LCCP Presentation

The laboratory’s activities concern two major themes :

• biologically related research such as structural immunology, plant proteins and metalloenzymes
• methodological developments: kinetic crystallography, protein and crystal handling in oxygen-free atmosphere, automated crystallization tray examination, development and operation of the CRG/FIP beamline at ESRF.

Research topics:

• Metalloproteins
• Proteins of immunological interest
• Kinetic crystallography of proteins
• Key enzymes of the secondary metabolism in plants and their homologues in other organisms
• Intrinsically fluorescent proteins

Specialized techniques:

• Manipulations under controlled atmospheres
• Robotized system to display drops in crystallization boxes
• Time-resolved crystallography
• FIP beamline at the ESRF

Available services:

• A platform consisting of three glove boxes for protein purification, manual crystallization and crystal manipulation is operational. A fourth glovebox for automated crystallization is being set up.

Major publications

• Fontecilla-Camps, J. C.; Volbeda, A.; Cavazza, C.; Nicolet, Y., ’Structure/function relationships of [NiFe]- and [FeFe]-hydrogenases’, Chemical Reviews 2007, 107, 4273-4303.

• Katona, G.; Carpentrier, P.; Nivière, V.; Amara, P.; Adam, V.; Ohana, J.; Tsanov, N.; Bourgeois, D., ’Raman-assisted crystallography reveals end-on peroxide intermediates in a nonheme iron enzyme’, Science 2007, 316, 449-453.

• Garlatti, V.; Belloy, N.; Martin, L.; Lacroix, M.; Matsushita, M.; Endo, Y.; Fujita, T.; Fontecilla-Camps, J. C.; Arlaud, G. J.; Thielens, N. M.; Gaboriaud, C., ’Structural insights into the innate immune recognition specificities of L- and H-ficolins’, EMBO J. 2007, 26, 623-633.

• Walden, W. E.; Selezneva, A. I.; Dupuy, J.; Volbeda, A.; Fontecilla-Camps, J. C.; Theil, E. C.; Volz, K. ’Crystal structure of iron regulatory protein 1 complexed with ferritin IRE-RNA’, Science 2006, 314, 1903-1908.

• Reiser, J. B.; Darnault, C.; Gregoire, C.; Mosser, T.; Mazza, G.; Kearnay, A.; Van der Merwe, P. A.; Fontecilla-Camps, J. C.; Housset, D.; Malissen, B., ’CDR3 loop flexibility contributes to the degeneracy of TCR recognition’, Nature Immunol. 2003, 4, 241-247.

• Roth, M.; Carpentier, P.; Kaïkati, O.; Joly, J.; Charrault, P.; Pirocchi, M.; Kahn, R.; Fanchon, E.; Jacquamet, L.; Borel, F.; Bertoni, A.; Israel-Gouy, P.; Ferrer, J. L., ’FIP: a highly automated beamline for multiwavelength anomalous diffraction experiments’, Acta Cryst. 2002, D58, 805-814.

• Chabriere, E.; Vernede, X.; Guigliarelli, B.; Charon, M. H.; Hatchikian, E. C.; Fontecilla-Camps, J. C., ’Crystal structure of the free radical intermediate of pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase’, Science 2001, 294, 2559-2563.

(The laboratory references can be found here)