Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jun 18;14(1):14079. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-62045-8.
While cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is fruitfully used for harvesting high-resolution structures of sizable macromolecules, its application to small or flexible proteins composed of small domains like immunoglobulin (IgG) remain challenging. Here, we applied single particle cryo-EM to Rituximab, a therapeutic IgG mediating anti-tumor toxicity, to explore its solution conformations. We found Rituximab molecules exhibited aggregates in cryo-EM specimens contrary to its solution behavior, and utilized a non-ionic detergent to successfully disperse them as isolated particles amenable to single particle analysis. As the detergent adversely reduced the protein-to-solvent contrast, we employed phase plate contrast to mitigate the impaired protein visibility. Assisted by phase plate imaging, we obtained a canonical three-arm IgG structure with other structures displaying variable arm densities co-existing in solution, affirming high flexibility of arm-connecting linkers. Furthermore, we showed phase plate imaging enables reliable structure determination of Fab to sub-nanometer resolution from ab initio, yielding a characteristic two-lobe structure that could be unambiguously docked with crystal structure. Our findings revealed conformation diversity of IgG and demonstrated phase plate was viable for cryo-EM analysis of small proteins without symmetry. This work helps extend cryo-EM boundaries, providing a valuable imaging and structural analysis framework for macromolecules with similar challenging features.
虽然低温电子显微镜(cryo-EM)在收获大分子量的高分辨率结构方面非常有效,但将其应用于由小域组成的小或灵活的蛋白质,如免疫球蛋白(IgG),仍然具有挑战性。在这里,我们将单颗粒 cryo-EM 应用于利妥昔单抗(一种治疗性 IgG,介导抗肿瘤毒性),以探索其溶液构象。我们发现利妥昔单抗分子在 cryo-EM 标本中表现为聚集物,与溶液行为相反,并用非离子去污剂成功地将其分散为可进行单颗粒分析的孤立颗粒。由于去污剂会降低蛋白质与溶剂的对比度,我们采用相板对比度来减轻对蛋白质可见度的损害。在相板成像的辅助下,我们获得了典型的三臂 IgG 结构,其他结构显示可变臂密度共存于溶液中,证实臂连接接头具有很高的灵活性。此外,我们还表明,相板成像能够从从头开始可靠地确定 Fab 的结构分辨率达到亚纳米级,产生特征性的双叶结构,该结构可以与晶体结构明确对接。我们的发现揭示了 IgG 的构象多样性,并证明相板对于无对称性的小蛋白质的 cryo-EM 分析是可行的。这项工作有助于扩展 cryo-EM 的边界,为具有类似挑战性特征的大分子提供了有价值的成像和结构分析框架。