Nuclear spin nucleotides

The coordination structures of enzyme-bound manganese nucleotides can in favorable cases be determined by analysis of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of Mn(II) coordinated to O-labeled nucleotides. When the nucleotide is stereospecifically labeled with O at one diastereotopic position of a prochiral center, either oxygen can in principle be bound to Mn(II) in the coordination complex in an enzymic site. When the coordination bond is between Mn(II) and O, the EPR signals for Mn(II) are broadened and attenuated, owing to unresolved superhyperfine coupling between the nucleus of 0 and the unpaired electrons of Mn(II) (23). No such effect is possible with 0, which has no nuclear spin. The effect is observable in samples in which all the Mn(Il) is specifically bound in one or two defined complexes of the nucleotide with the enzyme. Thus the complex Mg(Sp)-[a- 0]ADP bound at the active site of ere-... 

Nuclear spin polarization can be induced in a variety of biologically important molecules by laser irradiation of solutions in the presence of a dye. Initially we had found that using flavin dyes it is possible to polarize the amino acids tyrosine, histidine and tryptophan, both as free amino acids and as surface residues in proteins (, O. This occurs in cyclic reactions with a high degree of reversibility of the type discussed in the previous section. More recently, we found that the purine nucleotide bases can be polarized similarly (16). It appears that flavins are remarkable in that upon photo-excitation they react reversibly with several classes of compounds such as aromatic phenols, aromatic amines, and secondary and tertiary amines. In all these cases CIDNP can be observed. We shall now discuss the photo-CIDNP spectra of the amino acids in more detail. 

Regardless of the comments above, we need to speak about nuclear spins, since they are everywhere (at least in the form of protons) and because they also can be connected with quantum effects in bio-systems. Recent experiments (Buchachenko and Kouznetsov 2008 Buchachenko et al. 2005) demonstrate that intramitochondrial nucleotide phosphorylation is a nuclear spin controlled process because the magnetic magnesium isotope Mg(ll) increases the rate of mitochondrial ATP synthesis in comparison with the spinless nonmagnetic Mg(ll), Mg(lI) ions. Such nuclear spin isotope effect is usually interpreted in terms of radical pair theory for separated spins in solvent cage (Buchachenko 1977), but an alternative explanation based on... 

Buchachenko, A. L., Kouznetsov, D. A., Orlova, M. A., 8c Markarian A. A. (2005). Spin biochemistry Intramitochondrial nucleotide phosphorylation is a magnesium nuclear spin controlled process. Mitochondrion, 5, 67. 

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