Czech National Centre of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium INSTRUCT ERIC

25 Feb

Instruct-ERIC CZ webinar recording

You can now play the recording of Instruct-ERIC webinar hosted by Czech Infrastructure for Integrative Structural Biology (CIISB) with presentations of Pavel Plevka, Jan Dohnálek, and Lukáš Trantírek.

22 Feb

Upgrades at X-ray Diffraction and Bio-SAXS Core Facility

The universal, dual wavelength (Mo-Kα and Cu-Kα) diffractometer operated by X-ray Diffraction and Bio-SAXS Core Facility has been upgraded from the configuration Rigaku HighFlux HomeLab to the configuration Rigaku XtaLAB Synergy-DW™. The old X-ray detector Saturn 724+ based on CCD sensor Kodak KAF-4320E was replaced by a modern HPC (Hybrid Photon Counting) detector HyPix-6000HE and the old partial-chi axis goniometer AFC-11 by a fast high-precision 4-circle kappa goniometer. The effective performance of the diffractometer has increased approx 4 times, the new system is able to collect a complete diffraction datasets within a few (=1-3) hours, and the maximum resolution of diffraction data achievable before and after this upgrade has increased by about 0.3-0.5 Å.

22 Feb

Emerging Topics in Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance - Lucio Frydman (Weizmann Institute) and Mike Williamson (University of Sheffield)

19 Feb

Proton-Coupled Conformational Activation of SARS Coronavirus Main Proteases and Opportunity for Designing Small-Molecule Broad-Spectrum Targeted Covalent Inhibitors (JACS)

The SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) main protease (Mpro) is an attractive broad-spectrum antiviral drug target. Despite the enormous progress in structureelucidation, the Mpro's structure-function relationship remains poorly understood. Recently, a peptidomimetic inhibitor has entered clinical trial; however, small-molecule orally available antiviral drugs have yet to be developed. Intrigued by a long-standing controversy regarding the existence of an inactive state, J. Shen et al. explored the proton-coupled dynamics of the Mpros of SARS-CoV-2 and the closely related SARS-CoV using a newly developed continuous constant pH molecular dynamics (MD) method and microsecond fixed-charge all-atom MD simulations. Their data supports a general base mechanism for Mpro's proteolytic function. The simulations revealed that protonation of His172 alters a conserved interaction network that upholds the oxyanion loop, leading to a partial collapse of the conserved S1 pocket, consistent with the first and controversial crystal structure of SARS-CoV Mpro determined at pH 6. Interestingly, a natural flavonoid binds SARS-CoV-2 Mpro in the close proximity to a conserved cysteine (Cys44), which is hyper-reactive according to the CpHMD titration. This finding offers an exciting new opportunity for small-molecule targeted covalent inhibitor design. Theirwork represents a first step toward the mechanistic understanding of the proton-coupled structure-dynamics-function relationship of CoV Mpros; the proposed strategy of designing small-molecule covalent inhibitors may help accelerate the development of orally available broad-spectrum antiviral drugs to stop the current pandemic and prevent future. 

19 Feb

The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid phosphoprotein forms mutually exclusive condensates with RNA and the membrane-associated M protein (Nature Communications)

The multifunctional nucleocapsid (N) protein in SARS-CoV-2 binds the similar to 30kb viral RNA genome to aid its packaging into the 80-90nm membrane-enveloped virion. The N protein is composed of N-terminal RNA-binding and C-terminal dimerization domains that are flanked by three intrinsically disordered regions. Here D.W. Cleveland, K.D. Corbett et.al.  demonstrate that the N protein's central disordered domain drives phase separation with RNA, and that phosphorylation of an adjacent serine/arginine rich region modulates the physical properties of the resulting condensates. In cells, N forms condensates that recruit the stress granule protein G3BP1, highlighting a potential role for N in G3BP1 sequestration and stress granule inhibition. The SARS-CoV-2 membrane (M) protein independently induces N protein phase separation, and three-component mixtures of N+M+RNA form condensates with mutually exclusive compartments containing N+M or N+RNA, including annular structures in which the M protein coats the outside of an N+RNA condensate. These findings support a model in which phase separation of the SARS-CoV-2 N protein contributes both to suppression of the G3BP1-dependent host immune response and to packaging genomic RNA during virion assembly. The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein binds the viral RNA genome and contains two ordered domains flanked by three intrinsically-disordered regions. Here, the authors show that RNA binding induces liquid-liquid phase separation of N, which is driven by its central intrinsically-disordered region and is modulated by phosphorylation. The SARS-CoV-2 Membrane (M) protein also phase-separates with N, and three-component mixtures of N+M+RNA form mutually exclusive compartments containing N+M or N+RNA.