Solid-state NMR of a protein in a precipitated complex with a full-length antibody.

NMR spectroscopy is a prime technique for characterizing atomic-resolution structures and dynamics of biomolecular complexes but for such systems faces challenges of sensitivity and spectral resolution. We demonstrate that the application of (1)H-detected experiments at magic-angle spinning frequencies of >50 kHz enables the recording, in a matter of minutes to hours, of solid-state NMR spectra suitable for quantitative analysis of protein complexes present in quantities as small as a few nanomoles (tens of micrograms for the observed component). This approach enables direct structure determination and quantitative dynamics measurements in domains of protein complexes with masses of hundreds of kilodaltons. Protein-protein interaction interfaces can be mapped out by comparison of the chemical shifts of proteins within solid-state complexes with those of the same constituent proteins free in solution. We employed this methodology to characterize a >300 kDa complex of GB1 with full-length human immunoglobulin, where we found that sample preparation by simple precipitation yields spectra of exceptional quality, a feature that is likely to be shared with some other precipitating complexes. Finally, we investigated extensions of our methodology to spinning frequencies of up to 100 kHz.

De†novo 3D structure determination from sub-milligram protein samples by solid-state 100†kHz MAS NMR spectroscopy.

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is an emerging tool for structural studies of crystalline, membrane-associated, sedimented, and fibrillar proteins. A major limitation for many studies is still the large amount of sample needed for the experiments, typically several isotopically labeled samples of 10-20 mg each. Here we show that a new NMR probe, pushing magic-angle sample rotation to frequencies around 100 kHz, makes it possible to narrow the proton resonance lines sufficiently to provide the necessary sensitivity and spectral resolution for efficient and sensitive proton detection. Using restraints from such spectra, a well-defined de novo structure of the model protein ubiquitin was obtained from two samples of roughly 500 µg protein each. This proof of principle opens new avenues for structural studies of proteins available in microgram, or tens of nanomoles, quantities that are, for example, typically achieved for eukaryotic membrane proteins by in-cell or cell-free expression.

Ultra-high resolution 17O solid-state NMR spectroscopy of biomolecules: a comprehensive spectral analysis of monosodium L-glutamate·monohydrate.

Monosodium L-glutamate monohydrate, a multiple oxygen site (eight) compound, is used to demonstrate that a combination of high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopic techniques opens up new possibilities for (17)O as a nuclear probe of biomolecules. Eight oxygen sites have been resolved by double rotation (DOR) and multiple quantum (MQ) NMR experiments, despite the (17)O chemical shifts lying within a narrow shift range of <50 ppm. (17)O DOR NMR not only provides high sensitivity and spectral resolution, but also allows a complete set of the NMR parameters (chemical shift anisotropy and electric-field gradient) to be determined from the DOR spinning-sideband manifold. These (17)O NMR parameters provide an important multi-parameter comparison with the results from the quantum chemical NMR calculations, and enable unambiguous oxygen-site assignment and allow the hydrogen positions to be refined in the crystal lattice. The difference in sensitivity between DOR and MQ NMR experiments of oxygen in bio/organic molecules is also discussed. The data presented here clearly illustrates that a high resolution (17)O solid-state NMR methodology is now available for the study of biomolecules, offering new opportunities for resolving structural information and hence new molecular insights.

Longer-range distances by spinning-angle-encoding solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

A new spinning-angle-encoding spin-echo solid-state NMR approach is used to accurately determine the dipolar coupling corresponding to a C-C distance over 4 Å in a fully labelled dipeptide. The dipolar coupling dependent spin-echo modulation was recorded off magic angle, switching back to the magic angle for the acquisition of the free-induction decay, so as to obtain optimum sensitivity. The retention of both ideal resolution and long-range distance sensitivity was achieved by redesigning a 600 MHz HX MAS NMR probe to provide fast angle switching during the NMR experiment: for 1.8 mm rotors, angle changes of up to ∼5° in ∼10 ms were achieved at 12 kHz MAS. A new experimental design that combines a reference and a dipolar-modulated experiment and a master-curve approach to data interpretation is presented.

Nanomole-scale protein solid-state NMR by breaking intrinsic 1HT1 boundaries.

We present an approach that accelerates protein solid-state NMR 5-20-fold using paramagnetic doping to condense data-collection time (to approximately 0.2 s per scan), overcoming a long-standing limitation on slow recycling owing to intrinsic (1)H T(1) longitudinal spin relaxation. Using low-power schemes under magic-angle spinning at 40 kHz, we obtained two-dimensional (13)C-(13)C and (13)C-(15)N solid-state NMR spectra for several to tens of nanomoles of beta-amyloid fibrils and ubiquitin in 1-2 d.

The determination of 17O NMR parameters of hydroxyl oxygen: a combined deuteration and DOR approach.

The direct detection of hydroxyl oxygen (O-H) by (17)O double-rotation (DOR) NMR is very challenging because of the strong O-H dipole interaction. It is shown that deuteration of the hydroxyl site overcomes this using glycine.HCl as an illustration. Two well-separated sets of narrow (linewidth approximately 80-100 Hz) resonances with their spinning-sidebands are observed for the carboxyl and hydroxyl oxygens in the DOR spectrum of [(17)O,(2)H]glycine.HCl. The chemical shift anisotropy of these sites is obtained from a simulation of the DOR spinning-sideband intensities. The chemical shift span (Omega) for the carboxyl oxygen is found to be much larger than that of the hydroxyl oxygen, with Omega values of 540 +/- 15 and 210 +/- 10 ppm, respectively.

Sensitivity enhancement in (13)C solid-state NMR of protein microcrystals by use of paramagnetic metal ions for optimizing (1)H T(1) relaxation.

We discuss a simple approach to enhance sensitivity for (13)C high-resolution solid-state NMR for proteins in microcrystals by reducing (1)H T(1) relaxation times with paramagnetic relaxation reagents. It was shown that (1)H T(1) values can be reduced from 0.4-0.8s to 60-70 ms for ubiquitin and lysozyme in D(2)O in the presence of 10 mM Cu(II)Na(2)EDTA without substantial degradation of the resolution in (13)C CPMAS spectra. Faster signal accumulation using the shorter (1)H T(1) attained by paramagnetic doping provided sensitivity enhancements of 1.4-2.9 for these proteins, reducing the experimental time for a given signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 2.0-8.4. This approach presented here is likely to be applicable to various other proteins in order to enhance sensitivity in (13)C high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

New limits for solid-state 17O NMR spectroscopy: complete resolution of multiple oxygen sites in a simple biomolecule.

A solid-state 17O NMR 1H-decoupled double angle rotation (DOR) study of monosodium l-glutamate monohydrate (l-MSG) is reported. It is shown that all eight inequivalent sites can be resolved with DOR line widths ( approximately 65 Hz) approximately 120 times narrower than those in the MAS spectrum. The lines are tentatively assigned on the basis of their behavior under proton decoupling and the isotropic chemical shift and the quadrupole interaction parameter for each extracted by a combination of DOR and 3Q MAS at variable magnetic fields. With a shift range of approximately 45 ppm for these similar oxygen sites and spectral resolution under DOR comparable to that for spin-1/2 nuclei, solid-state 17O NMR should have tremendous potential in the study of biomolecules.

New opportunities for double rotation NMR of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei.

A combined approach is presented which expands the applicability of double rotation (DOR) by overcoming its most prominent disadvantages: spinning stability and sensitivity. A new design using air-bearings for the inner rotor and a computer-assisted start-up procedure allows DOR operation over in principle unlimited time at outer rotor speeds of up to 2000Hz. Sensitivity enhancement of the DOR experiment is achieved by applying amplitude-modulated adiabatic pulses such as the double frequency sweep (DFS) before pulse excitation. Repeating the DFS enhancement and signal readout several times without allowing for spin-lattice relaxation leads to sensitivity enhancements of a factor 3 for (27)Al in various minerals. As a result, it becomes possible to study low sensitivity quadrupolar nuclei and various long duration 2D measurements can be performed routinely. Spinning is adequate to suppress residual homonuclear dipolar couplings in the spectral dimension of typical quadrupolar spin systems. In 2D-exchange spectroscopy, however, homonuclear correlation can still be established through dipolar-quadrupolar cross-terms.