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Fluorine NMR has recently gained high popularity in drug discovery as it allows efficient and sensitive screening of large numbers of ligands. However, the positive hits found in screening must subsequently be ranked according to their affinity in order to prioritize them for follow-up chemistry. Unfortunately, the primary read-out from the screening experiments, namely the increased relaxation rate upon binding, is not proportional to the affinity of the ligand, as it is polluted by effects such as exchange broadening. Here we present the method CSAR (Chemical Shift-anisotropy-based Affinity Ranking) for reliable ranking of fluorinated ligands by NMR, without the need of isotope labeled protein, titrations or setting up a reporter format. Our strategy is to produce relaxation data that is directly proportional to the binding affinity. This is achieved by removing all other contributions to relaxation as follows: (i) exchange effects are efficiently suppressed by using high power spin lock pulses, (ii) dipolar relaxation effects are approximately subtracted by measuring at two different magnetic fields and (iii) differences in chemical shift anisotropy are normalized using calculated values. A similar ranking can be obtained with the simplified approach FastCSAR that relies on a measurement of a single relaxation experiment at high field (preferably > 600 MHz). An affinity ranking obtained in this simple way will enable prioritizing ligands and thus improve the efficiency of fragment-based drug design.

Atomic-level information about the structure and dynamics of biomolecules is critical for an understanding of their function. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides unique insights into the dynamic nature of biomolecules and their interactions, capturing transient conformers and their features. However, relaxation-induced line broadening and signal overlap make it challenging to apply NMR spectroscopy to large biological systems. Here we took advantage of the high sensitivity and broad chemical shift range of 19F nuclei and leveraged the remarkable relaxation properties of the aromatic 19F-13C spin pair to disperse 19F resonances in a two-dimensional transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy spectrum. We demonstrate the application of 19F-13C transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy to investigate proteins and nucleic acids. This experiment expands the scope of 19F NMR in the study of the structure, dynamics, and function of large and complex biological systems and provides a powerful background-free NMR probe.

Recording NMR signals of several nuclear species simultaneously by using parallel receivers provides more information from a single measurement and at the same time increases the measurement sensitivity per unit time. Here we present a comprehensive series of the most frequently used NMR experiments modified for simultaneous direct detection of two of the most sensitive NMR nuclei - (1) H and (19) F. We hope that the presented material will stimulate interest in and further development of this technique.

In RNA secondary structure determination, it is essential to determine whether a nucleotide is base-paired and not. Base-pairing of nucleotides is mediated by hydrogen bonds. The NMR characterization of hydrogen bonds relies on experiments correlating the NMR resonances of exchangeable protons and can be best performed for structured parts of the RNA, where labile hydrogen atoms are protected from solvent exchange. Functionally important regions in RNA, however, frequently reveal increased dynamic disorder which often leads to NMR signals of exchangeable protons that are broadened beyond (1)H detection. Here, we develop (13)C direct detected experiments to observe all nucleotides in RNA irrespective of whether they are involved in hydrogen bonds or not. Exploiting the self-decoupling of scalar couplings due to the exchange process, the hydrogen bonding behavior of the hydrogen bond donor of each individual nucleotide can be determined. Furthermore, the adaption of HNN-COSY experiments for (13)C direct detection allows correlations of donor-acceptor pairs and the localization of hydrogen-bond acceptor nucleotides. The proposed (13)C direct detected experiments therefore provide information about molecular sites not amenable by conventional proton-detected methods. Such information makes the RNA secondary structure determination by NMR more accurate and helps to validate secondary structure predictions based on bioinformatics.

We propose several significant improvements to the PANSY (Parallel NMR SpectroscopY) experiments—PANSY COSY and PANSY-TOCSY. The improved versions of these experiments provide sufficient spectral information for structure elucidation of small organic molecules from just two 2D experiments. The PANSY-TOCSY-Q experiment has been modified to allow for simultaneous acquisition of three different types of NMR spectra—1D C-13 of non-protonated carbon sites, 2D TOCSY and multiplicity edited 2D HETCOR. In addition the J-filtered 2D PANSY-gCOSY experiment records a 2D HH gCOSY spectrum in parallel with a 1J-filtered HC long-range HETCOR spectrum as well as offers a simplified data processing. In addition to parallel acquisition, further time savings are feasible because of significantly smaller F1 spectral windows as compared to the indirect detection experiments. Use of cryoprobes and multiple receivers can significantly alleviate the sensitivity issues that are usually associated with the so called direct detection experiments. In cases where experiments are sampling limited rather than sensitivity limited further reduction of experiment time is achieved by using Hadamard encoding. In favorable cases the total recording time for the two PANSY experiments can be reduced to just 40 s. The proposed PANSY experiments provide sufficient information to allow the CMCse software package (Bruker) to solve structures of small organic molecules. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Three improved 13C-spinlock experiments for side chain assignments of isotope labelled proteins in liquid state are presented. These are based on wide bandwidth spinlock techniques that have become possible with contemporary cryogenic probes. The first application, the H(CaliCaro)H-TOCSY, is an HCCH-TOCSY in which all CHn moieties of a protein are detected in a single experiment, including the aromatic ones. This enables unambiguous assignment of aromatic and aliphatic amino acids in a single, highly sensitive experiment. In the second application, the 13C-detected Call-TOCSY, magnetization transfer comprises all carbons—aliphatic, aromatic as well as the carbonyl carbons—making the complete carbon assignment possible using one spectrum only. Thirdly, the frequently used HC(CCO)NH experiment was redesigned by replacing the long C-carbonyl refocused INEPT transfer step by direct 13C–13C-TOCSY magnetization transfer from side chain carbons to the backbone carbonyls. The resulting HC(CCO)NH experiment minimizes relaxation losses because it is shorter and represents a more sensitive alternative particularly for larger proteins. The performance of the experiments is demonstrated on isotope labeled proteins up to the size of 43 kDa.

A human matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) hydroxamic acid inhibitor (CGS27023A) was cross-docked into 15 MMP-12, MMP-13, MMP-9, and MMP-1 cocrystal structures. The aim was to validate a fast protocol for ligand binding conformation elucidation and to probe the feasibility of using inhibitor-protein NMR contacts to dock an inhibitor into related MMP crystal structures. Such an approach avoids full NMR structure elucidation, saving both spectrometer- and analysis time. We report here that for the studied MMPs, one can obtain docking results well within 1 A compared to the corresponding reference X-ray structure, using backbone amide contacts only. From the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry, these results are relevant for the binding studies of inhibitor series to a common target and have the potential advantage of obtaining information on protein-inhibitor complexes that are difficult to crystallize.

Recent advances in instrumentation and isotope labeling methodology allow proteins up to 100 kDa in size to be studied in detail using NMR spectroscopy. Using 2H/13C/15N enrichment and selective methyl protonation, we show that newly developed 13C direct detection methods can be used to rapidly yield proton and carbon resonance assignments for the methyl groups of Val, Leu, and Ile residues. We present a highly sensitive 13C-detected CH3-TOCSY experiment that, in combination with standard 1H-detected backbone experiments, allows the full assignment of side chain resonances in methyl-protonated residues. Selective methyl protonation, originally developed by Kay and co-workers (Rosen, M. K.; Gardner, K. H.; Willis, R. C.; Parris, W. E.; Pawson, T.; Kay, L. E. J. Mol. Biol. 1996, 263, 627-636; Gardner, K. G.; Kay, L. E. Annu. Rev. Biophys. Biomol. Struct. 1998, 27, 357-406; Goto, N. K.; Kay, L. E. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 2000, 10, 585-592), improves the nuclear relaxation behavior of larger proteins compared to their fully protonated counterparts, allows significant simplification of spectra, and facilitates NOE assignments. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of the 13C-detected CH3-TOCSY experiment through studies of (i) a medium-sized protein (CbpA-R1; 14 kDa) with a repetitive primary sequence that yields highly degenerate NMR spectra, and (ii) a larger, bimolecular protein complex (p21-KID/Cdk2; 45 kDa) at low concentration in a high ionic strength solution. Through the analysis of NOEs involving amide and Ile, Leu, and Val methyl protons, we determined the global fold of CbpA-R1, a bacterial protein that mediates the pathogenic effects of Streptococcus pneumoniae, demonstrating that this approach can significantly reduce the time required to determine protein structures by NMR.

Significant resolution improvement in 13C,13C-TOCSY spectra of uniformly deuterated and 13C, 15N-labeled protein and 13C,15N-labeled RNA samples is achieved by introduction of multiple-band-selective 13C-homodecoupling applied simultaneously with 1H- or 2H- and 15N-decoupling at all stages of multidimensional experiments including signal acquisition period. The application of single, double or triple band-selective 13C-decoupling in 2D-[13C,13C]-TOCSY experiments during acquisition strongly simplifies the homonuclear splitting pattern. The technical aspects of complex multiple-band homonuclear decoupling and hardware requirements are discussed. The use of this technique (i) facilitates the resonance assignment process as it reduces signal overlap in homonuclear 13C-spectra and (ii) possibly improves the signal-to-noise ratio through multiplet collapse. It can be applied in any 13C-detected experiment.

(13)C-detected experiments are still limited by their inherently lower sensitivity, as compared to the equivalent (1)H-detected experiments. Improving the sensitivity of (13)C detection methods remains a significant area of NMR research that may provide better means for studying large macromolecular systems by NMR. In this communication, we show that (13)C-detected experiments are less sensitive to the salt concentration of the sample solution than (1)H-detected experiments. In addition, acquisition can be started with anti-phase coherence, resulting in higher sensitivity due to the elimination of the final INEPT transfer step.

The assignment of the aliphatic 13C resonances of trimeric Bacillus Subtilis chorismate mutase, a protein with a molecular mass of 44 kDa, consisting of three 127-residue monomers is presented by use of two-dimensional (2D) 13C-start and 13C-observe NMR experiments. These experiments start with 13C excitation and end with 13C observation while relying on the long transverse relaxation times of 13C spins in uniformly deuterated and 13C,15N-labeled large proteins. Gains in sensitivity are achieved by the use of a paramagnetic relaxation enhancement agent to reduce 13C T1 relaxation times with little effect on 13C T2 relaxation times. Such 2D 13C-only NMR experiments circumvent problems associated with the application of conventional experiments for side-chain assignment to proteins of larger sizes, for instance, the absence or low concentration of the side-chain 1H spins, the transfer of the side-chain spin polarization to the 1HN spins for signal acquisition, or the necessity of a quantitative reprotonation of the methyl moieties in the otherwise fully deuterated side-chains. We demonstrate that having obtained a nearly complete assignment of the side-chain aliphatic 13C resonances, the side-chain 1H chemical shifts can be assigned in a semiautomatic fashion using 3D 15N-resolved and 13C-resolved NOESY experiments measured with a randomly partially protonated protein sample. We also discuss perspectives for structure determination of larger proteins by using novel strategies which are based on the 1H,1H NOEs in combination with multiple residual dipolar couplings between adjacent 13C spins determined with 2D 13C-only experiments.

Surfactant protein D (SP-D) is one of four known protein components of the pulmonary surfactant lining the lung alveoli. It is involved in immune and allergic responses. SP-D occurs as a tetramer of trimers. Trimerization is thought to be initiated by a coiled coil domain. We have determined the solution structure of a 64-residue peptide encompassing the coiled coil domain of human SP-D. As predicted, the domain forms a triple-helical parallel coiled coil. As with all symmetric oligomers, the structure calculation was complicated by the symmetry degeneracy in the NMR spectra. We used the symmetry-ADR (ambiguous distance restraint) structure calculation method to solve the structure. The results demonstrate that the leucine zipper region of SP-D is an autonomously folded domain. The structure is very similar to the independently determined X-ray crystal structure, differing mainly at a single residue, Tyr248. This residue is completely symmetric in the solution structure, and markedly asymmetric in the crystalline phase. This difference may be functionally important, as it affects the orientation of the antigenic surface presented by SP-D.

SpoIIAA participates in a four-component mechanism for phosphorylation-dependent transcription control at the outset of sporulation. We report the refinement of the solution structure of SpoIIAA by using the automated iterative NOE assignment method ARIA. To complement the structural data, the protein dynamics were determined by measuring the T1, T2 and NOE of the backbone 15N-nuclei. The refined structure permits a discussion of the structural features that are important for the function of SpoIIAA in the regulation of the sporulation sigma factor sigmaF, and for homologous regulatory pathways present in B. subtilis and in other bacilli.

In this study, a set of nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, some of them commonly used in the study of C-13-labeled proteins and/or nucleic acids, is applied for the structure determination of uniformly C-13-enriched carbohydrates. Two model substances were employed: one compound of low molecular weight [(UL-C-13)-sucrose, 342 Da] and one compound of medium molecular weight (C-13-enriched O-antigenic polysaccharide isolated from Escherichia coli O142, similar to 10 kDa). The first step in this approach involves the assignment of the carbon resonances in each monosaccharide spin system using the anomeric carbon signal as the starting point. The C-13 resonances are traced using C-13-C-13 correlations from homonuclear experiments, such as (H)CC-CT-COSY, (H)CC-NOESY, CC-CT-TOCSY and/or virtually decoupled (H)CC-TOCSY. Based on the assignment of the C-13 resonances, the H-1 chemical shifts are derived in a straightforward manner using one-bond H-1-C-13 correlations from heteronuclear experiments (HC-CT-HSQC). In order to avoid the (1) J (CC) splitting of the C-13 resonances and to improve the resolution, either constant-time (CT) in the indirect dimension or virtual decoupling in the direct dimension were used. The monosaccharide sequence and linkage positions in oligosaccharides were determined using either C-13 or H-1 detected experiments, namely CC-CT-COSY, band-selective (H)CC-TOCSY, HC-CT-HSQC-NOESY or long-range HC-CT-HSQC. However, due to the short T-2 relaxation time associated with larger polysaccharides, the sequential information in the O-antigen polysaccharide from E. coli O142 could only be elucidated using the H-1-detected experiments. Exchanging protons of hydroxyl groups and N-acetyl amides in the C-13-enriched polysaccharide were assigned by using HC-H2BC spectra. The assignment of the N-acetyl groups with N-15 at natural abundance was completed by using HN-SOFAST-HMQC, HNCA, HNCO and C-13-detected (H)CACO spectra. AuthorCount:3

Using the case of the catalytic domain of MMP-12 in complex with the known inhibitor CGS27023A, a recently assembled 3D (15)N-edited/(14)N,(12)C-filtered ROESY experiment is used to monitor and distinguish protein amide protons in fast exchange with bulk water from amide protons close to water molecules with longer residence times, the latter possibly reflecting water molecules of structural or functional importance. The (15)N-edited/(14)N,(12)C-filtered ROESY spectra were compared to the original (15)N-edited/(14)N,(12)C-filtered NOESY and the conventional amide-water exchange experiment, CLEANEX. Three protein backbone amide protons experiencing direct dipolar cross relaxation with water in the (15)N-edited/(14)N,(12)C-filtered ROESY spectrum were assigned. In an ensemble of six crystal structures, two conserved water molecules within 3 A of the three amide protons were identified. These two water molecules are buried into cavities in the protein surface and thus sufficiently slowed down by the protein topology to account for the observed dipolar interaction. Structural analysis of an ensemble of six crystal structures ruled out any exchange-relayed contributions for the amide-water interactions of interest.

Carbon-13 spin–lattice relaxation times and NOE factors are reported for a tetrasaccharide, lacto-N-neotetraose, in solution as a function of temperature and magnetic field. The data that are outside the extreme narrowing regime are analysed using the ‘model-free’ approach of Lipari and Szabo. The global reorientation is assumed to be isotropic. The experimental data for the inner rings can be fitted very well using a simplified version of the equations, neglecting the local motion term in the spectral densities. The complete expression for the spectral densities is required for the outer rings, and three different fitting procedures are compared.

The N7 of purine nucleotides presents one of the most dominant metal ion binding sites in nucleic acids. However, the interactions between kinetically labile metal ions like Mg(2+) and these nitrogen atoms are inherently difficult to observe in large RNAs. Rather than using the insensitive direct (15)N detection, here we have used (2)J-[(1)H,(15)N]-HSQC (Heteronuclear Single Quantum Coherence) NMR experiments as a fast and efficient method to specifically observe and characterize such interactions within larger RNA constructs. Using the 27 nucleotides long branch domain of the yeast-mitochondrial group II intron ribozyme Sc.ai5gamma as an example, we show that direct N7 coordination of a Mg(2+) ion takes place in a tetraloop nucleotide. A second Mg(2+) ion, located in the major groove at the catalytic branch site, coordinates mainly in an outer-sphere fashion to the highly conserved flanking GU wobble pairs but not to N7 of the sandwiched branch adenosine.

Copyright © by Portland Press. The final version of record is available at http://www.biochemj.org/bj/default.htm, Echistatin is a potent antagonist of the integrins αvβ3, α5β1 and αIIbβ3. Its full inhibitory activity depends on an RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) motif expressed at the tip of the integrin-binding loop and on its C-terminal tail. Previous NMR structures of echistatin showed a poorly defined integrin-recognition sequence and an incomplete C-terminal tail, which left the molecular basis of the functional synergy between the RGD loop and the C-terminal region unresolved. We report a high-resolution structure of echistatin and an analysis of its internal motions by off-resonance ROESY (rotating-frame Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy). The full-length C-terminal polypeptide is visible as a β-hairpin running parallel to the RGD loop and exposing at the tip residues Pro43, His44 and Lys45. The side chains of the amino acids of the RGD motif have well-defined conformations. The integrin-binding loop displays an overall movement with maximal amplitude of 30°. Internal angular motions in the 100–300 ps timescale indicate increased flexibility for the backbone atoms at the base of the integrin-recognition loop. In addition, backbone atoms of the amino acids Ala23 (flanking the R24GD26 tripeptide) and Asp26 of the integrin-binding motif showed increased angular mobility, suggesting the existence of major and minor hinge effects at the base and the tip, respectively, of the RGD loop. A strong network of NOEs (nuclear Overhauser effects) between residues of the RGD loop and the C-terminal tail indicate concerted motions between these two functional regions. A full-length echistatin–αvβ3 docking model suggests that echistatin's C-terminal amino acids may contact αv-subunit residues and provides new insights to delineate structure–function correlations., This study has been partly financed by grants BCM2001-3337 from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, and BFU2004-01432/BMC from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Madrid, Spain (to J.J.C.). We also thank Bruker España S.A. for financial support. Thanks are also due to the SCSIE of the University of Valencia for providing access to the NMR facility and to high-performance computing facilities.

13C-only spectroscopy was used to measure multiple residual (13)C-(13)C dipolar couplings (RDCs) in uniformly deuterated and (13)C-labeled proteins. We demonstrate that (13)C-start and (13)C-observe spectra can be routinely used to measure an extensive set of the side-chain residual (13)C-(13)C dipolar couplings upon partial alignment of human ubiquitin in the presence of bacteriophages Pf1. We establish that, among different broadband polarization transfer schemes, the FLOPSY family can be used to exchange magnetization between a J coupled network of spins while largely decoupling dipolar interactions between these spins. An excellent correlation between measured RDCs and the 3D structure of the protein was observed, indicating a potential use of the (13)C-(13)C RDCs in the structure determination of perdeuterated proteins.

Obtustatin is a potent and selective inhibitor of the alpha1beta1 integrin in vitro and of angiogenesis in vivo. It possesses an integrin recognition loop that harbors, in a lateral position, the inhibitory 21KTS23 motif. We report an analysis of the dynamics of the backbone and side-chain atoms of obtustatin by homonuclear NMR methods. Angular mobility has been calculated for 90 assigned cross-peaks from 22 off-resonance rotating frame nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy spectra recorded at three magnetic fields. Our results suggest that the integrin binding loop and the C-terminal tail display concerted motions, which can be interpreted by hinge effects. Among the integrin-binding motif, threonine 22 and serine 23 exhibit the lowest and the highest side-chain flexibility, respectively. It is noteworthy that the side chain of threonine 22 is not solvent-exposed, although based on synthetic peptides it appears to be the most critical residue for the inhibitory activity of obtustatin on the binding of integrin alpha1beta1 to collagen IV. Instead, the side chain of threonine 22 is oriented toward the loop center and hydrogen-bonded to residues Thr25 and Ser26. This network of interactions explains the restrained mobility of threonine 22 and suggests that its functional importance lies in maintaining the active conformation of the alpha1beta1 inhibitory loop.

The transverse 14 N relaxation times for dilute acetonitrile in water-1-propanol mixtures were measured as a function of solvent composition. The rotational correlation times were evaluated. Since the results cannot be explained by the hydrodynamic theory alone, application of dielectric friction theory is proposed.

Carbon-13 spin-lattice relaxation times and nuclear Overhauser enhancement factors are reported for sucrose and a disaccharide methyl glycoside dissolved in a 7:3 molar solvent mixture of D2O and DMSO-d6 at several magnetic fields. Data which correspond to both sides of the maximum in the T1−1 versus the inverse temperature curves were collected in the temperature range of −15 to + 30°C. Rotational diffusion models are used to determine the overall and internal dynamics of the molecules. The analysis gives an estimate of the rapid initial averaging due to internal fluctuations and activation energies for the overall and methyl rotation.

We present here a set of 13C-direct detected NMR experiments to facilitate the resonance assignment of RNA oligonucleotides. Three experiments have been developed: (1) the (H)CC-TOCSY-experiment utilizing a virtual decoupling scheme to assign the intraresidual ribose 13C-spins, (2) the (H)CPC-experiment that correlates each phosphorus with the C4′ nuclei of adjacent nucleotides via J(C,P) couplings and (3) the (H)CPC-CCH-TOCSY-experiment that correlates the phosphorus nuclei with the respective C1′,H1′ ribose signals. The experiments were applied to two RNA hairpin structures. The current set of 13C-direct detected experiments allows direct and unambiguous assignment of the majority of the hetero nuclei and the identification of the individual ribose moieties following their sequential assignment. Thus, 13C-direct detected NMR methods constitute useful complements to the conventional 1H-detected approach for the resonance assignment of oligonucleotides that is often hindered by the limited chemical shift dispersion. The developed methods can also be applied to large deuterated RNAs. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10858-010-9429-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Using molecular dynamics simulations, the motion and intermolecular interactions of the ions of silver nitrate are studied in aqueous solution and compared to the results obtained from simulations of molten AgNO3. The particularly interesting and experimentally frequently studied modes of reorientational motion (in-plane and end-over-end) of the planar nitrate ion have been determined from the simulation results. In accordance with earlier experimental results, the correlation times for the end-over-end rotation in aqueous solution are longer than those for the in-plane rotation, while the opposite is found to hold in the melt. In addition, the rotational motion of the nitrate ion in aqueous solution is experimentally studied using 14N relaxation measurements. Good agreement is found between the reorientational correlation times obtained from MD simulations and from NMR relaxation measurements.