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Volume 10, Issue 8 (Suppl) J Proteomics Bioinform, an open access journal
ISSN: 0974-276X Structural Biology 2017
September 18-20, 2017
9th International Conference on
Structural Biology
September 18-20, 2017 Zurich, Switzerland
Dynamics of biomolecules “In Action” studied with X-ray free electron lasers
Petra Fromme
Arizona State University, USA
Biomolecules are highly dynamic; however, most structures only provide a static picture of the molecule. Serial Femtosecond
Crystallography (SFX) provides a novel concept for structure determination, where X-ray diffraction “snapshots” are
collected from a fully hydrated stream of nanocrystals, using femtosecond pulses from high energy X-ray free-electron
lasers (XFELs), where diffraction is observed before destruction takes effect. The first proof of concept of serial femtosecond
crystallography was achieved using Photosystem I, a larger membrane protein complex involved in Photosynthesis as a model
system. The structure of non-damaged biomolecules can now be determined, unraveling their function at the atomic scale
that include important human membrane-bound receptors. SFX opens a new avenue for determination of protein dynamics,
with the goal of molecular movies of biomolecules “in action”. First experiments on the proof of principle for time resolved
serial femtosecond nanocrystallography have been performed on proteins in Photosynthesis, where first snapshots of steps in
water splitting reaction have been observed. A new concept based on continuous X-ray diffraction extends resolution beyond
Bragg diffraction and allows for direct phasing of X-ray diffraction data. TR-SFX studies extend to atomic resolution where
the first steps in photosensing were recently revealed at a time scale of femtoseconds using the photoactive yellow protein. This
pioneering work paves the way for the determination of molecular movies of the dynamics of membrane proteins "at work"
in the future. The talk will close with a progress report on the development of compact femto and attosecond X-ray Sources at
DESY (AXSIS) and at ASU (CXLS and CXFEL) , which will provide unique new opportunities to study the ultrafast dynamics
of reactions in photosynthesis with a combination of X-ray diffraction, X-ray spectroscopy and ultrafast optical spectroscopy.
Biography
Petra Fromme received her masters at the Free University in Berlin in Biochemistry (1985) and then received her doctorate in Chemistry at the Technical University
in Berlin (1988) where she then became a professor in 1992. During this time she developed and pursued her fascination with understanding the function of
membrane proteins by investigating and determining their atomic structures. In 2002, Dr. Fromme joined Arizona State University as a Professor of Chemistry and
Biochemsitry where she has worked with distinguished colleagues from around the world to pioneer a new technique for imaging proteins using extraordinarily
powerful x-ray lasers that has the capability to make movies of these fascinating proteins in action.
Petra Fromme, J Proteomics Bioinform 2017, 10:8(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/0974-276X-C1-0100