biostudies-literatureTetreau GU.S. Department of Health & Human Services | Centers for Disease Control and PreventionAgence Nationale de la RechercheNCRR NIH HHSACL HHSCentre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueDOE | Office of ScienceU.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of HealthNIGMS NIH HHSNCEZID CDC HHS4376https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9334358biostudies-literatureUnknown13(1)Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba are the two most potent toxins produced by mosquitocidal Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis and jegathesan, respectively. The toxins naturally crystallize within the host; however, the crystals are too small for structure determination at synchrotron sources. Therefore, we applied serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free electron lasers to in vivo-grown nanocrystals of these toxins. The structure of Cry11Aa was determined de novo using the single-wavelength anomalous dispersion method, which in turn enabled the determination of the Cry11Ba structure by molecular replacement. The two structures reveal a new pattern for in vivo crystallization of Cry toxins, whereby each of their three domains packs with a symmetrically identical domain, and a cleavable cryNature communicationsDe novo determination of mosquitocidal Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba structures from naturally-occurring nanocrystals.PMC93343581U01CK000516U01 CK000516P41GM103393P41RR001209ANR-17-EURE-0003ANR-10-INBS-05-02P41 RR001209DE-AC02-76SF00515R01 GM117126P41 GM103393T32 GM007185PEPS SASLELXNR-17-CE11-0018-01GM117126U01CK000516ANR-2018-CE11-0005-02Federici BDoak RBBielecki JWeik MSchubert RCanfield EJKloos MHilpert MGrunbein MLCascio DPark HWShoeman RLRiobe FBrewster ASMaury OSchlichting IRoux ATeulon JMDe Zitter EBanneville ASEngilberge SBacia MBurghammer Mde Wijn RTetreau GKovacs GNLaporte FZala NQiao PPellequer JLCoquelle NMancuso AYoung IDGutsche IBatyuk ARodriguez JGorel ABarends TRMDespres LSauter NKColletier JPSchibrowsky NASignor LLing WLBean RSierra RGAlba MMSawaya MRSchiro GSnigireva IAndreeva EAHunter MSFenel DSato TStricker MBoutet SChapelle CFoucar LKirkwood HLetrun RLaganowsky ADBideshi DGirard EfalseDe novo determination of mosquitocidal Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba structures from naturally-occurring nanocrystals.Cry11Aa and Cry11Ba are the two most potent toxins produced by mosquitocidal Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis and jegathesan, respectively. The toxins naturally crystallize within the host; however, the crystals are too small for structure determination at synchrotron sources. Therefore, we applied serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free electron lasers to in vivo-grown nanocrystals of these toxins. The structure of Cry11Aa was determined de novo using the single-wavelength anomalous dispersion method, which in turn enabled the determination of the Cry11Ba structure by molecular replacement. The two structures reveal a new pattern for in vivo crystallization of Cry toxins, whereby each of their three domains packs with a symmetrically identical domain, and a cleavable cry2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Jul2026-05-28T01:11:30.67Z2025-04-19T22:47:56.564ZS-EPMC93343583590257210.1038/s41467-022-31746-x