Proteins magic-angle spinning

The 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinoxyl radical (TEMPO) was first prepared in 1960 by Lebedev and Kazarnovskii by oxidation of its piperidine precursor.18 The steric hindrance of the NO bond in TEMPO makes it a highly stable radical species, resistant to air and moisture. Paramagnetic TEMPO radicals can be employed as powerful spin probes for elucidating the structure and dynamics of both synthetic and biopolymers (e.g., proteins and DNA) by ESR spectroscopy.19 Unlike solid-phase 1H-NMR where magic angle spinning is required in order to reduce the anisotropic effects in the solid-phase environment, solid-phase ESR spectroscopy can be conducted without specialized equipment. Thus, we conducted comparative ESR studies of various polymers with persistent radical labels, and we also determined rotational correlation times as a function of... 

Correlating positively with the hydrophobicity of the solvent, different fractions of inactivated active centers were measured in different solvents with solid-state NMR spectroscopy (13C-cross-polarization/magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR) (Burke, 1992). Just as with tritiated water (see above), immediate desorption of water molecules from the protein surface was observed after addition to the organic solvent. 

Abstract Membrane proteins represent an important and challenging frontier in structural biology they mediate fundamental and medically important processes but are challenging targets for structure/ function studies. Magic angle spinning solid-state NMR methods for structure determination of proteins have developed rapidly in... 

Finally, it is worth keeping in mind that the protein may be perturbed reversibly by the conditions of the NMR experiment. For example, a recent study demonstrated that removal of the bulk buffer that typically separates from the sample during magic angle spinning reversibly altered the conformation of the selectivity filter of the KcsA potassium channel addition of buffer to the rotor restored the conformation.101 Based on this observation of a hydration-induced shift in conformation, it seems prudent to maintain high hydration levels for NMR studies of proteins in general. 

Solid-state NMR also can be applied to membrane proteins in lipid bilayers, and recent advancements in magic angle spinning solid-state NMR show promise for stmcture determination. Although the stmctures of small crystalline proteins (89) and membrane bound peptides (90) have been determined, the stmcture of a polytopic membrane protein has yet to be reported. The major necessity that is required to push the technique forward is the de novo sequential chemical shift assignment of the amino acid residues, and in the last few years, several groups have reported successful strategies (91, 92). 

Castellani F, van Rossum B, Diehl A, Schubert M, Rehbein, K Oschkinat H. Structure of a protein determined by solid-state magic-angle-spinning NMR spectroscopy. Nature 2002 420 98-102. 

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