Sedimentation of large, soluble proteins up to 140 kDa for 1H-detected MAS NMR and 13C DNP NMR - practical aspects.

Solution NMR is typically applied to biological systems with molecular weights < 40 kDa whereas magic-angle-spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR traditionally targets very large, oligomeric proteins and complexes exceeding 500 kDa in mass, including fibrils and crystalline protein preparations. Here, we propose that the gap between these size regimes can be filled by the approach presented that enables investigation of large, soluble and fully protonated proteins in the range of 40-140 kDa. As a key step, ultracentrifugation produces a highly concentrated, gel-like state, resembling a dense phase in spontaneous liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). By means of three examples, a Sulfolobus acidocaldarius bifurcating electron transfer flavoprotein (SulfETF), tryptophan synthases from Salmonella typhimurium (StTS) and the dimeric ß-subunits from Pyrococcus furiosus (PfTrpB), we show that such samples yield well-resolved proton-detected 2D and 3D NMR spectra at 100 kHz MAS without heterogeneous broadening, similar to diluted liquids. Herein, we provide practical guidance on centrifugation conditions and tools, sample behavior, and line widths expected. We demonstrate that the observed chemical shifts correspond to those obtained from µM/low mM solutions or crystalline samples, indicating structural integrity. Nitrogen line widths as low as 20-30 Hz are observed. The presented approach is advantageous for proteins or nucleic acids that cannot be deuterated due to the expression system used, or where relevant protons cannot be re-incorporated after expression in deuterated medium, and it circumvents crystallization. Importantly, it allows the use of low-glycerol buffers in dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) NMR of proteins as demonstrated with the cyanobacterial phytochrome Cph1.

Similarities and Differences among Protein Dynamics Studied by Variable Temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxation.

Understanding and describing the dynamics of proteins is one of the major challenges in biology. Here, we use multifield variable-temperature NMR longitudinal relaxation (R1) measurements to determine the hierarchical activation energies of motions of four different proteins: two small globular proteins (GB1 and the SH3 domain of α-spectrin), an intrinsically disordered protein (the C-terminus of the nucleoprotein of the Sendai virus, Sendai Ntail), and an outer membrane protein (OmpG). The activation energies map the motions occurring in the side chains, in the backbone, and in the hydration shells of the proteins. We were able to identify similarities and differences in the average motions of the proteins. We find that the NMR relaxation properties of the four proteins do share similar features. The data characterizing average backbone motions are found to be very similar, the same for methyl group rotations, and similar activation energies are measured. The main observed difference occurs for the intrinsically disordered Sendai Ntail, where we observe much lower energy of activation for motions of protons associated with the protein-solvent interface as compared to the others. We also observe variability between the proteins regarding side chain 15N relaxation of lysine residues, with a higher activation energy observed in OmpG. This hints at strong interactions with negatively charged lipids in the bilayer and provides a possible mechanistic clue for the "positive-inside" rule for helical membrane proteins. Overall, these observations refine the understanding of the similarities and differences between hierarchical dynamics in proteins.

Structural changes of TasA in biofilm formation of Bacillus subtilis.

Microorganisms form surface-attached communities, termed biofilms, which can serve as protection against host immune reactions or antibiotics. Bacillus subtilis biofilms contain TasA as major proteinaceous component in addition to exopolysaccharides. In stark contrast to the initially unfolded biofilm proteins of other bacteria, TasA is a soluble, stably folded monomer, whose structure we have determined by X-ray crystallography. Subsequently, we characterized in vitro different oligomeric forms of TasA by NMR, EM, X-ray diffraction, and analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) experiments. However, by magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR on live biofilms, a swift structural change toward only one of these forms, consisting of homogeneous and protease-resistant, ß-sheet-rich fibrils, was observed in vivo. Thereby, we characterize a structural change from a globular state to a fibrillar form in a functional prokaryotic system on the molecular level.

Structure of outer membrane protein G in lipid bilayers.

ß-barrel proteins mediate nutrient uptake in bacteria and serve vital functions in cell signaling and adhesion. For the 14-strand outer membrane protein G of Escherichia coli, opening and closing is pH-dependent. Different roles of the extracellular loops in this process were proposed, and X-ray and solution NMR studies were divergent. Here, we report the structure of outer membrane protein G investigated in bilayers of E. coli lipid extracts by magic-angle-spinning NMR. In total, 1847 inter-residue 1H-1H and 13C-13C distance restraints, 256 torsion angles, but no hydrogen bond restraints are used to calculate the structure. The length of ß-strands is found to vary beyond the membrane boundary, with strands 6-8 being the longest and the extracellular loops 3 and 4 well ordered. The site of barrel closure at strands 1 and 14 is more disordered than most remaining strands, with the flexibility decreasing toward loops 3 and 4. Loop 4 presents a well-defined helix.

Multifunctional Benzoxazines Feature Low Polymerization Temperature and Diverse Polymer Structures.

3,4-dihydro-3-phenyl-2H-1,3-benzoxazines derived from phenol-, resorcinol-, and phloroglucinol give monomers with one, two, and three oxazine units at a single benzene ring, respectively. Aside from the synthesis and characterization of such multifunctional benzoxazines, reactivity and polymerization behavior is studied in dependence of the oxazine functionality. Monomer reactivities are directly related to the number of oxazine functionalities present at the benzene ring yielding the lowest polymerization temperature for the trifunctional phloroglucinol-based benzoxazine. Comparing the polymerization processes and resulting structures, the trifunctional benzoxazine derivative enter new polymerization pathways, which include methylene linkages bridging aniline units, as well as the formation of carbonyl-derived structures.

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Surface Modified Cellulose Utilizing TGA-MS.

With the aim to enhance interfacial adhesion of a hydrophobic polymer matrix and cellulosic fibers and fillers, chemical surface modifications with silane coupling agents are performed. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) could be used to determine the degree of surface functionalization. However, similar thermal properties of treated and untreated cellulose hamper a precise determination of silane loading. This contribution deals with quantitative determination of silane loading combining both TGA and elemental analysis. Firstly, silane modified celluloses were studied by FT-IR, Raman, solid state NMR spectroscopy, and polarized light microscopy in order to determine functional groups and to study the impact of chemical treatment on cellulose morphology. Secondly, thermal stability and pyrolysis processes were studied by TG-MS analysis. In order to determine the exact silane loading, the mass percentages of the appropriate elements were quantified by elemental analysis and correlated with the charred residues determined by TGA yielding a linear dependency. With that correlation, it was possible to determine silane loadings for additional samples utilizing simple TGA measurements. The main advantage of that approach is that only one calibration is necessary for routine analyses of further samples and TGA-MS coupling gives additional information on thermal stability and pyrolysis routes, simultaneously.

Rapid proton-detected NMR assignment for proteins with fast magic angle spinning.

Using a set of six (1)H-detected triple-resonance NMR experiments, we establish a method for sequence-specific backbone resonance assignment of magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of 5-30 kDa proteins. The approach relies on perdeuteration, amide (2)H/(1)H exchange, high magnetic fields, and high-spinning frequencies (ωr/2π ≥ 60 kHz) and yields high-quality NMR data, enabling the use of automated analysis. The method is validated with five examples of proteins in different condensed states, including two microcrystalline proteins, a sedimented virus capsid, and two membrane-embedded systems. In comparison to contemporary (13)C/(15)N-based methods, this approach facilitates and accelerates the MAS NMR assignment process, shortening the spectral acquisition times and enabling the use of unsupervised state-of-the-art computational data analysis protocols originally developed for solution NMR.

Low-power polarization transfer between deuterons and spin-1/2 nuclei using adiabatic (RESPIRATION)CP in solid-state NMR.

Establishing high-resolution structures of biological macromolecules in heterogeneous environments by MAS solid-state NMR is an important challenge where development of advanced experimental procedures is in high demand. Promising new methods take advantage of samples with extensive (2)H, (13)C, and (15)N isotope labelling, effectively diluting (1)H spins. In many cases, a sufficient amount of (1)H at exchangeable sites cannot be re-established during the purification procedure, hence it is necessary to exploit also the potential of (2)H as a starting point in pulse sequences, capitalizing on its short T1 as compared to (13)C, and to detect carbon or proton spins as appropriate. Here we present a new method that enables the required high-efficiency (2)H to (13)C or (15)N polarization transfer to be accomplished under the limited (2)H rf power conditions using current (1)H, (2)H, (13)C and (15)N quadruple-resonance MAS NMR instrumentation.

Three-dimensional deuterium-carbon correlation experiments for high-resolution solid-state MAS NMR spectroscopy of large proteins.

Well-resolved (2)H-(13)C correlation spectra, reminiscent of (1)H-(13)C correlations, are obtained for perdeuterated ubiquitin and for perdeuterated outer-membrane protein G (OmpG) from E. coli by exploiting the favorable lifetime of (2)H double-quantum (DQ) states. Sufficient signal-to-noise was achieved due to the short deuterium T (1), allowing for high repetition rates and enabling 3D experiments with a (2)H-(13)C transfer step in a reasonable time. Well-resolved 3D (2)H(DQ)-(13)C-(13)C correlations of ubiquitin and OmpG were recorded within 3.5 days each. An essentially complete assignment of (2)H(DQα) shifts and of a substantial fraction of (2)H(DQß) shifts were obtained for ubiquitin. In the case of OmpG, (2)H(DQα) and (2)H(DQß) chemical shifts of a considerable number of threonine, serine and leucine residues were assigned. This approach provides the basis for a general heteronuclear 3D MAS NMR assignment concept utilizing pulse sequences with (2)H(DQ)-(13)C transfer steps and evolution of deuterium double-quantum chemical shifts.

Absolute blood velocity measured with a modified fundus camera.

We present a new method for the quantitative estimation of blood flow velocity, based on the use of the Radon transform. The specific application is for measurement of blood flow velocity in the retina. Our modified fundus camera uses illumination from a green LED and captures imagery with a high-speed CCD camera. The basic theory is presented, and typical results are shown for an in vitro flow model using blood in a capillary tube. Subsequently, representative results are shown for representative fundus imagery. This approach provides absolute velocity and flow direction along the vessel centerline or any lateral displacement therefrom. We also provide an error analysis allowing estimation of confidence intervals for the estimated velocity.

Assigning large proteins in the solid state: a MAS NMR resonance assignment strategy using selectively and extensively 13C-labelled proteins.

In recent years, solid-state magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MAS NMR) has been growing into an important technique to study the structure of membrane proteins, amyloid fibrils and other protein preparations which do not form crystals or are insoluble. Currently, a key bottleneck is the assignment process due to the absence of the resolving power of proton chemical shifts. Particularly for large proteins (approximately >150 residues) it is difficult to obtain a full set of resonance assignments. In order to address this problem, we present an assignment method based upon samples prepared using [1,3-13C]- and [2-13C]-glycerol as the sole carbon source in the bacterial growth medium (so-called selectively and extensively labelled protein). Such samples give rise to higher quality spectra than uniformly [13C]-labelled protein samples, and have previously been used to obtain long-range restraints for use in structure calculations. Our method exploits the characteristic cross-peak patterns observed for the different amino acid types in 13C-13C correlation and 3D NCACX and NCOCX spectra. An in-depth analysis of the patterns and how they can be used to aid assignment is presented, using spectra of the chicken alpha-spectrin SH3 domain (62 residues), alphaB-crystallin (175 residues) and outer membrane protein G (OmpG, 281 residues) as examples. Using this procedure, over 90% of the Calpha, Cbeta, C' and N resonances in the core domain of alphaB-crystallin and around 73% in the flanking domains could be assigned (excluding 24 residues at the extreme termini of the protein).

J-deconvolution using maximum entropy reconstruction applied to 13C-13C solid-state cross-polarization magic-angle-spinning NMR of proteins.

Scalar couplings between 13C spins can impair both resolution and sensitivity in 13C-labeled preparations. It is demonstrated that deconvolution of magic-angle-spinning NMR data with maximum entropy (MaxEnt) reconstruction allows the removal of splittings due to J-couplings without expenses in sensitivity. A combination of MaxEnt reconstruction in t2 with selective pulses in t1 produces fully J-resolved data in both dimensions. The possibility to obtain J-resolved 13C-13C data without compromising the sensitivity is particularly important for solid-state NMR of "difficult" biological samples, like membrane proteins, where sacrifices in signal-to-noise are fatal. The method is demonstrated using preparations of alpha-spectrin SH3 domain (62 residues) as small test system and of outermembrane protein G as example of a membrane protein with higher molecular weight (281 residues). Both preparations were obtained using [2-13C]-glycerol as the carbon source during the bacterial growth.

Spectral editing: selection of methyl groups in multidimensional solid-state magic-angle spinning NMR.

A simple spectroscopic filtering technique is presented that may aid the assignment of (13)C and (15)N resonances of methyl-containing amino-acids in solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR. A filtering block that selects methyl resonances is introduced in two-dimensional (2D) (13)C-homonuclear and (15)N-(13)C heteronuclear correlation experiments. The 2D (13)C-(13)C correlation spectra are recorded with the methyl filter implemented prior to a (13)C-(13)C mixing step. It is shown that these methyl-filtered (13)C-homonuclear correlation spectra are instrumental in the assignment of C(delta) resonances of leucines by suppression of C(gamma)-C(delta) cross peaks. Further, a methyl filter is implemented prior to a (15)N-(13)C transferred-echo double resonance (TEDOR) exchange scheme to obtain 2D (15)N-(13)C heteronuclear correlation spectra. These experiments provide correlations between methyl groups and backbone amides. Some of the observed sequential (15)N-(13)C correlations form the basis for initial sequence-specific assignments of backbone signals of the outer-membrane protein G.

Solid-state magic-angle spinning NMR of outer-membrane protein G from Escherichia coli.

Uniformly 13C-,15N-labelled outer-membrane protein G (OmpG) from Escherichia coli was expressed for structural studies by solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR. Inclusion bodies of the recombinant, labelled protein were purified under denaturing conditions and refolded in detergent. OmpG was reconstituted into lipid bilayers and several milligrams of two-dimensional crystals were obtained. Solid-state MAS NMR spectra showed signals with an apparent line width of 80-120 Hz (including homonuclear scalar couplings). Signal patterns for several amino acids, including threonines, prolines and serines were resolved and identified in 2D proton-driven spin-diffusion (PDSD) spectra.