassembled and thus are not given additional through gyre or gimble In the second run, model improvement was attempted within Phaser by LLG-guided pruning of residues in the placed model prior to input into SHELXE. In the third run, `spherical' search models were generated from the coil-trimmed template and groups of secondary-structure elements (Fig. 5b) were refined using gyre and gimble methods. The results of all three runs are summarized in Table 5.
|
The first run yields numerous partial solutions within one of the rotation clusters. This is clearly discriminated from all other clusters by its LLG of 64 versus less than 30. One of the placed models, the phases of which correspond to a minimum wMPE of 72°, expands to a full solution identifiable by a main-chain trace encompassing 331 residues and characterized by a CC above 30%. The second run is identical to the first, but modifying the models and their selection for density modification and autotracing in the last pruning step. The starting phases are marginally better in some cases (Figs. 5c and 5d) and lead to a comparable trace.
Among all placed models in runs 1 and 2 with nonrandom phases only one could be expanded into a full solution. It does not correspond to the top-scoring solution, so the use of phase combination with ALIXE was tested to increase the convergence of the method. The solution identified by the top TFZ (7.02) gives rise to a cluster of 14 phase sets gathering solutions with mean phase differences below 60°. Its expansion yielded a trace of 342 residues in 11 chains, characterized by a CC of 37%. All models contributing to this phase cluster are depicted in Fig. 5(e).
No decisive difference is seen by using pruning in terms of number of solutions or figures of merit, but in borderline cases even a slight improvement may help. In general, many residues are being removed (Fig. 5d), and in this case there is no clear correlation between correct/incorrect solutions and the number of residues removed, even though the solutions with the lowest mean phase error are among those less trimmed.
A third run with less compact models from which coil residues were trimmed, which were subjected to gyre and gimble gave rise to fewer but more accurate solutions than the previous runs. Three partial solutions with initial wMPEs of 67.7, 68.7 and 70.8° correspond to models refined with gyre and gimble. As seen in Fig. 5(f), the r.m.s.d. to the final structure improves in each gyre and gimble cycle. One of these solutions develops into a full solution that is characterized by a CC of 31.05%.
3.5.3. PDB entry 1yzf
The P3221 crystal form of the lipase/acylhydrolase from E. faecalis at 1.9 Å resolution contains a monomer with 195 residues in the and 36% solvent content. It has a sequence identity of 21% to the homologous esterase EstA from Pseudoalteromonas sp. 643A, which was deposited as PDB entry 3hp4 (Brzuszkiewicz et al., 2009), and an r.m.s.d. of 2.4 Å over 121 atoms (Fig. 6a).
This case exemplifies a borderline solution owing to the large deviation from the search model, while despite the low solvent content the structure can easily be solved with the same protocols as described but using closer homologues such as PDB entry 4rsh (1.15 Å r.m.s.d. over 116 Cα atoms; Midwest Center for Structural Genomics, unpublished work). Secondary-structure annotation of the 185 residues in the 3hp4 template assigned 88 to α-helices and 45 to β-strands. Polyalanine models of 83 residues were generated, corresponding to an eLLG of 60 for an expected RMSD of 0.8 Å. A rotation search and the first cycle of gyre (annotation shown in Fig. 6b) were performed with the RMSD at 1.2 Å, while from the second gyre cycle onwards (annotation shown in Fig. 6c) the rest of the steps were performed at a setting of 0.8 Å. Only one model produced nonrandom solutions. These belonged to rotation cluster 0, one of the four clusters selected by default but containing neither the top LLG scoring solution nor the highest number of models. Among the six correct solutions, the one undergoing gyre as well as LLG pruning had the lowest wMPE and better figures of merit. This solution occupies position 51 in the list of 60 substructures prioritized for expansion. Compared with the wMPE of 74° yielded by the unrefined fragment, both the gyre and gimble or the gyre and LLG pruning combinations improve it to 67°. Given the low solvent content, expansion is difficult and a large number of cycles with the latest version of SHELXE, featuring constrained autotracing (Usón & Sheldrick, 2018), are needed to lower the wMPE to 54° and produce an identifiable solution.
An attempt was made to design an improved protocol which would make the solution pathway for this test case more robust. We implemented the possibility of revisiting gyre-refined or non-gyre-refined. These full models are then rigid-body refined and also subjected to either gimble or LLG-guided pruning. In this case, starting from a correctly placed model with high deviations failed to improve on the initial mean phase error, which remained above 72° in spite of the increase in scattering mass, as or trimming did not eliminate the errors sufficiently. Nevertheless, this feature is described as it can be used in the program and may prove useful in other cases.
and/or trimming of the original model. The full, annotated template is superimposed on the solutions that have survived the packing test, whether3.5.4. Tom71 structure (PDB entry 3fp2)
Tom71 is a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)-containing protein made up of 537 residues comprising 27 helices with 6–22 residues each. TPR domains usually consist of tandem arrays of two antiparallel α-helices that generate a right-handed helical structure. Diffraction data from PDB entry 3fp2 (Li et al., 2009) extend to a resolution of 1.98 Å. The homologue tested was the superhelical TPR domain of the O-linked GlcNac transferase with PDB code 1w3b (Jínek et al., 2004), which shares 19% sequence identity with the target structure. Accordingly, the expected RMS (eVRMS) is 1.61 Å, but given the plasticity of the fold both structures can only be partially superimposed. The search model contains 45 helices of 7–14 residues arranged in a fold that locally resembles the target structure through the TPR domains while presenting large overall differences. The superposition displayed in Fig. 7(a) matches 208 residues with an r.m.s.d. of 5.0 Å.
Figs. 7(b) and 7(c) show the template annotation for the first cycle of gyre and subsequent steps, respectively. Models with different sizes, comprising three to seven helices each, were tested as well as a range of starting RMSD values from 0.8 to 2.0 Å. The only run that was successful in producing correct solutions was that using the smallest models and the lowest estimated RMSD. In this run, the starting rotation search and first cycle of gyre were performed at 0.8 Å RMSD with models of 36 residues corresponding to an eLLG target of 25. Two more cycles of gyre were run, decreasing the RMSD to 0.4 Å, which was the value adopted for all remaining steps. Three nonrandom solutions are found among the prioritized solutions, all of them matching models that correspond to arrangements of three helices. The two solutions in the main rotation cluster zero (initial wMPE of 73.4 and 74.5°). Both of them develop to a full solution after density modification and autotracing with SHELXE and can be identified by main-chain traces with a CC of 44 and 46%, respectively. A third solution is found in a different rotation cluster (wMPE of 76.6°). It was not sent to expansion as ARCIMBOLDO_BORGES stops evaluating clusters once the structure has been solved. The successful models are remarkably small, with barely 5% of the main-chain atoms, but their starting r.m.s.d. to the target structure is already close to 0.5 Å, as seen in Fig. 7(d).
4. Concluding remarks
ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER, which seeks to improve fragments from distant homologues through against the experimental data, has been extended to derive models of equal size corresponding to volumes representing structural units centred on each amino acid of the template.
The original implementation aimed to leave smaller but more accurate models by identifying and trimming incorrect parts. The present implementation adds the potential to improve the models, progressively subdividing them into rigid structural groups. These are subsequently refined against the rotation function with gyre in Phaser as well as after placement with gimble in Phaser. Phaser's LLG-based model pruning may be selected as an alternative to group refinement.
ARCIMBOLDO_BORGES is used to evaluate the set of models as a library. Therefore, consistency among partial solutions provides an indication of correctness, which can be further exploited by combining the corresponding phase sets prior to expansion to the full structure with SHELXE. Main-chain autotracing in SHELXE is used to identify solved structures.
ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER in spherical mode has been used to solve new and test structures. Its use is intended for challenging cases requiring the improvement of a model from a distant homologue, which on its own does not provide a solution. We have used five different structures to illustrate the features of the program as well as to discuss the appropriate parameterization.
With LTG, a helical case with a large overall r.m.s.d. but where many among the extracted fragments can be correctly placed, we have studied how the convergence of the method can be improved by using gyre and gimble as well as how VRMS can increase the chances of recognizing correct solutions.
With PPAD, a case with large coil content where rigid-body
of individual helices and sheets is of limited use, it was preferable to keep the coil in model generation. This results in more compact models that were best improved through the use of LLG-guided pruning.With Hhed2, a case with four monomers in the
we have exploited phase combination of consistent solutions corresponding to the same and different monomers. The first solution of this previously unknown structure involved combination of fragments placed on all four copies.PDB entry 1yzf is a borderline case that is challenging owing to its low solvent content, where only one model produced nonrandom solutions. Yet, the alternative strategies improved the phases for this solution. This case prompted the development of a protocol to revisit model after translation, superimposing the original template on the possible solutions to restart the of rigid subgroups and trimming.
With PDB entry 3fp2, a large helical structure, we probed a wide range of both the eLLG target and the RMSD used to parameterize the ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER run, and the results confirmed the low RMSDs required to improve small models.
Current defaults are based on the tests described but should be adapted to the particular case along the lines discussed. Whenever possible, parameterization is set relying on the eLLG, subject to the issue that the r.m.s.d. of the search models produced cannot be reliably estimated. Thus, a pragmatic approach is followed by starting at values of 1.2–1.0 Å, which are high enough to increase the radius of convergence in gyre steps are iterated, progressively decreasing this value to a final r.m.s.d. of around 0.6 Å as required for successful model expansion through density modification and autotracing.
APPENDIX A
Implementation and grid computing in ARCIMBOLDO
All ARCIMBOLDO programs (ARCIMBOLDO_LITE, ARCIMBOLDO_BORGES and ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER) are now distributed both through CCP4 (Winn et al., 2011) and as binary files that are available from our web server (https://chango.ibmb.csic.es/ARCIMBOLDO). The same binary executables (Sammito et al., 2015) run on single machines, either spreading jobs among the available local cores or automatically submitting jobs to be run on a local grid, a remote grid or a supercomputer. They can be started from the CCP4i interface (Potterton et al., 2003). ARCIMBOLDO_SHREDDER is particularly computationally intensive and will benefit from having access to a supercomputer or grid environment. Implementation of this feature, available in all ARCIMBOLDO programs, is described.
The ARCIMBOLDO programs support three types of grid connection (local, remote and supercomputer) and some of the more general middleware used in scientific computing, in particular Condor (Tannenbaum et al., 2001), Sun Grid Engine (Gentzsch, 2001), Torque/PBS (Staples, 2006) and some of its variants, such as Slurm, Moab and Maui. Provided a user has access to a grid, configuration is straightforward. Parameters are set in a configuration file (setup.bor) within the template for the particular grid. Mandatory parameters describe the particular middleware implementation, IP addresses, user and queue names if not default, and some configurable choices. This file will be read each time ARCIMBOLDO is called and the program will automatically manage all required grid-control and file-transfer operations. While the main program runs on a single workstation, it distributes independent Phaser and SHELXE jobs to the grid. All control decisions and interpretation of results remains with the workstation. A large number of probe solutions may be generated before a clear discrimination is seen. To prevent the computing setup being loaded with more jobs than it can support, the ARCIMBOLDO programs use hard limits on the number of solutions generated at each step. In addition, filters based on figures of merit are used to reduce the number of solutions while preserving diversity. Default limits adapt to the available hardware in the following manner.
|
As even for a given middleware the setup and configuration vary across sites, choices have been made to provide fail-safe performance. For instance, grid performance is validated as a preliminary check, creating directories, transferring input files if needed, executing Phaser and SHELXE processes and retrieving the output. During the run, rather than querying queues, output completion and file content is checked. Jobs and their input are packaged in groups, output is retrieved or deleted and so are remote directories after the execution of each given step. Finally, the program has fail-safe implementations in order to handle both normal finishing of the program or a crash owing to an error. In the first case, at each major step of the algorithm (rotation search, translation search etc.) summary files are generated and saved in folders that will be recognized if the program is run again in that working directory. This allows changes in the parameterization for particular steps or relaunching an interrupted run without the need to recompute previous steps. In case of a crash owing to an error, the program catches the exception, removes temporary files and exits. After normal termination, no files remain on the remote grid system.
Footnotes
‡These authors contributed equally.
Acknowledgements
We thank George M. Sheldrick for helpful discussion.
Funding information
MS and CM received financial support from CCP4 for a research stay in the group of RJR. CM is grateful to MINECO for her BES-2015-071397 scholarship associated with the Structural Biology Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence. AFZN received a fellowship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil. GP acknowledges the Generalitat de Catalunya for an Industrial Doctorate predoctoral fellowship at Biochemize S.L. This work was supported by grants BIO2015-64216-P, BIO2013-49604-EXP, BFU2014-59389-P and MDM2014-0435-01 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and 2014SGR-997 from Generalitat de Catalunya. This research was supported by the Wellcome Trust (Principal Research Fellowship to RJR, grant 082961/Z/07/Z) and by grant BB/L006014/1 from the BBSRC, UK. The research was facilitated by Wellcome Trust Strategic Award 100140 to the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 635595 (CarbaZymes).
References
Asselt, E. J. van, Thunnissen, A.-M. W. H. & Dijkstra, B. W. (1999). J. Mol. Biol. 291, 877–898. Web of Science PubMed Google Scholar
Berman, H. M., Westbrook, J., Feng, Z., Gilliland, G., Bhat, T. N., Weissig, H., Shindyalov, I. N. & Bourne, P. E. (2000). Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 235–242. Web of Science CrossRef PubMed CAS Google Scholar
Bibby, J., Keegan, R. M., Mayans, O., Winn, M. D. & Rigden, D. J. (2012). Acta Cryst. D68, 1622–1631. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Brzuszkiewicz, A., Nowak, E., Dauter, Z., Dauter, M., Cieśliński, H., Długołęcka, A. & Kur, J. (2009). Acta Cryst. F65, 862–865. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Bunkóczi, G., Echols, N., McCoy, A. J., Oeffner, R. D., Adams, P. D. & Read, R. J. (2013). Acta Cryst. D69, 2276–2286. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Bunkóczi, G. & Read, R. J. (2011). Acta Cryst. D67, 303–312. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Büsing, I., Höffken, H. W., Breuer, M., Wöhlbrand, L., Hauer, B. & Rabus, R. (2015). J. Mol. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 25, 327–339. Google Scholar
Clauset, A., Newman, M. E. J. & Moore, C. (2004). Phys. Rev. E, 70, 066111. Web of Science CrossRef Google Scholar
Csárdi, G. & Nepusz, T. (2006). InterJournal Complex Syst., 1695. https://www.interjournal.org/manuscript_abstract.php?361100992. Google Scholar
DiMaio, F., Terwilliger, T. C., Read, R. J., Wlodawer, A., Oberdorfer, G., Wagner, U., Valkov, E., Alon, A., Fass, D., Axelrod, H. L., Das, D., Vorobiev, S. M., Iwaï, H., Pokkuluri, P. R. & Baker, D. (2011). Nature (London), 473, 540–543. Web of Science CrossRef CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Emsley, P., Lohkamp, B., Scott, W. G. & Cowtan, K. (2010). Acta Cryst. D66, 486–501. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Fujinaga, M. & Read, R. J. (1987). J. Appl. Cryst. 20, 517–521. CrossRef Web of Science IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Gentzsch, W. (2001). Proceedings of the First IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid, p. 35. Piscataway: IEEE. Google Scholar
Goulas, T., Mizgalska, D., Garcia-Ferrer, I., Kantyka, T., Guevara, T., Szmigielski, B., Sroka, A., Millán, C., Usón, I., Veillard, F., Potempa, B., Mydel, P., Solà, M., Potempa, J. & Gomis-Rüth, F. X. (2015). Sci. Rep. 5, 11969. Web of Science CrossRef PubMed Google Scholar
Jínek, M., Rehwinkel, J., Lazarus, B. D., Izaurralde, E., Hanover, J. A. & Conti, E. (2004). Nature Struct. Mol. Biol. 11, 1001–1007. Google Scholar
Juanhuix, J., Gil-Ortiz, F., Cuní, G., Colldelram, C., Nicolás, J., Lidón, J., Boter, E., Ruget, C., Ferrer, S. & Benach, J. (2014). J. Synchrotron Rad. 21, 679–689. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Kabsch, W. & Sander, C. (1983). Biopolymers, 22, 2577–2637. CrossRef CAS PubMed Web of Science Google Scholar
Koopmeiners, J., Diederich, C., Solarczek, J., Voss, H., Mayer, J., Blankenfeldt, W. & Schallmey, A. (2017). ACS Catal. 7, 6877–6886. Web of Science CrossRef CAS Google Scholar
Leahy, D. J., Axel, R. & Hendrickson, W. A. (1992). Cell, 68, 1145–1162. CrossRef PubMed CAS Web of Science Google Scholar
Li, J., Qian, X., Hu, J. & Sha, B. (2009). J. Biol. Chem. 284, 23852–23859. Web of Science CrossRef PubMed CAS Google Scholar
Lunin, V. Y. & Woolfson, M. M. (1993). Acta Cryst. D49, 530–533. CrossRef CAS Web of Science IUCr Journals Google Scholar
McCoy, A. J., Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W., Adams, P. D., Winn, M. D., Storoni, L. C. & Read, R. J. (2007). J. Appl. Cryst. 40, 658–674. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
McCoy, A. J., Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W., Storoni, L. C. & Read, R. J. (2005). Acta Cryst. D61, 458–464. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
McCoy, A. J., Nicholls, R. A. & Schneider, T. R. (2013). Acta Cryst. D69, 2216–2225. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
McCoy, A. J., Oeffner, R. D., Millán, C., Sammito, M., Usón, I. & Read, R. J. (2018). Acta Cryst. D74, 279–289. CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
McCoy, A. J., Oeffner, R. D., Wrobel, A. G., Ojala, J. R. M., Tryggvason, K., Lohkamp, B. & Read, R. J. (2017). Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 114, 3637–3641. Web of Science CrossRef CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Millán, C., Sammito, M., Garcia-Ferrer, I., Goulas, T., Sheldrick, G. M. & Usón, I. (2015). Acta Cryst. D71, 1931–1945. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Millán, C., Sammito, M. & Usón, I. (2015). IUCrJ, 2, 95–105. Web of Science CrossRef PubMed IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Oeffner, R. D, Afonine, P., Millán, C., Sammito, M., Usón, I., Read, R. J. & McCoy, A. J. (2018). Acta Cryst. D74. Google Scholar
Oeffner, R. D., Bunkóczi, G., McCoy, A. J. & Read, R. J. (2013). Acta Cryst. D69, 2209–2215. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Pons, P. & Latapy, M. (2005). Computer and Information Sciences – ISCIS 2005, edited by P. Yolum, T. Güngör, F. Gürgen & C. Özturan, pp. 284–293. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Google Scholar
Potterton, E., Briggs, P., Turkenburg, M. & Dodson, E. (2003). Acta Cryst. D59, 1131–1137. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Read, R. J. & McCoy, A. J. (2016). Acta Cryst. D72, 375–387. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Rodríguez, D. D., Grosse, C., Himmel, S., González, C., de Ilarduya, I. M., Becker, S., Sheldrick, G. M. & Usón, I. (2009). Nature Methods, 6, 651–653. Web of Science PubMed Google Scholar
Rosvall, M., Axelsson, D. & Bergstrom, C. T. (2009). Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 178, 13–23. Web of Science CrossRef Google Scholar
Sammito, M., Meindl, K., de Ilarduya, I. M., Millán, C., Artola-Recolons, C., Hermoso, J. A. & Usón, I. (2014). FEBS J. 281, 4029–4045. Web of Science CrossRef CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Sammito, M., Millán, C., Frieske, D., Rodríguez-Freire, E., Borges, R. J. & Usón, I. (2015). Acta Cryst. D71, 1921–1930. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Sammito, M., Millán, C., Rodríguez, D. D., de Ilarduya, I. M., Meindl, K., De Marino, I., Petrillo, G., Buey, R. M., de Pereda, J. M., Zeth, K., Sheldrick, G. M. & Usón, I. (2013). Nature Methods, 10, 1099–1101. Web of Science CrossRef CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Schallmey, M., Koopmeiners, J., Wells, E., Wardenga, R. & Schallmey, A. (2014). Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80, 7303–7315. Web of Science CrossRef Google Scholar
Sheldrick, G. M. (2002). Z. Kristallogr. 217, 644–650. Web of Science CrossRef CAS Google Scholar
Sheldrick, G. M. (2010). Acta Cryst. D66, 479–485. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Shrestha, R. & Zhang, K. Y. J. (2015). Acta Cryst. D71, 304–312. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Söding, J., Biegert, A. & Lupas, A. N. (2005). Nucleic Acids Res. 33, W244–W248. Web of Science PubMed Google Scholar
Staples, G. (2006). Proceedings of the 2006 ACM/IEEE Conference on Supercomputing, article 8. Tampa: ACM. Google Scholar
Storoni, L. C., McCoy, A. J. & Read, R. J. (2004). Acta Cryst. D60, 432–438. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Suhre, K. & Sanejouand, Y.-H. (2004). Acta Cryst. D60, 796–799. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Tannenbaum, T., Wright, D., Miller, K. & Livny, M. (2001). Beowulf Cluster Computing with Linux, edited by T. Sterling, pp. 307–350. Cambridge: MIT Press. Google Scholar
Usón, I. & Sheldrick, G. M. (2018). Acta Cryst. D74, 106–116. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Watanabe, F., Yu, F., Ohtaki, A., Yamanaka, Y., Noguchi, K., Yohda, M. & Odaka, M. (2015). Proteins, 83, 2230–2239. Web of Science CrossRef CAS Google Scholar
Winn, M. D. et al. (2011). Acta Cryst. D67, 235–242. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Xu, D. & Zhang, Y. (2012). Proteins, 80, 1715–1735. Web of Science CrossRef CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Yao, J. X., Dodson, E. J., Wilson, K. S. & Woolfson, M. M. (2006). Acta Cryst. D62, 901–908. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. (2008). BMC Bioinformatics, 9, 40. Google Scholar
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are cited.