Structure Elucidation of Unknown Metabolites in Metabolomics by Combined NMR and MS/MS Prediction

PubMed Central

Hoyt, David W.; Nicora, Carrie D.; Kinmonth-Schultz, Hannah A.; Ward, Joy K.

2018-01-01

We introduce a cheminformatics approach that combines highly selective and orthogonal structure elucidation parameters; accurate mass, MS/MS (MS2), and NMR into a single analysis platform to accurately identify unknown metabolites in untargeted studies. The approach starts with an unknown LC-MS feature, and then combines the experimental MS/MS and NMR information of the unknown to effectively filter out the false positive candidate structures based on their predicted MS/MS and NMR spectra. We demonstrate the approach on a model mixture, and then we identify an uncatalogued secondary metabolite in Arabidopsis thaliana. The NMR/MS2 approach is well suited to the discovery of new metabolites in plant extracts, microbes, soils, dissolved organic matter, food extracts, biofuels, and biomedical samples, facilitating the identification of metabolites that are not present in experimental NMR and MS metabolomics databases. PMID:29342073

The potential for the indirect crystal structure verification of methyl glycosides based on acetates' parent structures: GIPAW and solid-state NMR approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szeleszczuk, Łukasz; Gubica, Tomasz; Zimniak, Andrzej; Pisklak, Dariusz M.; Dąbrowska, Kinga; Cyrański, Michał K.; Kańska, Marianna

2017-10-01

A convenient method for the indirect crystal structure verification of methyl glycosides was demonstrated. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction structures for methyl glycoside acetates were deacetylated and subsequently subjected to DFT calculations under periodic boundary conditions. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy served as a guide for calculations. A high level of accuracy of the modelled crystal structures of methyl glycosides was confirmed by comparison with published results of neutron diffraction study using RMSD method.

RNA unrestrained molecular dynamics ensemble improves agreement with experimental NMR data compared to single static structure: a test case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beckman, Robert A.; Moreland, David; Louise-May, Shirley; Humblet, Christine

2006-05-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides structural and dynamic information reflecting an average, often non-linear, of multiple solution-state conformations. Therefore, a single optimized structure derived from NMR refinement may be misleading if the NMR data actually result from averaging of distinct conformers. It is hypothesized that a conformational ensemble generated by a valid molecular dynamics (MD) simulation should be able to improve agreement with the NMR data set compared with the single optimized starting structure. Using a model system consisting of two sequence-related self-complementary ribonucleotide octamers for which NMR data was available, 0.3 ns particle mesh Ewald MD simulations were performed in the AMBER force field in the presence of explicit water and counterions. Agreement of the averaged properties of the molecular dynamics ensembles with NMR data such as homonuclear proton nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE)-based distance constraints, homonuclear proton and heteronuclear 1H-31P coupling constant ( J) data, and qualitative NMR information on hydrogen bond occupancy, was systematically assessed. Despite the short length of the simulation, the ensemble generated from it agreed with the NMR experimental constraints more completely than the single optimized NMR structure. This suggests that short unrestrained MD simulations may be of utility in interpreting NMR results. As expected, a 0.5 ns simulation utilizing a distance dependent dielectric did not improve agreement with the NMR data, consistent with its inferior exploration of conformational space as assessed by 2-D RMSD plots. Thus, ability to rapidly improve agreement with NMR constraints may be a sensitive diagnostic of the MD methods themselves.

Isolation and structure elucidation of the nucleoside antibiotic strepturidin from Streptomyces albus DSM 40763.

PubMed

Pesic, Alexander; Steinhaus, Britta; Kemper, Sebastian; Nachtigall, Jonny; Kutzner, Hans Jürgen; Höfle, Gerhard; Süssmuth, Roderich D

2014-06-01

The antibiotic strepturidin (1) was isolated from the microorganism Streptomyces albus DSM 40763, and its structure elucidated by spectroscopic methods and chemical degradation studies. The determination of the relative and absolute stereocenters was partially achieved using chiral GC/EI-MS analysis and microderivatization by acetal ring formation and subsequent 2D-NMR analysis of key (1)H,(1)H-NOESY NMR correlations and extraction of (1)H,(13)C coupling constants from (1)H,(13)C-HMBC NMR spectra. Based on these results, a biosynthesis model was proposed.

An ``Alternating-Curvature'' Model for the Nanometer-scale Structure of the Nafion Ionomer, Based on Backbone Properties Detected by NMR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt-Rohr, Klaus; Chen, Q.

2006-03-01

The perfluorinated ionomer, Nafion, which consists of a (-CF2-)n backbone and charged side branches, is useful as a proton exchange membrane in H2/O2 fuel cells. A modified model of the nanometer-scale structure of hydrated Nafion will be presented. It features hydrated ionic clusters familiar from some previous models, but is based most prominently on pronounced backbone rigidity between branch points and limited orientational correlation of local chain axes. These features have been revealed by solid-state NMR measurements, which take advantage of fast rotations of the backbones around their local axes. The resulting alternating curvature of the backbones towards the hydrated clusters also better satisfies the requirement of dense space filling in solids. Simulations based on this ``alternating curvature'' model reproduce orientational correlation data from NMR, as well as scattering features such as the ionomer peak and the I(q) ˜ 1/q power law at small q values, which can be attributed to modulated cylinders resulting from the chain stiffness. The shortcomings of previous models, including Gierke's cluster model and more recent lamellar or bundle models, in matching all requirements imposed by the experimental data will be discussed.

A new method of evaluating tight gas sands pore structure from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Liang; Mao, Zhi-qiang; Xie, Xiu-hong

2016-04-01

Tight gas sands always display such characteristics of ultra-low porosity, permeability, high irreducible water, low resistivity contrast, complicated pore structure and strong heterogeneity, these make that the conventional methods are invalid. Many effective gas bearing formations are considered as dry zones or water saturated layers, and cannot be identified and exploited. To improve tight gas sands evaluation, the best method is quantitative characterizing rock pore structure. The mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) curves are advantageous in predicting formation pore structure. However, the MICP experimental measurements are limited due to the environment and economy factors, this leads formation pore structure cannot be consecutively evaluated. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logs are considered to be promising in evaluating rock pore structure. Generally, to consecutively quantitatively evaluate tight gas sands pore structure, the best method is constructing pseudo Pc curves from NMR logs. In this paper, based on the analysis of lab experimental results for 20 core samples, which were drilled from tight gas sandstone reservoirs of Sichuan basin, and simultaneously applied for lab MICP and NMR measurements, the relationships of piecewise power function between nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) transverse relaxation T2 time and pore-throat radius Rc are established. A novel method, which is used to transform NMR reverse cumulative curve as pseudo capillary pressure (Pc) curve is proposed, and the corresponding model is established based on formation classification. By using this model, formation pseudo Pc curves can be consecutively synthesized. The pore throat radius distribution, and pore structure evaluation parameters, such as the average pore throat radius (Rm), the threshold pressure (Pd), the maximum pore throat radius (Rmax) and so on, can also be precisely extracted. After this method is extended into field applications, several tight gas sandstone reservoirs are processed, and the predicted results are compared with core derived results. Good consistency between evaluated results with core derived results illustrates the dependability of the proposed method. Comparing with the previous methods, this presented model is much more theoretical, and the applicability is much improved. Combining with the evaluated results, our target tight gas sands are well evaluated, and many potential gas-bearing layers are effectively identified.

Performance of the WeNMR CS-Rosetta3 web server in CASD-NMR.

PubMed

van der Schot, Gijs; Bonvin, Alexandre M J J

2015-08-01

We present here the performance of the WeNMR CS-Rosetta3 web server in CASD-NMR, the critical assessment of automated structure determination by NMR. The CS-Rosetta server uses only chemical shifts for structure prediction, in combination, when available, with a post-scoring procedure based on unassigned NOE lists (Huang et al. in J Am Chem Soc 127:1665-1674, 2005b, doi: 10.1021/ja047109h). We compare the original submissions using a previous version of the server based on Rosetta version 2.6 with recalculated targets using the new R3FP fragment picker for fragment selection and implementing a new annotation of prediction reliability (van der Schot et al. in J Biomol NMR 57:27-35, 2013, doi: 10.1007/s10858-013-9762-6), both implemented in the CS-Rosetta3 WeNMR server. In this second round of CASD-NMR, the WeNMR CS-Rosetta server has demonstrated a much better performance than in the first round since only converged targets were submitted. Further, recalculation of all CASD-NMR targets using the new version of the server demonstrates that our new annotation of prediction quality is giving reliable results. Predictions annotated as weak are often found to provide useful models, but only for a fraction of the sequence, and should therefore only be used with caution.

A model of the complex between human {beta}-microseminoprotein and CRISP-3 based on NMR data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ghasriani, Houman; Fernlund, Per; Udby, Lene

2009-01-09

{beta}-Microseminoprotein (MSP), a 10 kDa seminal plasma protein, forms a tight complex with cysteine-rich secretory protein 3 (CRISP-3) from granulocytes. The 3D structure of human MSP has been determined but there is as yet no 3D structure for CRISP-3. We have now studied the complex between human MSP and CRISP-3 with multidimensional NMR. {sup 15}N-HSQC spectra show substantial differences between free and complexed hMSP. Using several 3D-NMR spectra of triply labeled hMSP in complex with a recombinant N-terminal domain of CRISP-3, most of the backbone of hMSP could be assigned. The data show that only one side of hMSP, comprisingmore » {beta}-strands 1, 4, 5, and 8 are affected by the complex formation, indicating that {beta}-strands 1 and 8 form the main binding surface. Based on this we present a tentative structure for the hMSP-CRISP-3 complex using the known crystal structure of triflin as a model of CRISP-3.« less

Recommendations of the wwPDB NMR Validation Task Force

PubMed Central

Montelione, Gaetano T.; Nilges, Michael; Bax, Ad; Güntert, Peter; Herrmann, Torsten; Richardson, Jane S.; Schwieters, Charles; Vranken, Wim F.; Vuister, Geerten W.; Wishart, David S.; Berman, Helen M.; Kleywegt, Gerard J.; Markley, John L.

2013-01-01

As methods for analysis of biomolecular structure and dynamics using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) continue to advance, the resulting 3D structures, chemical shifts, and other NMR data are broadly impacting biology, chemistry, and medicine. Structure model assessment is a critical area of NMR methods development, and is an essential component of the process of making these structures accessible and useful to the wider scientific community. For these reasons, the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) has convened an NMR Validation Task Force (NMR-VTF) to work with the wwPDB partners in developing metrics and policies for biomolecular NMR data harvesting, structure representation, and structure quality assessment. This paper summarizes the recommendations of the NMR-VTF, and lays the groundwork for future work in developing standards and metrics for biomolecular NMR structure quality assessment. PMID:24010715

Application of the AMPLE cluster-and-truncate approach to NMR structures for molecular replacement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bibby, Jaclyn; Keegan, Ronan M.; Mayans, Olga

2013-11-01

Processing of NMR structures for molecular replacement by AMPLE works well. AMPLE is a program developed for clustering and truncating ab initio protein structure predictions into search models for molecular replacement. Here, it is shown that its core cluster-and-truncate methods also work well for processing NMR ensembles into search models. Rosetta remodelling helps to extend success to NMR structures bearing low sequence identity or high structural divergence from the target protein. Potential future routes to improved performance are considered and practical, general guidelines on using AMPLE are provided.

Modeling an in-register, parallel "iowa" aβ fibril structure using solid-state NMR data from labeled samples with rosetta.

PubMed

Sgourakis, Nikolaos G; Yau, Wai-Ming; Qiang, Wei

2015-01-06

Determining the structures of amyloid fibrils is an important first step toward understanding the molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases. For β-amyloid (Aβ) fibrils, conventional solid-state NMR structure determination using uniform labeling is limited by extensive peak overlap. We describe the characterization of a distinct structural polymorph of Aβ using solid-state NMR, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Rosetta model building. First, the overall fibril arrangement is established using mass-per-length measurements from TEM. Then, the fibril backbone arrangement, stacking registry, and "steric zipper" core interactions are determined using a number of solid-state NMR techniques on sparsely (13)C-labeled samples. Finally, we perform Rosetta structure calculations with an explicitly symmetric representation of the system. We demonstrate the power of the hybrid Rosetta/NMR approach by modeling the in-register, parallel "Iowa" mutant (D23N) at high resolution (1.2Å backbone rmsd). The final models are validated using an independent set of NMR experiments that confirm key features. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NMRe: a web server for NMR protein structure refinement with high-quality structure validation scores.

PubMed

Ryu, Hyojung; Lim, GyuTae; Sung, Bong Hyun; Lee, Jinhyuk

2016-02-15

Protein structure refinement is a necessary step for the study of protein function. In particular, some nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures are of lower quality than X-ray crystallographic structures. Here, we present NMRe, a web-based server for NMR structure refinement. The previously developed knowledge-based energy function STAP (Statistical Torsion Angle Potential) was used for NMRe refinement. With STAP, NMRe provides two refinement protocols using two types of distance restraints. If a user provides NOE (Nuclear Overhauser Effect) data, the refinement is performed with the NOE distance restraints as a conventional NMR structure refinement. Additionally, NMRe generates NOE-like distance restraints based on the inter-hydrogen distances derived from the input structure. The efficiency of NMRe refinement was validated on 20 NMR structures. Most of the quality assessment scores of the refined NMR structures were better than those of the original structures. The refinement results are provided as a three-dimensional structure view, a secondary structure scheme, and numerical and graphical structure validation scores. NMRe is available at http://psb.kobic.re.kr/nmre/. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Tunable Thermosetting Epoxies Based on Fractionated and Well-Characterized Lignins.

PubMed

Gioia, Claudio; Lo Re, Giada; Lawoko, Martin; Berglund, Lars

2018-03-21

Here we report the synthesis of thermosetting resins from low molar mass Kraft lignin fractions of high functionality, refined by solvent extraction. Such fractions were fully characterized by 31 P NMR, 2D-HSQC NMR, SEC, and DSC in order to obtain a detailed description of the structures. Reactive oxirane moieties were introduced on the lignin backbone under mild reaction conditions and quantified by simple 1 H NMR analysis. The modified fractions were chemically cross-linked with a flexible polyether diamine ( M n ≈ 2000), in order to obtain epoxy thermosets. Epoxies from different lignin fractions, studied by DSC, DMA, tensile tests, and SEM, demonstrated substantial differences in terms of thermo-mechanical properties. For the first time, strong relationships between lignin structures and epoxy properties could be demonstrated. The suggested approach provides unprecedented possibilities to tune network structure and properties of thermosets based on real lignin fractions, rather than model compounds.

Characterizing RNA ensembles from NMR data with kinematic models

PubMed Central

Fonseca, Rasmus; Pachov, Dimitar V.; Bernauer, Julie; van den Bedem, Henry

2014-01-01

Functional mechanisms of biomolecules often manifest themselves precisely in transient conformational substates. Researchers have long sought to structurally characterize dynamic processes in non-coding RNA, combining experimental data with computer algorithms. However, adequate exploration of conformational space for these highly dynamic molecules, starting from static crystal structures, remains challenging. Here, we report a new conformational sampling procedure, KGSrna, which can efficiently probe the native ensemble of RNA molecules in solution. We found that KGSrna ensembles accurately represent the conformational landscapes of 3D RNA encoded by NMR proton chemical shifts. KGSrna resolves motionally averaged NMR data into structural contributions; when coupled with residual dipolar coupling data, a KGSrna ensemble revealed a previously uncharacterized transient excited state of the HIV-1 trans-activation response element stem–loop. Ensemble-based interpretations of averaged data can aid in formulating and testing dynamic, motion-based hypotheses of functional mechanisms in RNAs with broad implications for RNA engineering and therapeutic intervention. PMID:25114056

Extended Czjzek model applied to NMR parameter distributions in sodium metaphosphate glass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasconcelos, Filipe; Cristol, Sylvain; Paul, Jean-François; Delevoye, Laurent; Mauri, Francesco; Charpentier, Thibault; Le Caër, Gérard

2013-06-01

The extended Czjzek model (ECM) is applied to the distribution of NMR parameters of a simple glass model (sodium metaphosphate, NaPO3) obtained by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Accurate NMR tensors, electric field gradient (EFG) and chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) are calculated from density functional theory (DFT) within the well-established PAW/GIPAW framework. The theoretical results are compared to experimental high-resolution solid-state NMR data and are used to validate the considered structural model. The distributions of the calculated coupling constant CQ ∝ |Vzz| and the asymmetry parameter ηQ that characterize the quadrupolar interaction are discussed in terms of structural considerations with the help of a simple point charge model. Finally, the ECM analysis is shown to be relevant for studying the distribution of CSA tensor parameters and gives new insight into the structural characterization of disordered systems by solid-state NMR.

Extended Czjzek model applied to NMR parameter distributions in sodium metaphosphate glass.

PubMed

Vasconcelos, Filipe; Cristol, Sylvain; Paul, Jean-François; Delevoye, Laurent; Mauri, Francesco; Charpentier, Thibault; Le Caër, Gérard

2013-06-26

The extended Czjzek model (ECM) is applied to the distribution of NMR parameters of a simple glass model (sodium metaphosphate, NaPO3) obtained by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Accurate NMR tensors, electric field gradient (EFG) and chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) are calculated from density functional theory (DFT) within the well-established PAW/GIPAW framework. The theoretical results are compared to experimental high-resolution solid-state NMR data and are used to validate the considered structural model. The distributions of the calculated coupling constant C(Q) is proportional to |V(zz)| and the asymmetry parameter η(Q) that characterize the quadrupolar interaction are discussed in terms of structural considerations with the help of a simple point charge model. Finally, the ECM analysis is shown to be relevant for studying the distribution of CSA tensor parameters and gives new insight into the structural characterization of disordered systems by solid-state NMR.

From crystalline to amorphous calcium pyrophosphates: A solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance perspective.

PubMed

Gras, Pierre; Baker, Annabelle; Combes, Christèle; Rey, Christian; Sarda, Stéphanie; Wright, Adrian J; Smith, Mark E; Hanna, John V; Gervais, Christel; Laurencin, Danielle; Bonhomme, Christian

2016-02-01

Hydrated calcium pyrophosphates (CPP, Ca2P2O7·nH2O) are a fundamental family of materials among osteoarticular pathologic calcifications. In this contribution, a comprehensive multinuclear NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) study of four crystalline and two amorphous phases of this family is presented. (1)H, (31)P and (43)Ca MAS (Magic Angle Spinning) NMR spectra were recorded, leading to informative fingerprints characterizing each compound. In particular, different (1)H and (43)Ca solid state NMR signatures were observed for the amorphous phases, depending on the synthetic procedure used. The NMR parameters of the crystalline phases were determined using the GIPAW (Gauge Including Projected Augmented Wave) DFT approach, based on first-principles calculations. In some cases, relaxed structures were found to improve the agreement between experimental and calculated values, demonstrating the importance of proton positions and pyrophosphate local geometry in this particular NMR crystallography approach. Such calculations serve as a basis for the future ab initio modeling of the amorphous CPP phases. The general concept of NMR crystallography is applied to the detailed study of calcium pyrophosphates (CPP), whether hydrated or not, and whether crystalline or amorphous. CPP are a fundamental family of materials among osteoarticular pathologic calcifications. Their prevalence increases with age, impacting on 17.5% of the population after the age of 80. They are frequently involved or associated with acute articular arthritis such as pseudogout. Current treatments are mainly directed at relieving the symptoms of joint inflammation but not at inhibiting CPP formation nor at dissolving these crystals. The combination of advanced NMR techniques, modeling and DFT based calculation of NMR parameters allows new original insights in the detailed structural description of this important class of biomaterials. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Identification and characterization of a novel high affinity metal-binding site in the hammerhead ribozyme.

PubMed Central

Hansen, M R; Simorre, J P; Hanson, P; Mokler, V; Bellon, L; Beigelman, L; Pardi, A

1999-01-01

A novel metal-binding site has been identified in the hammerhead ribozyme by 31P NMR. The metal-binding site is associated with the A13 phosphate in the catalytic core of the hammerhead ribozyme and is distinct from any previously identified metal-binding sites. 31P NMR spectroscopy was used to measure the metal-binding affinity for this site and leads to an apparent dissociation constant of 250-570 microM at 25 degrees C for binding of a single Mg2+ ion. The NMR data also show evidence of a structural change at this site upon metal binding and these results are compared with previous data on metal-induced structural changes in the core of the hammerhead ribozyme. These NMR data were combined with the X-ray structure of the hammerhead ribozyme (Pley HW, Flaherty KM, McKay DB. 1994. Nature 372:68-74) to model RNA ligands involved in binding the metal at this A13 site. In this model, the A13 metal-binding site is structurally similar to the previously identified A(g) metal-binding site and illustrates the symmetrical nature of the tandem G x A base pairs in domain 2 of the hammerhead ribozyme. These results demonstrate that 31P NMR represents an important method for both identification and characterization of metal-binding sites in nucleic acids. PMID:10445883

Determination of the conformational ensemble of the TAR RNA by X-ray scattering interferometry

PubMed Central

Walker, Peter

2017-01-01

Abstract The conformational ensembles of structured RNA's are crucial for biological function, but they remain difficult to elucidate experimentally. We demonstrate with HIV-1 TAR RNA that X-ray scattering interferometry (XSI) can be used to determine RNA conformational ensembles. X-ray scattering interferometry (XSI) is based on site-specifically labeling RNA with pairs of heavy atom probes, and precisely measuring the distribution of inter-probe distances that arise from a heterogeneous mixture of RNA solution structures. We show that the XSI-based model of the TAR RNA ensemble closely resembles an independent model derived from NMR-RDC data. Further, we show how the TAR RNA ensemble changes shape at different salt concentrations. Finally, we demonstrate that a single hybrid model of the TAR RNA ensemble simultaneously fits both the XSI and NMR-RDC data set and show that XSI can be combined with NMR-RDC to further improve the quality of the determined ensemble. The results suggest that XSI-RNA will be a powerful approach for characterizing the solution conformational ensembles of RNAs and RNA-protein complexes under diverse solution conditions. PMID:28108663

Analysis of the interface variability in NMR structure ensembles of protein-protein complexes.

PubMed

Calvanese, Luisa; D'Auria, Gabriella; Vangone, Anna; Falcigno, Lucia; Oliva, Romina

2016-06-01

NMR structures consist in ensembles of conformers, all satisfying the experimental restraints, which exhibit a certain degree of structural variability. We analyzed here the interface in NMR ensembles of protein-protein heterodimeric complexes and found it to span a wide range of different conservations. The different exhibited conservations do not simply correlate with the size of the systems/interfaces, and are most probably the result of an interplay between different factors, including the quality of experimental data and the intrinsic complex flexibility. In any case, this information is not to be missed when NMR structures of protein-protein complexes are analyzed; especially considering that, as we also show here, the first NMR conformer is usually not the one which best reflects the overall interface. To quantify the interface conservation and to analyze it, we used an approach originally conceived for the analysis and ranking of ensembles of docking models, which has now been extended to directly deal with NMR ensembles. We propose this approach, based on the conservation of the inter-residue contacts at the interface, both for the analysis of the interface in whole ensembles of NMR complexes and for the possible selection of a single conformer as the best representative of the overall interface. In order to make the analyses automatic and fast, we made the protocol available as a web tool at: https://www.molnac.unisa.it/BioTools/consrank/consrank-nmr.html. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards Automated Structure-Based NMR Resonance Assignment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Richard; Gao, Xin; Li, Ming

We propose a general framework for solving the structure-based NMR backbone resonance assignment problem. The core is a novel 0-1 integer programming model that can start from a complete or partial assignment, generate multiple assignments, and model not only the assignment of spins to residues, but also pairwise dependencies consisting of pairs of spins to pairs of residues. It is still a challenge for automated resonance assignment systems to perform the assignment directly from spectra without any manual intervention. To test the feasibility of this for structure-based assignment, we integrated our system with our automated peak picking and sequence-based resonance assignment system to obtain an assignment for the protein TM1112 with 91% recall and 99% precision without manual intervention. Since using a known structure has the potential to allow one to use only N-labeled NMR data and avoid the added expense of using C-labeled data, we work towards the goal of automated structure-based assignment using only such labeled data. Our system reduced the assignment error of Xiong-Pandurangan-Bailey-Kellogg's contact replacement (CR) method, which to our knowledge is the most error-tolerant method for this problem, by 5 folds on average. By using an iterative algorithm, our system has the added capability of using the NOESY data to correct assignment errors due to errors in predicting the amino acid and secondary structure type of each spin system. On a publicly available data set for Ubiquitin, where the type prediction accuracy is 83%, we achieved 91% assignment accuracy, compared to the 59% accuracy that was obtained without correcting for typing errors.

Models of metal binding structures in fulvic acid from the Suwannee River, Georgia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leenheer, J.A.; Brown, G.K.; MacCarthy, P.; Cabaniss, S.E.

1998-01-01

Fulvic acid, isolated from the Suwannee River, Georgia, was assessed for its ability to bind Ca2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+ ions at pH 6 before and after extensive fractionation that was designed to reveal the nature of metal binding functional groups. The binding constant for Ca2+ ion had the greatest increase of all the ions in a metal binding fraction that was selected for intensive characterization for the purpose of building quantitative average model structures. The 'metal binding' fraction was characterized by quantitative 13C NMR, 1H NMR, and FT-1R spectrometry and elemental, titrimetric, and molecular weight determinations. The characterization data revealed that carboxyl groups were clustered in short- chain aliphatic dibasic acid structures. The Ca2+ binding data suggested that ether-substituted oxysuccinic acid structures are good models for the metal binding sites at pH 6. Structural models were derived based upon oxidation and photolytic rearrangements of cutin, lignin, and tannin precursors. These structural models rich in substituted dibasic acid structures revealed polydentate binding sites with the potential for both inner-sphere and outer-sphere type binding. The majority of the fulvic acid molecule was involved with metal binding rather than a small substructural unit.Fulvic acid, isolated from the Suwannee River, Georgia, was assessed for its ability to bind Ca2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+ ions at pH 6 before and after extensive fractionation that was designed to reveal the nature of metal binding functional groups. The binding constant for Ca2+ ion had the greatest increase of all the ions in a metal binding fraction that was selected for intensive characterization for the purpose of building quantitative average model structures. The `metal binding' fraction was characterized by quantitative 13C NMR, 1H NMR, and FT-IR spectrometry and elemental, titrimetric, and molecular weight determinations. The characterization data revealed that carboxyl groups were clustered in short-chain aliphatic dibasic acid structures. The Ca2+ binding data suggested that ether-substituted oxysuccinic acid structures are good models for the metal binding sites at pH 6. Structural models were derived based upon oxidation and photolytic rearrangements of cutin, lignin, and tannin precursors. These structural models rich in substituted dibasic acid structures revealed polydentate binding sites with the potential for both inner-sphere and outer-sphere type binding. The majority of the fulvic acid molecule was involved with metal binding rather than a small substructural unit.

An overview of tools for the validation of protein NMR structures.

PubMed

Vuister, Geerten W; Fogh, Rasmus H; Hendrickx, Pieter M S; Doreleijers, Jurgen F; Gutmanas, Aleksandras

2014-04-01

Biomolecular structures at atomic resolution present a valuable resource for the understanding of biology. NMR spectroscopy accounts for 11% of all structures in the PDB repository. In response to serious problems with the accuracy of some of the NMR-derived structures and in order to facilitate proper analysis of the experimental models, a number of program suites are available. We discuss nine of these tools in this review: PROCHECK-NMR, PSVS, GLM-RMSD, CING, Molprobity, Vivaldi, ResProx, NMR constraints analyzer and QMEAN. We evaluate these programs for their ability to assess the structural quality, restraints and their violations, chemical shifts, peaks and the handling of multi-model NMR ensembles. We document both the input required by the programs and output they generate. To discuss their relative merits we have applied the tools to two representative examples from the PDB: a small, globular monomeric protein (Staphylococcal nuclease from S. aureus, PDB entry 2kq3) and a small, symmetric homodimeric protein (a region of human myosin-X, PDB entry 2lw9).

Solution NMR Spectroscopy in Target-Based Drug Discovery.

PubMed

Li, Yan; Kang, Congbao

2017-08-23

Solution NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool to study protein structures and dynamics under physiological conditions. This technique is particularly useful in target-based drug discovery projects as it provides protein-ligand binding information in solution. Accumulated studies have shown that NMR will play more and more important roles in multiple steps of the drug discovery process. In a fragment-based drug discovery process, ligand-observed and protein-observed NMR spectroscopy can be applied to screen fragments with low binding affinities. The screened fragments can be further optimized into drug-like molecules. In combination with other biophysical techniques, NMR will guide structure-based drug discovery. In this review, we describe the possible roles of NMR spectroscopy in drug discovery. We also illustrate the challenges encountered in the drug discovery process. We include several examples demonstrating the roles of NMR in target-based drug discoveries such as hit identification, ranking ligand binding affinities, and mapping the ligand binding site. We also speculate the possible roles of NMR in target engagement based on recent processes in in-cell NMR spectroscopy.

Nanodisc-Targeted STD NMR Spectroscopy Reveals Atomic Details of Ligand Binding to Lipid Environments.

PubMed

Muñoz-García, Juan C; Inacio Dos Reis, Rosana; Taylor, Richard J; Henry, Alistair J; Watts, Anthony

2018-05-18

Saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy is one of the most popular ligand-based NMR techniques for the study of protein-ligand interactions. This is due to its robustness and the fact that it is focused on the signals of the ligand, without any need for NMR information on the macromolecular target. This technique is most commonly applied to systems involving different types of ligands (e.g., small organic molecules, carbohydrates or lipids) and a protein as the target, in which the latter is selectively saturated. However, only a few examples have been reported where membrane mimetics are the macromolecular binding partners. Here, we have employed STD NMR spectroscopy to investigate the interactions of the neurotransmitter dopamine with mimetics of lipid bilayers, such as nanodiscs, by saturation of the latter. In particular, the interactions between dopamine and model lipid nanodiscs formed either from charged or zwitterionic lipids have been resolved at the atomic level. The results, in agreement with previous isothermal titration calorimetry studies, show that dopamine preferentially binds to negatively charged model membranes, but also provide detailed atomic insights into the mode of interaction of dopamine with membrane mimetics. Our findings provide relevant structural information for the design of lipid-based drug carriers of dopamine and its structural analogues and are of general applicability to other systems. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Fiber Diffraction Data Indicate a Hollow Core for the Alzheimer’s Aβ Three-fold Symmetric Fibril

PubMed Central

McDonald, Michele; Box, Hayden; Bian, Wen; Kendall, Amy; Tycko, Robert; Stubbs, Gerald

2012-01-01

Amyloid β protein (Aβ), the principal component of the extracellular plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, forms fibrils well suited to structural study by X-ray fiber diffraction. Fiber diffraction patterns from the 40-residue form Aβ(1–40) confirm a number of features of a three-fold symmetric Aβ model from solid state NMR, but suggest that the fibrils have a hollow core, not present in the original ssNMR models. Diffraction patterns calculated from a revised hollow three-fold model with a more regular β-sheet structure are in much better agreement with the observed diffraction data than patterns calculated from the original ssNMR model. Refinement of a hollow-core model against ssNMR data led to a revised ssNMR model, similar to the fiber diffraction model. PMID:22903058

NMR approaches in structure-based lead discovery: Recent developments and new frontiers for targeting multi-protein complexes

PubMed Central

Dias, David M.; Ciulli, Alessio

2014-01-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a pivotal method for structure-based and fragment-based lead discovery because it is one of the most robust techniques to provide information on protein structure, dynamics and interaction at an atomic level in solution. Nowadays, in most ligand screening cascades, NMR-based methods are applied to identify and structurally validate small molecule binding. These can be high-throughput and are often used synergistically with other biophysical assays. Here, we describe current state-of-the-art in the portfolio of available NMR-based experiments that are used to aid early-stage lead discovery. We then focus on multi-protein complexes as targets and how NMR spectroscopy allows studying of interactions within the high molecular weight assemblies that make up a vast fraction of the yet untargeted proteome. Finally, we give our perspective on how currently available methods could build an improved strategy for drug discovery against such challenging targets. PMID:25175337

NMR crystallography of α-poly(L-lactide).

PubMed

Pawlak, Tomasz; Jaworska, Magdalena; Potrzebowski, Marek J

2013-03-07

A complementary approach that combines NMR measurements, analysis of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data and advanced quantum mechanical calculations was employed to study the α-polymorph of L-polylactide. Such a strategy, which is known as NMR crystallography, to the best of our knowledge, is used here for the first time for the fine refinement of the crystal structure of a synthetic polymer. The GIPAW method was used to compute the NMR shielding parameters for the different models, which included the α-PLLA structure obtained by 2-dimensional wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) at -150 °C (model M1) and at 25 °C (model M2), neutron diffraction (WAND) measurements (model M3) and the fully optimized geometry of the PLLA chains in the unit cell with defined size (model M4). The influence of changes in the chain conformation on the (13)C σ(ii) NMR shielding parameters is shown. The correlation between the σ(ii) and δ(ii) values for the M1-M4 models revealed that the M4 model provided the best fit. Moreover, a comparison of the experimental (13)C NMR spectra with the spectra calculated using the M1-M4 models strongly supports the data for the M4 model. The GIPAW method, via verification using NMR measurements, was shown to be capable of the fine refinement of the crystal structures of polymers when coarse X-ray diffraction data for powdered samples are available.

Combining NMR and X-ray crystallography in fragment-based drug discovery: discovery of highly potent and selective BACE-1 inhibitors.

PubMed

Wyss, Daniel F; Wang, Yu-Sen; Eaton, Hugh L; Strickland, Corey; Voigt, Johannes H; Zhu, Zhaoning; Stamford, Andrew W

2012-01-01

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has become increasingly popular over the last decade. We review here how we have used highly structure-driven fragment-based approaches to complement more traditional lead discovery to tackle high priority targets and those struggling for leads. Combining biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray crystallography, and molecular modeling with structure-assisted chemistry and innovative biology as an integrated approach for FBDD can solve very difficult problems, as illustrated in this chapter. Here, a successful FBDD campaign is described that has allowed the development of a clinical candidate for BACE-1, a challenging CNS drug target. Crucial to this achievement were the initial identification of a ligand-efficient isothiourea fragment through target-based NMR screening and the determination of its X-ray crystal structure in complex with BACE-1, which revealed an extensive H-bond network with the two active site aspartate residues. This detailed 3D structural information then enabled the design and validation of novel, chemically stable and accessible heterocyclic acylguanidines as aspartic acid protease inhibitor cores. Structure-assisted fragment hit-to-lead optimization yielded iminoheterocyclic BACE-1 inhibitors that possess desirable molecular properties as potential therapeutic agents to test the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease in a clinical setting.

5-Fluoro pyrimidines: labels to probe DNA and RNA secondary structures by 1D 19F NMR spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Puffer, Barbara; Kreutz, Christoph; Rieder, Ulrike; Ebert, Marc-Olivier; Konrat, Robert; Micura, Ronald

2009-01-01

19F NMR spectroscopy has proved to be a valuable tool to monitor functionally important conformational transitions of nucleic acids. Here, we present a systematic investigation on the application of 5-fluoro pyrimidines to probe DNA and RNA secondary structures. Oligonucleotides with the propensity to adapt secondary structure equilibria were chosen as model systems and analyzed by 1D 19F and 1H NMR spectroscopy. A comparison with the unmodified analogs revealed that the equilibrium characteristics of the bistable DNA and RNA oligonucleotides were hardly affected upon fluorine substitution at C5 of pyrimidines. This observation was in accordance with UV spectroscopic melting experiments which demonstrated that single 5-fluoro substitutions in double helices lead to comparable thermodynamic stabilities. Thus, 5-fluoro pyrimidine labeling of DNA and RNA can be reliably applied for NMR based nucleic acid secondary structure evaluation. Furthermore, we developed a facile synthetic route towards 5-fluoro cytidine phosphoramidites that enables their convenient site-specific incorporation into oligonucleotides by solid-phase synthesis. PMID:19843610

5-Fluoro pyrimidines: labels to probe DNA and RNA secondary structures by 1D 19F NMR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Puffer, Barbara; Kreutz, Christoph; Rieder, Ulrike; Ebert, Marc-Olivier; Konrat, Robert; Micura, Ronald

2009-12-01

(19)F NMR spectroscopy has proved to be a valuable tool to monitor functionally important conformational transitions of nucleic acids. Here, we present a systematic investigation on the application of 5-fluoro pyrimidines to probe DNA and RNA secondary structures. Oligonucleotides with the propensity to adapt secondary structure equilibria were chosen as model systems and analyzed by 1D (19)F and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. A comparison with the unmodified analogs revealed that the equilibrium characteristics of the bistable DNA and RNA oligonucleotides were hardly affected upon fluorine substitution at C5 of pyrimidines. This observation was in accordance with UV spectroscopic melting experiments which demonstrated that single 5-fluoro substitutions in double helices lead to comparable thermodynamic stabilities. Thus, 5-fluoro pyrimidine labeling of DNA and RNA can be reliably applied for NMR based nucleic acid secondary structure evaluation. Furthermore, we developed a facile synthetic route towards 5-fluoro cytidine phosphoramidites that enables their convenient site-specific incorporation into oligonucleotides by solid-phase synthesis.

Precursor Ion–Ion Aggregation in the Brust–Schiffrin Synthesis of Alkanethiol Nanoparticles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Graham, Trent R.; Renslow, Ryan; Govind, Niranjan

Tetraoctylammonium bromide is used in the Brust-Schiffrin nanoparticle synthesis to phase-transfer chloroaurate ions from the aqueous phase to the organic phase. While it is established that the quaternary ammonium complex self-associates in the organic phase, the actual self-assembled structure is debated. We have confirmed the presence of ion-ion aggregates through quantitative 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR), pulsed field gradient, diffusion-ordered NMR (DOSY-NMR) and density functional theory (DFT) based NMR shift calculations. Tetraoctylammonium complexes (TOA-X, where X = Br, Cl, AuCl4-xBrx, AuBr4/Br and AuCl4-xBrx/Br) were investigated to measure the extraction of water into the organic phase. 1H NMR and DFTmore » based NMR shielding calculations indicated that deshielding of water is due to hydration of the anion and not the formation of the aqueous core of a reverse micelle. DOSYNMR results were consistent with the formation of small aggregates at typical Brust-Schiffrin synthesis concentrations. The extent of aggregation correlated with the size and electronegativity of the anion and was analyzed with a modified, isodesmic, indefinite aggregation model. The substitution of bromoauric acid for chlororoauric acid at conditions emulating the Brust-Schiffrin synthesis increased the aggregation of the quaternary ammonium complex. The increase in aggregation corresponded with an increase in the size of the produced nanoparticles from 4.3 to 4.6 nm. Understanding the selfassembly and supramolecular structure of precursors in the Brust-Schiffrin synthesis will enable further refinement of models that predict the growth of noble metal nanoparticles.« less

Calcium environment in silicate and aluminosilicate glasses probed by ⁴³Ca MQMAS NMR experiments and MD-GIPAW calculations.

PubMed

Gambuzzi, Elisa; Pedone, Alfonso; Menziani, Maria Cristina; Angeli, Frédéric; Florian, Pierre; Charpentier, Thibault

2015-01-01

⁴³Ca MQMAS NMR spectra of three silica-based glasses in which Ca²⁺ ions play different structural roles have been collected and processed in order to extract the underlying NMR parameter distributions. The NMR parameters have been interpreted with the help of molecular dynamics simulations and DFT-GIPAW calculations. This synergetic experimental-computational approach has allowed us to investigate the Ca environment, to estimate Ca coordination numbers from MD-derived models, and to push further the discussion about ⁴³Ca NMR sensitivity to the first and second coordination spheres: ⁴³Ca δiso and Ca-O distance can be successfully correlated as a function of Ca coordination number. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NMR Crystallography of Enzyme Active Sites: Probing Chemically-Detailed, Three-Dimensional Structure in Tryptophan Synthase

PubMed Central

Dunn, Michael F.

2013-01-01

Conspectus NMR crystallography – the synergistic combination of X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and computational chemistry – offers unprecedented insight into three-dimensional, chemically-detailed structure. From its initial role in refining diffraction data of organic and inorganic solids, NMR crystallography is now being developed for application to active sites in biomolecules, where it reveals chemically-rich detail concerning the interactions between enzyme site residues and the reacting substrate that is not achievable when X-ray, NMR, or computational methodologies are applied in isolation. For example, typical X-ray crystal structures (1.5 to 2.5 Å resolution) of enzyme-bound intermediates identify possible hydrogen-bonding interactions between site residues and substrate, but do not directly identify the protonation state of either. Solid-state NMR can provide chemical shifts for selected atoms of enzyme-substrate complexes, but without a larger structural framework in which to interpret them, only empirical correlations with local chemical structure are possible. Ab initio calculations and molecular mechanics can build models for enzymatic processes, but rely on chemical details that must be specified. Together, however, X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and computational chemistry can provide consistent and testable models for structure and function of enzyme active sites: X-ray crystallography provides a coarse framework upon which models of the active site can be developed using computational chemistry; these models can be distinguished by comparison of their calculated NMR chemical shifts with the results of solid-state NMR spectroscopy experiments. Conceptually, each technique is a puzzle piece offering a generous view of the big picture. Only when correctly pieced together, however, can they reveal the big picture at highest resolution. In this Account, we detail our first steps in the development of NMR crystallography for application to enzyme catalysis. We begin with a brief introduction to NMR crystallography and then define the process that we have employed to probe the active site in the β-subunit of tryptophan synthase with unprecedented atomic-level resolution. This approach has resulted in a novel structural hypothesis for the protonation state of the quinonoid intermediate in tryptophan synthase and its surprising role in directing the next step in the catalysis of L-Trp formation. PMID:23537227

Determination of the conformational ensemble of the TAR RNA by X-ray scattering interferometry.

PubMed

Shi, Xuesong; Walker, Peter; Harbury, Pehr B; Herschlag, Daniel

2017-05-05

The conformational ensembles of structured RNA's are crucial for biological function, but they remain difficult to elucidate experimentally. We demonstrate with HIV-1 TAR RNA that X-ray scattering interferometry (XSI) can be used to determine RNA conformational ensembles. X-ray scattering interferometry (XSI) is based on site-specifically labeling RNA with pairs of heavy atom probes, and precisely measuring the distribution of inter-probe distances that arise from a heterogeneous mixture of RNA solution structures. We show that the XSI-based model of the TAR RNA ensemble closely resembles an independent model derived from NMR-RDC data. Further, we show how the TAR RNA ensemble changes shape at different salt concentrations. Finally, we demonstrate that a single hybrid model of the TAR RNA ensemble simultaneously fits both the XSI and NMR-RDC data set and show that XSI can be combined with NMR-RDC to further improve the quality of the determined ensemble. The results suggest that XSI-RNA will be a powerful approach for characterizing the solution conformational ensembles of RNAs and RNA-protein complexes under diverse solution conditions. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Identification of DNA primase inhibitors via a combined fragment-based and virtual screening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ilic, Stefan; Akabayov, Sabine R.; Arthanari, Haribabu; Wagner, Gerhard; Richardson, Charles C.; Akabayov, Barak

2016-11-01

The structural differences between bacterial and human primases render the former an excellent target for drug design. Here we describe a technique for selecting small molecule inhibitors of the activity of T7 DNA primase, an ideal model for bacterial primases due to their common structural and functional features. Using NMR screening, fragment molecules that bind T7 primase were identified and then exploited in virtual filtration to select larger molecules from the ZINC database. The molecules were docked to the primase active site using the available primase crystal structure and ranked based on their predicted binding energies to identify the best candidates for functional and structural investigations. Biochemical assays revealed that some of the molecules inhibit T7 primase-dependent DNA replication. The binding mechanism was delineated via NMR spectroscopy. Our approach, which combines fragment based and virtual screening, is rapid and cost effective and can be applied to other targets.

NMR-based automated protein structure determination.

PubMed

Würz, Julia M; Kazemi, Sina; Schmidt, Elena; Bagaria, Anurag; Güntert, Peter

2017-08-15

NMR spectra analysis for protein structure determination can now in many cases be performed by automated computational methods. This overview of the computational methods for NMR protein structure analysis presents recent automated methods for signal identification in multidimensional NMR spectra, sequence-specific resonance assignment, collection of conformational restraints, and structure calculation, as implemented in the CYANA software package. These algorithms are sufficiently reliable and integrated into one software package to enable the fully automated structure determination of proteins starting from NMR spectra without manual interventions or corrections at intermediate steps, with an accuracy of 1-2 Å backbone RMSD in comparison with manually solved reference structures. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NMR approaches in structure-based lead discovery: recent developments and new frontiers for targeting multi-protein complexes.

PubMed

Dias, David M; Ciulli, Alessio

2014-01-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a pivotal method for structure-based and fragment-based lead discovery because it is one of the most robust techniques to provide information on protein structure, dynamics and interaction at an atomic level in solution. Nowadays, in most ligand screening cascades, NMR-based methods are applied to identify and structurally validate small molecule binding. These can be high-throughput and are often used synergistically with other biophysical assays. Here, we describe current state-of-the-art in the portfolio of available NMR-based experiments that are used to aid early-stage lead discovery. We then focus on multi-protein complexes as targets and how NMR spectroscopy allows studying of interactions within the high molecular weight assemblies that make up a vast fraction of the yet untargeted proteome. Finally, we give our perspective on how currently available methods could build an improved strategy for drug discovery against such challenging targets. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Symmetry based frequency domain processing to remove harmonic noise from surface nuclear magnetic resonance measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hein, Annette; Larsen, Jakob Juul; Parsekian, Andrew D.

2017-02-01

Surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a unique geophysical method due to its direct sensitivity to water. A key limitation to overcome is the difficulty of making surface NMR measurements in environments with anthropogenic electromagnetic noise, particularly constant frequency sources such as powerlines. Here we present a method of removing harmonic noise by utilizing frequency domain symmetry of surface NMR signals to reconstruct portions of the spectrum corrupted by frequency-domain noise peaks. This method supplements the existing NMR processing workflow and is applicable after despiking, coherent noise cancellation, and stacking. The symmetry based correction is simple, grounded in mathematical theory describing NMR signals, does not introduce errors into the data set, and requires no prior knowledge about the harmonics. Modelling and field examples show that symmetry based noise removal reduces the effects of harmonics. In one modelling example, symmetry based noise removal improved signal-to-noise ratio in the data by 10 per cent. This improvement had noticeable effects on inversion parameters including water content and the decay constant T2*. Within water content profiles, aquifer boundaries and water content are more accurate after harmonics are removed. Fewer spurious water content spikes appear within aquifers, which is especially useful for resolving multilayered structures. Within T2* profiles, estimates are more accurate after harmonics are removed, especially in the lower half of profiles.

Structure-based predictions of 13C-NMR chemical shifts for a series of 2-functionalized 5-(methylsulfonyl)-1-phenyl-1H-indoles derivatives using GA-based MLR method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghavami, Raouf; Sadeghi, Faridoon; Rasouli, Zolikha; Djannati, Farhad

2012-12-01

Experimental values for the 13C NMR chemical shifts (ppm, TMS = 0) at 300 K ranging from 96.28 ppm (C4' of indole derivative 17) to 159.93 ppm (C4' of indole derivative 23) relative to deuteride chloroform (CDCl3, 77.0 ppm) or dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO, 39.50 ppm) as internal reference in CDCl3 or DMSO-d6 solutions have been collected from literature for thirty 2-functionalized 5-(methylsulfonyl)-1-phenyl-1H-indole derivatives containing different substituted groups. An effective quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models were built using hybrid method combining genetic algorithm (GA) based on stepwise selection multiple linear regression (SWS-MLR) as feature-selection tools and correlation models between each carbon atom of indole derivative and calculated descriptors. Each compound was depicted by molecular structural descriptors that encode constitutional, topological, geometrical, electrostatic, and quantum chemical features. The accuracy of all developed models were confirmed using different types of internal and external procedures and various statistical tests. Furthermore, the domain of applicability for each model which indicates the area of reliable predictions was defined.

Solution conformation of carbohydrates: a view by using NMR assisted by modeling.

PubMed

Díaz, Dolores; Canales-Mayordomo, Angeles; Cañada, F Javier; Jiménez-Barbero, Jesús

2015-01-01

Structural elucidation of complex carbohydrates in solution is not a trivial task. From the NMR view point, the limited chemical shift dispersion of sugar NMR spectra demands the combination of a variety of NMR techniques as well as the employment of molecular modeling methods. Herein, a general protocol for assignment of resonances and determination of inter-proton distances within the saccharides by homonuclear and heteronuclear experiments (i.e., (1)H and (13)C) is described. In addition, several computational tools and procedures for getting a final ensemble of geometries that represent the structure in solution are presented.

Multinuclear NMR of CaSiO(3) glass: simulation from first-principles.

PubMed

Pedone, Alfonso; Charpentier, Thibault; Menziani, Maria Cristina

2010-06-21

An integrated computational method which couples classical molecular dynamics simulations with density functional theory calculations is used to simulate the solid-state NMR spectra of amorphous CaSiO(3). Two CaSiO(3) glass models are obtained by shell-model molecular dynamics simulations, successively relaxed at the GGA-PBE level of theory. The calculation of the NMR parameters (chemical shielding and quadrupolar parameters), which are then used to simulate solid-state 1D and 2D-NMR spectra of silicon-29, oxygen-17 and calcium-43, is achieved by the gauge including projector augmented-wave (GIPAW) and the projector augmented-wave (PAW) methods. It is shown that the limitations due to the finite size of the MD models can be overcome using a Kernel Estimation Density (KDE) approach to simulate the spectra since it better accounts for the disorder effects on the NMR parameter distribution. KDE allows reconstructing a smoothed NMR parameter distribution from the MD/GIPAW data. Simulated NMR spectra calculated with the present approach are found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data. This further validates the CaSiO(3) structural model obtained by MD simulations allowing the inference of relationships between structural data and NMR response. The methods used to simulate 1D and 2D-NMR spectra from MD GIPAW data have been integrated in a package (called fpNMR) freely available on request.

Effect of the magnetic field on the supramolecular structure of chiral smectic C phases: (2)H NMR studies.

PubMed

Domenici, Valentina; Marini, Alberto; Veracini, Carlo Alberto; Zhang, Jing; Dong, Ronald Y

2007-12-21

We present a theoretical and experimental (2)H NMR study of the effect of external magnetic fields on the supramolecular organization of chiral smectic liquid-crystalline mesophases, such as SmC* and re-entrant SmC*. Three experimental cases in which the supramolecular helical structure of the smectic C* phase is unwound by a magnetic field (H), parallel to the helical axes of this phase, are discussed in detail. Unwinding of the helical structure is described by using a theoretical model based on the Landau-de Gennes theory, which allows us to explain the transition temperatures among the SmA, SmC*, and uSmC* phases. The energy-density behavior in the vicinity of the transitions and the value of the critical magnetic field H(C) for unwinding the helical structure are discussed by applying this model to three ferroelectric smectogens (MBHB, 11EB1M7, ZLL7/*), which are studied by (2)H NMR spectroscopy at different magnetic fields (from 2.4 to 9.4 Tesla). Furthermore, the tilt angle of the three smectogens in the SmC* phase has been directly evaluated, for the first time, by comparing the quadrupolar splittings at different magnetic fields. In one case, (2)H NMR angular measurements are used to obtain the tilt angle in the re-entrant smectic C phase.

NMR studies of the incommensurate helical antiferromagnet EuCo 2 P 2 : Determination of antiferromagnetic propagation vector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Higa, Nonoka; Ding, Qing -Ping; Yogi, Mamoru

Recently, Q.-P. Ding et al. reported that their nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study on EuCo 2As 2 successfully characterized the antiferromagnetic (AFM) propagation vector of the incommensurate helix AFM state, showing that NMR is a unique tool for determination of the spin structures in incommensurate helical AFMs. Motivated by this work, we have carried out 153Eu, 31P, and 59Co NMR measurements on the helical antiferromagnet EuCo 2P 2 with an AFM ordering temperature T N = 66.5 K. An incommensurate helical AFM structure was clearly confirmed by 153Eu and 31P NMR spectra on single-crystalline EuCo 2P 2 in zero magneticmore » field at 1.6 K and its external magnetic field dependence. Furthermore, based on 59Co NMR data in both the paramagnetic and incommensurate AFM states, we have determined the model-independent value of the AFM propagation vector k = (0,0,0.73±0.09)2π/c, where c is the c-axis lattice parameter. As a result, the temperature dependence of k is also discussed.« less

NMR studies of the incommensurate helical antiferromagnet EuCo 2 P 2 : Determination of antiferromagnetic propagation vector

DOE PAGES

Higa, Nonoka; Ding, Qing -Ping; Yogi, Mamoru; ...

2017-07-06

Recently, Q.-P. Ding et al. reported that their nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study on EuCo 2As 2 successfully characterized the antiferromagnetic (AFM) propagation vector of the incommensurate helix AFM state, showing that NMR is a unique tool for determination of the spin structures in incommensurate helical AFMs. Motivated by this work, we have carried out 153Eu, 31P, and 59Co NMR measurements on the helical antiferromagnet EuCo 2P 2 with an AFM ordering temperature T N = 66.5 K. An incommensurate helical AFM structure was clearly confirmed by 153Eu and 31P NMR spectra on single-crystalline EuCo 2P 2 in zero magneticmore » field at 1.6 K and its external magnetic field dependence. Furthermore, based on 59Co NMR data in both the paramagnetic and incommensurate AFM states, we have determined the model-independent value of the AFM propagation vector k = (0,0,0.73±0.09)2π/c, where c is the c-axis lattice parameter. As a result, the temperature dependence of k is also discussed.« less

Supramolecular Amino Acid Based Hydrogels: Probing the Contribution of Additive Molecules using NMR Spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Ramalhete, Susana M.; Nartowski, Karol P.; Sarathchandra, Nichola; Foster, Jamie S.; Round, Andrew N.; Angulo, Jesús

2017-01-01

Abstract Supramolecular hydrogels are composed of self‐assembled solid networks that restrict the flow of water. l‐Phenylalanine is the smallest molecule reported to date to form gel networks in water, and it is of particular interest due to its crystalline gel state. Single and multi‐component hydrogels of l‐phenylalanine are used herein as model materials to develop an NMR‐based analytical approach to gain insight into the mechanisms of supramolecular gelation. Structure and composition of the gel fibres were probed using PXRD, solid‐state NMR experiments and microscopic techniques. Solution‐state NMR studies probed the properties of free gelator molecules in an equilibrium with bound molecules. The dynamics of exchange at the gel/solution interfaces was investigated further using high‐resolution magic angle spinning (HR‐MAS) and saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments. This approach allowed the identification of which additive molecules contributed in modifying the material properties. PMID:28401991

Fine refinement of solid state structure of racemic form of phospho-tyrosine employing NMR Crystallography approach.

PubMed

Paluch, Piotr; Pawlak, Tomasz; Oszajca, Marcin; Lasocha, Wieslaw; Potrzebowski, Marek J

2015-02-01

We present step by step facets important in NMR Crystallography strategy employing O-phospho-dl-tyrosine as model sample. The significance of three major techniques being components of this approach: solid state NMR (SS NMR), X-ray diffraction of powdered sample (PXRD) and theoretical calculations (Gauge Invariant Projector Augmented Wave; GIPAW) is discussed. Each experimental technique provides different set of structural constraints. From the PXRD measurement the size of the unit cell, space group and roughly refined molecular structure are established. SS NMR provides information about content of crystallographic asymmetric unit, local geometry, molecular motion in the crystal lattice and hydrogen bonding pattern. GIPAW calculations are employed for validation of quality of elucidation and fine refinement of structure. Crystal and molecular structure of O-phospho-dl-tyrosine solved by NMR Crystallography is deposited at Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center under number CCDC 1005924. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Solution NMR structure of a designed metalloprotein and complementary molecular dynamics refinement.

PubMed

Calhoun, Jennifer R; Liu, Weixia; Spiegel, Katrin; Dal Peraro, Matteo; Klein, Michael L; Valentine, Kathleen G; Wand, A Joshua; DeGrado, William F

2008-02-01

We report the solution NMR structure of a designed dimetal-binding protein, di-Zn(II) DFsc, along with a secondary refinement step employing molecular dynamics techniques. Calculation of the initial NMR structural ensemble by standard methods led to distortions in the metal-ligand geometries at the active site. Unrestrained molecular dynamics using a nonbonded force field for the metal shell, followed by quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical dynamics of DFsc, were used to relax local frustrations at the dimetal site that were apparent in the initial NMR structure and provide a more realistic description of the structure. The MD model is consistent with NMR restraints, and in good agreement with the structural and functional properties expected for DF proteins. This work demonstrates that NMR structures of metalloproteins can be further refined using classical and first-principles molecular dynamics methods in the presence of explicit solvent to provide otherwise unavailable insight into the geometry of the metal center.

CABS-flex predictions of protein flexibility compared with NMR ensembles

PubMed Central

Jamroz, Michal; Kolinski, Andrzej; Kmiecik, Sebastian

2014-01-01

Motivation: Identification of flexible regions of protein structures is important for understanding of their biological functions. Recently, we have developed a fast approach for predicting protein structure fluctuations from a single protein model: the CABS-flex. CABS-flex was shown to be an efficient alternative to conventional all-atom molecular dynamics (MD). In this work, we evaluate CABS-flex and MD predictions by comparison with protein structural variations within NMR ensembles. Results: Based on a benchmark set of 140 proteins, we show that the relative fluctuations of protein residues obtained from CABS-flex are well correlated to those of NMR ensembles. On average, this correlation is stronger than that between MD and NMR ensembles. In conclusion, CABS-flex is useful and complementary to MD in predicting protein regions that undergo conformational changes as well as the extent of such changes. Availability and implementation: The CABS-flex is freely available to all users at http://biocomp.chem.uw.edu.pl/CABSflex. Contact: sekmi@chem.uw.edu.pl Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:24735558

CABS-flex predictions of protein flexibility compared with NMR ensembles.

PubMed

Jamroz, Michal; Kolinski, Andrzej; Kmiecik, Sebastian

2014-08-01

Identification of flexible regions of protein structures is important for understanding of their biological functions. Recently, we have developed a fast approach for predicting protein structure fluctuations from a single protein model: the CABS-flex. CABS-flex was shown to be an efficient alternative to conventional all-atom molecular dynamics (MD). In this work, we evaluate CABS-flex and MD predictions by comparison with protein structural variations within NMR ensembles. Based on a benchmark set of 140 proteins, we show that the relative fluctuations of protein residues obtained from CABS-flex are well correlated to those of NMR ensembles. On average, this correlation is stronger than that between MD and NMR ensembles. In conclusion, CABS-flex is useful and complementary to MD in predicting protein regions that undergo conformational changes as well as the extent of such changes. The CABS-flex is freely available to all users at http://biocomp.chem.uw.edu.pl/CABSflex. sekmi@chem.uw.edu.pl Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Boron environments in Pyrex® glass--a high resolution, Double-Rotation NMR and thermodynamic modelling study.

PubMed

Howes, A P; Vedishcheva, N M; Samoson, A; Hanna, J V; Smith, M E; Holland, D; Dupree, R

2011-07-07

It is shown, using the important technological glass Pyrex® as an example, that 1D and 2D (11)B Double-Rotation (DOR) NMR experiments, in combination with thermodynamic modelling, are able to provide unique structural information about complex glasses. (11)B DOR NMR has been applied to Pyrex® glass in order to remove both dipolar and quadrupolar broadening of the NMR lines, leading to high resolution spectra that allow unambiguous, accurate peak fitting to be carried out, of particular importance in the case of the 3-coordinated [BO(3)] (B3) trigonal planar environments. The data obtained are of sufficient quality that they can be used to test the distributions of borate and borosilicate superstructural units predicted by the thermodynamics-based Model of Associated Solutions. The model predicts the dominant boron-containing chemical groupings in Pyrex® glass to be those associated with B(2)O(3) and sodium tetraborate (with smaller amounts of sodium triborate, sodium diborate, sodium pentaborate, danburite and reedmergnerite). Excellent agreement is found between model and experiment provided the (11)B peaks with isotropic chemical shifts of -1.4 ppm and 0.5 ppm are assigned to B4 species from borosilicate units ([B(OSi)(4)] and [B(OSi)(3)(OB)]) and borate superstructural units (mainly triborate rings with some pentaborate and diborate) respectively. The peaks with isotropic shifts of 14 ppm and 18.1 ppm are then assigned to B3 in borate superstructural units (mainly triborate and pentaborate along with connecting B3) and boroxol rings respectively. The assignments of the DOR NMR peaks, are supported by the presence of cross-peaks in (11)B spin-diffusion DOR NMR spectra which can be used to develop a structural model in which B(2)O(3)-like regions are linked, via borate and borosilicate superstructural units, to the majority silica network. Pyrex® is thus shown to have a heterogeneous structure, with distinct molecular groupings that are far removed from a random distribution of network polyhedra with only short-range order. This journal is © the Owner Societies 2011

The structure of an integral membrane peptide: a deuterium NMR study of gramicidin.

PubMed Central

Prosser, R S; Daleman, S I; Davis, J H

1994-01-01

Solid state deuterium NMR was employed on oriented multilamellar dispersions consisting of 1,2-dilauryl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine and deuterium (2H) exchange-labeled gramicidin D, at a lipid to protein molar ratio (L/P) of 15:1, in order to study the dynamic structure of the channel conformation of gramicidin in a liquid crystalline phase. The corresponding spectra were used to discriminate between several structural models for the channel structure of gramicidin (based on the left- and right-handed beta 6.3 LD helix) and other models based on a structure obtained from high resolution NMR. The oriented spectrum is complicated by the fact that many of the doublets, corresponding to the 20 exchangeable sites, partially overlap. Furthermore, the asymmetry parameter, eta, of the electric field gradient tensor of the amide deuterons is large (approximately 0.2) and many of the amide groups are involved in hydrogen bonding, which is known to affect the quadrupole coupling constant. In order to account for these complications in simulating the spectra in the fast motional regime, an ab initio program called Gaussian 90 was employed, which permitted us to calculate, by quantum mechanical means, the complete electric field gradient tensor for each residue in gramicidin (using two structural models). Our results indicated that the left-handed helical models were inconsistent with our observed spectra, whereas a model based on the high-resolution structure derived by Arseniev and coworkers, but relaxed by a simple energy minimization procedure, was consistent with our observed spectra. The molecular order parameter was then estimated from the motional narrowing assuming the relaxed (right-handed) Arseniev structure. Our resultant order parameter of SZZ = 0.91 translates into an rms angle of 14 degrees, formed by the helix axis and the local bilayer normal. The strong resemblance between our spectra (and also those reported for gramicidin in 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) multilayers) and the spectra of the same peptide incorporated in a lyotropic nematic phase, suggests that the lyotropic nematic phase simulates the local environment of the lipid bilayer. PMID:7520293

Teaching 1H NMR Spectrometry Using Computer Modeling.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Habata, Yoichi; Akabori, Sadatoshi

2001-01-01

Molecular modeling by computer is used to display stereochemistry, molecular orbitals, structure of transition states, and progress of reactions. Describes new ideas for teaching 1H NMR spectroscopy using computer modeling. (Contains 12 references.) (ASK)

Automated Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) LC/NMR Applied to the Structural Analysis of Extractable Compounds from a Pharmaceutical Packaging Material of Construction.

PubMed

Norwood, Daniel L; Mullis, James O; Davis, Mark; Pennino, Scott; Egert, Thomas; Gonnella, Nina C

2013-01-01

The structural analysis (i.e., identification) of organic chemical entities leached into drug product formulations has traditionally been accomplished with techniques involving the combination of chromatography with mass spectrometry. These include gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for volatile and semi-volatile compounds, and various forms of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS or HPLC/MS) for semi-volatile and relatively non-volatile compounds. GC/MS and LC/MS techniques are complementary for structural analysis of leachables and potentially leachable organic compounds produced via laboratory extraction of pharmaceutical container closure/delivery system components and corresponding materials of construction. Both hyphenated analytical techniques possess the separating capability, compound specific detection attributes, and sensitivity required to effectively analyze complex mixtures of trace level organic compounds. However, hyphenated techniques based on mass spectrometry are limited by the inability to determine complete bond connectivity, the inability to distinguish between many types of structural isomers, and the inability to unambiguously determine aromatic substitution patterns. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) does not have these limitations; hence it can serve as a complement to mass spectrometry. However, NMR technology is inherently insensitive and its ability to interface with chromatography has been historically challenging. This article describes the application of NMR coupled with liquid chromatography and automated solid phase extraction (SPE-LC/NMR) to the structural analysis of extractable organic compounds from a pharmaceutical packaging material of construction. The SPE-LC/NMR technology combined with micro-cryoprobe technology afforded the sensitivity and sample mass required for full structure elucidation. Optimization of the SPE-LC/NMR analytical method was achieved using a series of model compounds representing the chemical diversity of extractables. This study demonstrates the complementary nature of SPE-LC/NMR with LC/MS for this particular pharmaceutical application. The identification of impurities leached into drugs from the components and materials associated with pharmaceutical containers, packaging components, and materials has historically been done using laboratory techniques based on the combination of chromatography with mass spectrometry. Such analytical techniques are widely recognized as having the selectivity and sensitivity required to separate the complex mixtures of impurities often encountered in such identification studies, including both the identification of leachable impurities as well as potential leachable impurities produced by laboratory extraction of packaging components and materials. However, while mass spectrometry-based analytical techniques have limitations for this application, newer analytical techniques based on the combination of chromatography with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy provide an added dimension of structural definition. This article describes the development, optimization, and application of an analytical technique based on the combination of chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to the identification of potential leachable impurities from a pharmaceutical packaging material. The complementary nature of the analytical techniques for this particular pharmaceutical application is demonstrated.

Structure simulation with calculated NMR parameters - integrating COSMOS into the CCPN framework.

PubMed

Schneider, Olaf; Fogh, Rasmus H; Sternberg, Ulrich; Klenin, Konstantin; Kondov, Ivan

2012-01-01

The Collaborative Computing Project for NMR (CCPN) has build a software framework consisting of the CCPN data model (with APIs) for NMR related data, the CcpNmr Analysis program and additional tools like CcpNmr FormatConverter. The open architecture allows for the integration of external software to extend the abilities of the CCPN framework with additional calculation methods. Recently, we have carried out the first steps for integrating our software Computer Simulation of Molecular Structures (COSMOS) into the CCPN framework. The COSMOS-NMR force field unites quantum chemical routines for the calculation of molecular properties with a molecular mechanics force field yielding the relative molecular energies. COSMOS-NMR allows introducing NMR parameters as constraints into molecular mechanics calculations. The resulting infrastructure will be made available for the NMR community. As a first application we have tested the evaluation of calculated protein structures using COSMOS-derived 13C Cα and Cβ chemical shifts. In this paper we give an overview of the methodology and a roadmap for future developments and applications.

Advanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy of natural organic matter.

PubMed

Mao, Jingdong; Cao, Xiaoyan; Olk, Dan C; Chu, Wenying; Schmidt-Rohr, Klaus

2017-05-01

Solid-state NMR is essential for the characterization of natural organic matter (NOM) and is gaining importance in geosciences and environmental sciences. This review is intended to highlight advanced solid-state NMR techniques, especially a systematic approach to NOM characterization, and their applications to the study of NOM. We discuss some basics of how to acquire high-quality and quantitative solid-state 13 C NMR spectra, and address some common technical mistakes that lead to unreliable spectra of NOM. The identification of specific functional groups in NOM, primarily based on 13 C spectral-editing techniques, is described and the theoretical background of some recently-developed spectral-editing techniques is provided. Applications of solid-state NMR to investigating nitrogen (N) in NOM are described, focusing on limitations of the widely used 15 N CP/MAS experiment and the potential of improved advanced NMR techniques for characterizing N forms in NOM. Then techniques used for identifying proximities, heterogeneities and domains are reviewed, and some examples provided. In addition, NMR techniques for studying segmental dynamics in NOM are reviewed. We also briefly discuss applications of solid-state NMR to NOM from various sources, including soil organic matter, aquatic organic matter, organic matter in atmospheric particulate matter, carbonaceous meteoritic organic matter, and fossil fuels. Finally, examples of NMR-based structural models and an outlook are provided. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Molecular modeling of biomolecules by paramagnetic NMR and computational hybrid methods.

PubMed

Pilla, Kala Bharath; Gaalswyk, Kari; MacCallum, Justin L

2017-11-01

The 3D atomic structures of biomolecules and their complexes are key to our understanding of biomolecular function, recognition, and mechanism. However, it is often difficult to obtain structures, particularly for systems that are complex, dynamic, disordered, or exist in environments like cell membranes. In such cases sparse data from a variety of paramagnetic NMR experiments offers one possible source of structural information. These restraints can be incorporated in computer modeling algorithms that can accurately translate the sparse experimental data into full 3D atomic structures. In this review, we discuss various types of paramagnetic NMR/computational hybrid modeling techniques that can be applied to successful modeling of not only the atomic structure of proteins but also their interacting partners. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biophysics in Canada, edited by Lewis Kay, John Baenziger, Albert Berghuis and Peter Tieleman. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Solution Structures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Thioredoxin C and Models of the Intact Thioredoxin System Suggest New Approaches to Inhibitor and Drug Design

PubMed Central

Olson, Andrew L.; Neumann, Terrence S.; Cai, Sheng; Sem, Daniel S.

2012-01-01

Here we report the NMR solution structures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) thioredoxin C in both oxidized and reduced states, with discussion of structural changes that occur in going between redox states. The NMR solution structure of the oxidized TrxC corresponds closely to that of the crystal structure, except in the C-terminal region. It appears that crystal packing effects have caused an artifactual shift in the α4 helix in the previously reported crystal structure, compared to the solution structure. Based on these TrxC structures, chemical shift mapping, a previously reported crystal structure of the M. tuberculosis thioredoxin reductase (not bound to a Trx) and structures for intermediates in the E. coli thioredoxin catalytic cycle, we have modeled the complete M. tuberculosis thioredoxin system for the various steps in the catalytic cycle. These structures and models reveal pockets at the TrxR/TrxC interface in various steps in the catalytic cycle, which can be targeted in the design of uncompetitive inhibitors as potential anti-mycobacterial agents, or as chemical genetic probes of function. PMID:23229911

Engineering Encodable Lanthanide-Binding Tags (LBTs) into Loop Regions of Proteins

PubMed Central

Barthelmes, Katja; Reynolds, Anne M.; Peisach, Ezra; Jonker, Hendrik R. A.; DeNunzio, Nicholas J.; Allen, Karen N.; Imperiali, Barbara; Schwalbe, Harald

2011-01-01

Lanthanide-binding-tags (LBTs) are valuable tools for investigation of protein structure, function, and dynamics by NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and luminescence studies. We have inserted LBTs into three different loop positions (denoted L, R, and S) of the model protein interleukin-1β and varied the length of the spacer between the LBT and the protein (denoted 1-3). Luminescence studies demonstrate that all nine constructs bind Tb3+ tightly in the low nanomolar range. No significant change in the fusion protein occurs from insertion of the LBT, as shown by two X-ray crystallographic structures of the IL1β-S1 and IL1β-L3 constructs and for the remaining constructs by comparing 1H-15N-HSQC NMR spectra with wild-type IL1β. Additionally, binding of LBT-loop IL1β proteins to their native binding partner in vitro remains unaltered. X-ray crystallographic phasing was successful using only the signal from the bound lanthanide. Large residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) could be determined by NMR spectroscopy for all LBT-loop-constructs and revealed that the LBT-2 series were rigidly incorporated into the interleukin-1β structure. The paramagnetic NMR spectra of loop-LBT mutant IL1β-R2 were assigned and the Δχ tensor components were calculated based on RDCs and pseudocontact shifts (PCSs). A structural model of the IL1β-R2 construct was calculated using the paramagnetic restraints. The current data provide support that encodable LBTs serve as versatile biophysical tags when inserted into loop regions of proteins of known structure or predicted via homology modelling. PMID:21182275

Modeling the Structure of Helical Assemblies with Experimental Constraints in Rosetta.

PubMed

André, Ingemar

2018-01-01

Determining high-resolution structures of proteins with helical symmetry can be challenging due to limitations in experimental data. In such instances, structure-based protein simulations driven by experimental data can provide a valuable approach for building models of helical assemblies. This chapter describes how the Rosetta macromolecular package can be used to model homomeric protein assemblies with helical symmetry in a range of modeling scenarios including energy refinement, symmetrical docking, comparative modeling, and de novo structure prediction. Data-guided structure modeling of helical assemblies with experimental information from electron density, X-ray fiber diffraction, solid-state NMR, and chemical cross-linking mass spectrometry is also described.

Rapid and reliable protein structure determination via chemical shift threading.

PubMed

Hafsa, Noor E; Berjanskii, Mark V; Arndt, David; Wishart, David S

2018-01-01

Protein structure determination using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be both time-consuming and labor intensive. Here we demonstrate how chemical shift threading can permit rapid, robust, and accurate protein structure determination using only chemical shift data. Threading is a relatively old bioinformatics technique that uses a combination of sequence information and predicted (or experimentally acquired) low-resolution structural data to generate high-resolution 3D protein structures. The key motivations behind using NMR chemical shifts for protein threading lie in the fact that they are easy to measure, they are available prior to 3D structure determination, and they contain vital structural information. The method we have developed uses not only sequence and chemical shift similarity but also chemical shift-derived secondary structure, shift-derived super-secondary structure, and shift-derived accessible surface area to generate a high quality protein structure regardless of the sequence similarity (or lack thereof) to a known structure already in the PDB. The method (called E-Thrifty) was found to be very fast (often < 10 min/structure) and to significantly outperform other shift-based or threading-based structure determination methods (in terms of top template model accuracy)-with an average TM-score performance of 0.68 (vs. 0.50-0.62 for other methods). Coupled with recent developments in chemical shift refinement, these results suggest that protein structure determination, using only NMR chemical shifts, is becoming increasingly practical and reliable. E-Thrifty is available as a web server at http://ethrifty.ca .

PDBStat: a universal restraint converter and restraint analysis software package for protein NMR.

PubMed

Tejero, Roberto; Snyder, David; Mao, Binchen; Aramini, James M; Montelione, Gaetano T

2013-08-01

The heterogeneous array of software tools used in the process of protein NMR structure determination presents organizational challenges in the structure determination and validation processes, and creates a learning curve that limits the broader use of protein NMR in biology. These challenges, including accurate use of data in different data formats required by software carrying out similar tasks, continue to confound the efforts of novices and experts alike. These important issues need to be addressed robustly in order to standardize protein NMR structure determination and validation. PDBStat is a C/C++ computer program originally developed as a universal coordinate and protein NMR restraint converter. Its primary function is to provide a user-friendly tool for interconverting between protein coordinate and protein NMR restraint data formats. It also provides an integrated set of computational methods for protein NMR restraint analysis and structure quality assessment, relabeling of prochiral atoms with correct IUPAC names, as well as multiple methods for analysis of the consistency of atomic positions indicated by their convergence across a protein NMR ensemble. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the PDBStat software, and highlight some of its valuable computational capabilities. As an example, we demonstrate the use of the PDBStat restraint converter for restrained CS-Rosetta structure generation calculations, and compare the resulting protein NMR structure models with those generated from the same NMR restraint data using more traditional structure determination methods. These results demonstrate the value of a universal restraint converter in allowing the use of multiple structure generation methods with the same restraint data for consensus analysis of protein NMR structures and the underlying restraint data.

PDBStat: A Universal Restraint Converter and Restraint Analysis Software Package for Protein NMR

PubMed Central

Tejero, Roberto; Snyder, David; Mao, Binchen; Aramini, James M.; Montelione, Gaetano T

2013-01-01

The heterogeneous array of software tools used in the process of protein NMR structure determination presents organizational challenges in the structure determination and validation processes, and creates a learning curve that limits the broader use of protein NMR in biology. These challenges, including accurate use of data in different data formats required by software carrying out similar tasks, continue to confound the efforts of novices and experts alike. These important issues need to be addressed robustly in order to standardize protein NMR structure determination and validation. PDBStat is a C/C++ computer program originally developed as a universal coordinate and protein NMR restraint converter. Its primary function is to provide a user-friendly tool for interconverting between protein coordinate and protein NMR restraint data formats. It also provides an integrated set of computational methods for protein NMR restraint analysis and structure quality assessment, relabeling of prochiral atoms with correct IUPAC names, as well as multiple methods for analysis of the consistency of atomic positions indicated by their convergence across a protein NMR ensemble. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the PDBStat software, and highlight some of its valuable computational capabilities. As an example, we demonstrate the use of the PDBStat restraint converter for restrained CS-Rosetta structure generation calculations, and compare the resulting protein NMR structure models with those generated from the same NMR restraint data using more traditional structure determination methods. These results demonstrate the value of a universal restraint converter in allowing the use of multiple structure generation methods with the same restraint data for consensus analysis of protein NMR structures and the underlying restraint data. PMID:23897031

High-Throughput Screening by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HTS by NMR) for the Identification of PPIs Antagonists.

PubMed

Wu, Bainan; Barile, Elisa; De, Surya K; Wei, Jun; Purves, Angela; Pellecchia, Maurizio

2015-01-01

In recent years the ever so complex field of drug discovery has embraced novel design strategies based on biophysical fragment screening (fragment-based drug design; FBDD) using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and/or structure-guided approaches, most often using X-ray crystallography and computer modeling. Experience from recent years unveiled that these methods are more effective and less prone to artifacts compared to biochemical high-throughput screening (HTS) of large collection of compounds in designing protein inhibitors. Hence these strategies are increasingly becoming the most utilized in the modern pharmaceutical industry. Nonetheless, there is still an impending need to develop innovative and effective strategies to tackle other more challenging targets such as those involving protein-protein interactions (PPIs). While HTS strategies notoriously fail to identify viable hits against such targets, few successful examples of PPIs antagonists derived by FBDD strategies exist. Recently, we reported on a new strategy that combines some of the basic principles of fragment-based screening with combinatorial chemistry and NMR-based screening. The approach, termed HTS by NMR, combines the advantages of combinatorial chemistry and NMR-based screening to rapidly and unambiguously identify bona fide inhibitors of PPIs. This review will reiterate the critical aspects of the approach with examples of possible applications.

High-throughput screening by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HTS by NMR) for the identification of PPIs antagonists

PubMed Central

Wu, Bainan; Barile, Elisa; De, Surya K.; Wei, Jun; Purves, Angela; Pellecchia, Maurizio

2015-01-01

In recent years the ever so complex field of drug discovery has embraced novel design strategies based on biophysical fragment screening (fragment-based drug design; FBDD) using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and/or structure-guided approaches, most often using X-ray crystallography and computer modeling. Experience from recent years unveiled that these methods are more effective and less prone to artifacts compared to biochemical high-throughput screening (HTS) of large collection of compounds in designing protein inhibitors. Hence these strategies are increasingly becoming the most utilized in the modern pharmaceutical industry. Nonetheless, there is still an impending need to develop innovative and effective strategies to tackle other more challenging targets such as those involving protein-protein interactions (PPIs). While HTS strategies notoriously fail to identify viable hits against such targets, few successful examples of PPIs antagonists derived by FBDD strategies exist. Recently, we reported on a new strategy that combines some of the basic principles of fragment-based screening with combinatorial chemistry and NMR-based screening. The approach, termed HTS by NMR, combines the advantages of combinatorial chemistry and NMR-based screening to rapidly and unambiguously identify bona fide inhibitors of PPIs. This review will reiterate the critical aspects of the approach with examples of possible applications. PMID:25986689

A Bayesian Approach for Determining Protein Side-Chain Rotamer Conformations Using Unassigned NOE Data

PubMed Central

Zeng, Jianyang; Roberts, Kyle E.; Zhou, Pei

2011-01-01

Abstract A major bottleneck in protein structure determination via nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the lengthy and laborious process of assigning resonances and nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) cross peaks. Recent studies have shown that accurate backbone folds can be determined using sparse NMR data, such as residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) or backbone chemical shifts. This opens a question of whether we can also determine the accurate protein side-chain conformations using sparse or unassigned NMR data. We attack this question by using unassigned nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) data, which records the through-space dipolar interactions between protons nearby in three-dimensional (3D) space. We propose a Bayesian approach with a Markov random field (MRF) model to integrate the likelihood function derived from observed experimental data, with prior information (i.e., empirical molecular mechanics energies) about the protein structures. We unify the side-chain structure prediction problem with the side-chain structure determination problem using unassigned NMR data, and apply the deterministic dead-end elimination (DEE) and A* search algorithms to provably find the global optimum solution that maximizes the posterior probability. We employ a Hausdorff-based measure to derive the likelihood of a rotamer or a pairwise rotamer interaction from unassigned NOESY data. In addition, we apply a systematic and rigorous approach to estimate the experimental noise in NMR data, which also determines the weighting factor of the data term in the scoring function derived from the Bayesian framework. We tested our approach on real NMR data of three proteins: the FF Domain 2 of human transcription elongation factor CA150 (FF2), the B1 domain of Protein G (GB1), and human ubiquitin. The promising results indicate that our algorithm can be applied in high-resolution protein structure determination. Since our approach does not require any NOE assignment, it can accelerate the NMR structure determination process. PMID:21970619

The contribution of solid-state NMR spectroscopy to understanding biomineralization: Atomic and molecular structure of bone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duer, Melinda J.

2015-04-01

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy has had a major impact on our understanding of the structure of mineralized tissues, in particular bone. Bone exemplifies the organic-inorganic composite structure inherent in mineralized tissues. The organic component of the extracellular matrix in bone is primarily composed of ordered fibrils of collagen triple-helical molecules, in which the inorganic component, calcium phosphate particles, composed of stacks of mineral platelets, are arranged around the fibrils. This perspective argues that key factors in our current structural model of bone mineral have come about through NMR spectroscopy and have yielded the primary information on how the mineral particles interface and bind with the underlying organic matrix. The structure of collagen within the organic matrix of bone or any other structural tissue has yet to be determined, but here too, this perspective shows there has been real progress made through application of solid-state NMR spectroscopy in conjunction with other techniques. In particular, NMR spectroscopy has highlighted the fact that even within these structural proteins, there is considerable dynamics, which suggests that one should be cautious when using inherently static structural models, such as those arising from X-ray diffraction analyses, to gain insight into molecular roles. It is clear that the NMR approach is still in its infancy in this area, and that we can expect many more developments in the future, particularly in understanding the molecular mechanisms of bone diseases and ageing.

Structure of an anti-HIV-1 hammerhead ribozyme complex with a 17-mer DNA substrate analog of HIV-1 gag RNA and a mechanism for the cleavage reaction: 750 MHz NMR and computer experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ojha, R. P.; Dhingra, M. M.; Sarma, M. H.; Myer, Y. P.; Setlik, R. F.; Shibata, M.; Kazim, A. L.; Ornstein, R. L.; Rein, R.; Turner, C. J.;

Structure determination of helical filaments by solid-state NMR spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Mumdooh; Spehr, Johannes; König, Renate; Lünsdorf, Heinrich; Rand, Ulfert; Lührs, Thorsten; Ritter, Christiane

2016-01-01

The controlled formation of filamentous protein complexes plays a crucial role in many biological systems and represents an emerging paradigm in signal transduction. The mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is a central signal transduction hub in innate immunity that is activated by a receptor-induced conversion into helical superstructures (filaments) assembled from its globular caspase activation and recruitment domain. Solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy has become one of the most powerful techniques for atomic resolution structures of protein fibrils. However, for helical filaments, the determination of the correct symmetry parameters has remained a significant hurdle for any structural technique and could thus far not be precisely derived from ssNMR data. Here, we solved the atomic resolution structure of helical MAVSCARD filaments exclusively from ssNMR data. We present a generally applicable approach that systematically explores the helical symmetry space by efficient modeling of the helical structure restrained by interprotomer ssNMR distance restraints. Together with classical automated NMR structure calculation, this allowed us to faithfully determine the symmetry that defines the entire assembly. To validate our structure, we probed the protomer arrangement by solvent paramagnetic resonance enhancement, analysis of chemical shift differences relative to the solution NMR structure of the monomer, and mutagenesis. We provide detailed information on the atomic contacts that determine filament stability and describe mechanistic details on the formation of signaling-competent MAVS filaments from inactive monomers. PMID:26733681

NMR in structural genomics to increase structural coverage of the protein universe: Delivered by Prof. Kurt Wüthrich on 7 July 2013 at the 38th FEBS Congress in St. Petersburg, Russia.

PubMed

Serrano, Pedro; Dutta, Samit K; Proudfoot, Andrew; Mohanty, Biswaranjan; Susac, Lukas; Martin, Bryan; Geralt, Michael; Jaroszewski, Lukasz; Godzik, Adam; Elsliger, Marc; Wilson, Ian A; Wüthrich, Kurt

2016-11-01

For more than a decade, the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG; www.jcsg.org) worked toward increased three-dimensional structure coverage of the protein universe. This coordinated quest was one of the main goals of the four high-throughput (HT) structure determination centers of the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI; www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/specificareas/PSI). To achieve the goals of the PSI, the JCSG made use of the complementarity of structure determination by X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to increase and diversify the range of targets entering the HT structure determination pipeline. The overall strategy, for both techniques, was to determine atomic resolution structures for representatives of large protein families, as defined by the Pfam database, which had no structural coverage and could make significant contributions to biological and biomedical research. Furthermore, the experimental structures could be leveraged by homology modeling to further expand the structural coverage of the protein universe and increase biological insights. Here, we describe what could be achieved by this structural genomics approach, using as an illustration the contributions from 20 NMR structure determinations out of a total of 98 JCSG NMR structures, which were selected because they are the first three-dimensional structure representations of the respective Pfam protein families. The information from this small sample is representative for the overall results from crystal and NMR structure determination in the JCSG. There are five new folds, which were classified as domains of unknown functions (DUF), three of the proteins could be functionally annotated based on three-dimensional structure similarity with previously characterized proteins, and 12 proteins showed only limited similarity with previous deposits in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and were classified as DUFs. © 2016 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Three-dimensional solution structure of lactoferricin B, an antimicrobial peptide derived from bovine lactoferrin.

PubMed

Hwang, P M; Zhou, N; Shan, X; Arrowsmith, C H; Vogel, H J

1998-03-24

The solution structure of bovine lactoferricin (LfcinB) has been determined using 2D 1H NMR spectroscopy. LfcinB is a 25-residue antimicrobial peptide released by pepsin cleavage of lactoferrin, an 80 kDa iron-binding glycoprotein with many immunologically important functions. The NMR structure of LfcinB reveals a somewhat distorted antiparallel beta-sheet. This contrasts with the X-ray structure of bovine lactoferrin, in which residues 1-13 (of LfcinB) form an alpha-helix. Hence, this region of lactoferricin B appears able to adopt a helical or sheetlike conformation, similar to what has been proposed for the amyloidogenic prion proteins and Alzheimer's beta-peptides. LfcinB has an extended hydrophobic surface comprised of residues Phe1, Cys3, Trp6, Trp8, Pro16, Ile18, and Cys20. The side chains of these residues are well-defined in the NMR structure. Many hydrophilic and positively charged residues surround the hydrophobic surface, giving LfcinB an amphipathic character. LfcinB bears numerous similarities to a vast number of cationic peptides which exert their antimicrobial activities through membrane disruption. The structures of many of these peptides have been well characterized, and models of their membrane-permeabilizing mechanisms have been proposed. The NMR solution structure of LfcinB may be more relevant to membrane interaction than that suggested by the X-ray structure of intact lactoferrin. Based on the solution structure, it is now possible to propose potential mechanisms for the antimicrobial action of LfcinB.

NMR structure and action on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of water-soluble domain of human LYNX1.

PubMed

Lyukmanova, Ekaterina N; Shenkarev, Zakhar O; Shulepko, Mikhail A; Mineev, Konstantin S; D'Hoedt, Dieter; Kasheverov, Igor E; Filkin, Sergey Yu; Krivolapova, Alexandra P; Janickova, Helena; Dolezal, Vladimir; Dolgikh, Dmitry A; Arseniev, Alexander S; Bertrand, Daniel; Tsetlin, Victor I; Kirpichnikov, Mikhail P

2011-03-25

Discovery of proteins expressed in the central nervous system sharing the three-finger structure with snake α-neurotoxins provoked much interest to their role in brain functions. Prototoxin LYNX1, having homology both to Ly6 proteins and three-finger neurotoxins, is the first identified member of this family membrane-tethered by a GPI anchor, which considerably complicates in vitro studies. We report for the first time the NMR spatial structure for the water-soluble domain of human LYNX1 lacking a GPI anchor (ws-LYNX1) and its concentration-dependent activity on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). At 5-30 μM, ws-LYNX1 competed with (125)I-α-bungarotoxin for binding to the acetylcholine-binding proteins (AChBPs) and to Torpedo nAChR. Exposure of Xenopus oocytes expressing α7 nAChRs to 1 μM ws-LYNX1 enhanced the response to acetylcholine, but no effect was detected on α4β2 and α3β2 nAChRs. Increasing ws-LYNX1 concentration to 10 μM caused a modest inhibition of these three nAChR subtypes. A common feature for ws-LYNX1 and LYNX1 is a decrease of nAChR sensitivity to high concentrations of acetylcholine. NMR and functional analysis both demonstrate that ws-LYNX1 is an appropriate model to shed light on the mechanism of LYNX1 action. Computer modeling, based on ws-LYNX1 NMR structure and AChBP x-ray structure, revealed a possible mode of ws-LYNX1 binding.

Studies on silicon NMR characterization and kinetic modeling of the structural evolution of siloxane-based materials and their applications in drug delivery and adsorption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambati, Jyothirmai

This dissertation presents studies of the synthetic processes and applications of siloxane-based materials. Kinetic investigations of bridged organoalkoxysilanes that are precursors to organic-inorganic hybrid polysilsesquioxanes are a primary focus. Quick gelation despite extensive cyclization is found during the polymerization of bridged silane precursors except for silanes with certain short bridges. This work is an attempt to characterize and understand some of the distinct features of bridged silanes using experimental characterization, kinetic modeling and simulation. In addition to this, the dissertation shows how the properties of siloxane-materials can be engineered for drug delivery and adsorption. The phase behavior of polymerizing mixtures is first investigated to identify the solutions that favor kinetic characterization. Microphase separation is found to cause gradual loss of NMR signal for certain initial compositions. Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer 29Si NMR is employed to identify the products of polymerization of some short-bridged silanes under no signal loss conditions. This technique requires knowing indirect 29Si-1H scalar coupling constants which sometimes cannot be measured due to second-order effects. However, the B3LYP density functional method with 6-31G basis set is found to predict accurate 29Si- 1H coupling constants of organoalkoxysilanes and siloxanes. The scalar coupling constants thus estimated are employed to resolve non-trivial coupled NMR spectra and quantitative kinetic modeling is performed using the DEPT Si NMR transients. In order to investigate the role of the organic bridging group, the structural evolution of bridged and non-bridged silanes are compared using Monte Carlo simulations. Kinetic and simulation models suggest that cyclization plays a key role right from the onset of polymerization for bridged silanes even more than in non-bridged silanes. The simulations indicate that the carbosiloxane rings formed from short-bridged precursors slow down but do not prevent gelation. The tuning of siloxane-based materials for adsorption technologies are also discussed here. In the first example, antioxidant enzyme loading is investigated as a means to reduce oxidative stress generated by silica nanoparticle drug carriers. Materials are engineered for promising enzyme loading and protection from proteolysis. Second, the potential of copper sulfate impregnation to enhance adsorption of ammonia by silica is explored by molecular simulation. KEYWORDS: Sol-gel Polymerization, Kinetic Investigation, Si NMR, Bridged Silanes, DFT Calculations.

Model for the interpretation of nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry of hydrated porous silicate materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faux, D. A.; Cachia, S.-H. P.; McDonald, P. J.; Bhatt, J. S.; Howlett, N. C.; Churakov, S. V.

2015-03-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation experimentation is an effective technique for probing the dynamics of proton spins in porous media, but interpretation requires the application of appropriate spin-diffusion models. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of porous silicate-based systems containing a quasi-two-dimensional water-filled pore are presented. The MD simulations suggest that the residency time of the water on the pore surface is in the range 0.03-12 ns, typically 2-5 orders of magnitude less than values determined from fits to experimental NMR measurements using the established surface-layer (SL) diffusion models of Korb and co-workers [Phys. Rev. E 56, 1934 (1997), 10.1103/PhysRevE.56.1934]. Instead, MD identifies four distinct water layers in a tobermorite-based pore containing surface Ca2 + ions. Three highly structured water layers exist within 1 nm of the surface and the central region of the pore contains a homogeneous region of bulklike water. These regions are referred to as layer 1 and 2 (L1, L2), transition layer (TL), and bulk (B), respectively. Guided by the MD simulations, a two-layer (2L) spin-diffusion NMR relaxation model is proposed comprising two two-dimensional layers of slow- and fast-moving water associated with L2 and layers TL+B, respectively. The 2L model provides an improved fit to NMR relaxation times obtained from cementitious material compared to the SL model, yields diffusion correlation times in the range 18-75 ns and 28-40 ps in good agreement with MD, and resolves the surface residency time discrepancy. The 2L model, coupled with NMR relaxation experimentation, provides a simple yet powerful method of characterizing the dynamical properties of proton-bearing porous silicate-based systems such as porous glasses, cementitious materials, and oil-bearing rocks.

Synthesis and characterization of crystalline structures based on phenylboronate ligands bound to alkaline earth cations.

PubMed

Reinholdt, Marc; Croissant, Jonas; Di Carlo, Lidia; Granier, Dominique; Gaveau, Philippe; Bégu, Sylvie; Devoisselle, Jean-Marie; Mutin, P Hubert; Smith, Mark E; Bonhomme, Christian; Gervais, Christel; van der Lee, Arie; Laurencin, Danielle

2011-08-15

We describe the preparation of the first crystalline compounds based on arylboronate ligands PhB(OH)(3)(-) coordinated to metal cations: [Ca(PhB(OH)(3))(2)], [Sr(PhB(OH)(3))(2)]·H(2)O, and [Ba(PhB(OH)(3))(2)]. The calcium and strontium structures were solved using powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, respectively. In both cases, the structures are composed of chains of cations connected through phenylboronate ligands, which interact one with each other to form a 2D lamellar structure. The temperature and pH conditions necessary for the formation of phase-pure compounds were investigated: changes in temperature were found to mainly affect the morphology of the crystallites, whereas strong variations in pH were found to affect the formation of pure phases. All three compounds were characterized using a wide range of analytical techniques (TGA, IR, Raman, XRD, and high resolution (1)H, (11)B, and (13)C solid-state NMR), and the different coordination modes of phenylboronate ligands were analyzed. Two different kinds of hydroxyl groups were identified in the structures: those involved in hydrogen bonds, and those that are effectively "free" and not involved in hydrogen bonds of any significant strength. To position precisely the OH protons within the structures, an NMR-crystallography approach was used: the comparison of experimental and calculated NMR parameters (determined using the Gauge Including Projector Augmented Wave method, GIPAW) allowed the most accurate positions to be identified. In the case of the calcium compound, it was found that it is the (43)Ca NMR data that are critical to help identify the best model of the structure. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Structure of N-(5-ethyl-[1,3,4]-thiadiazole-2-yl)toluenesulfonamide by combined X-ray powder diffraction, 13C solid-state NMR and molecular modelling.

PubMed

Hangan, Adriana; Borodi, Gheorghe; Filip, Xenia; Tripon, Carmen; Morari, Cristian; Oprean, Luminita; Filip, Claudiu

2010-12-01

The crystal structure solution of the title compound is determined from microcrystalline powder using a multi-technique approach that combines X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) data analysis based on direct-space methods with information from (13)C solid-state NMR (SSNMR), and molecular modelling using the GIPAW (gauge including projector augmented-wave) method. The space group is Pbca with one molecule in the asymmetric unit. The proposed methodology proves very useful for unambiguously characterizing the supramolecular arrangement adopted by the N-(5-ethyl-[1,3,4]-thiadiazole-2-yl)toluenesulfonamide molecules in the crystal, which consists of extended double strands held together by C-H···π non-covalent interactions.

Toll-Like Receptor-9-Mediated Invasion in Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Theoretical structural models were obtained from molecular dynamics simulations using explicit solvation by...with AMBER by MARDIGRAS. The solution structure was then derived by coupling the resulting NMR distance restraints with a molecular dynamic ...Overlay of NMR restrained structure (red) with theoretical molecular dynamic simulated annealing structure (blue). Energetic stability of the 9-mer

Structure and folding of the Tetrahymena telomerase RNA pseudoknot

DOE PAGES

Cash, Darian D.; Feigon, Juli

2016-11-28

Telomerase maintains telomere length at the ends of linear chromosomes using an integral telomerase RNA (TER) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). An essential part of TER is the template/pseudoknot domain (t/PK) which includes the template, for adding telomeric repeats, template boundary element (TBE), and pseudoknot, enclosed in a circle by stem 1. The Tetrahymena telomerase holoenzyme catalytic core (p65-TER-TERT) was recently modeled in our 9 Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy map by fitting protein and TER domains, including a solution NMR structure of the Tetrahymena pseudoknot. Here, we describe in detail the structure and folding of the isolated pseudoknot, which formsmore » a compact structure with major groove U•A-U and novel C•G-A + base triples. Base substitutions that disrupt the base triples reduce telomerase activity in vitro. NMR studies also reveal that the pseudoknot does not form in the context of full-length TER in the absence of TERT, due to formation of a competing structure that sequesters pseudoknot residues. The residues around the TBE remain unpaired, potentially providing access by TERT to this high affinity binding site during an early step in TERT-TER assembly. A model for the assembly pathway of the catalytic core is proposed.« less

Structure and folding of the Tetrahymena telomerase RNA pseudoknot

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cash, Darian D.; Feigon, Juli

Telomerase maintains telomere length at the ends of linear chromosomes using an integral telomerase RNA (TER) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). An essential part of TER is the template/pseudoknot domain (t/PK) which includes the template, for adding telomeric repeats, template boundary element (TBE), and pseudoknot, enclosed in a circle by stem 1. The Tetrahymena telomerase holoenzyme catalytic core (p65-TER-TERT) was recently modeled in our 9 Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy map by fitting protein and TER domains, including a solution NMR structure of the Tetrahymena pseudoknot. Here, we describe in detail the structure and folding of the isolated pseudoknot, which formsmore » a compact structure with major groove U•A-U and novel C•G-A + base triples. Base substitutions that disrupt the base triples reduce telomerase activity in vitro. NMR studies also reveal that the pseudoknot does not form in the context of full-length TER in the absence of TERT, due to formation of a competing structure that sequesters pseudoknot residues. The residues around the TBE remain unpaired, potentially providing access by TERT to this high affinity binding site during an early step in TERT-TER assembly. A model for the assembly pathway of the catalytic core is proposed.« less

The structure and dipole moment of globular proteins in solution and crystalline states: use of NMR and X-ray databases for the numerical calculation of dipole moment.

PubMed

Takashima, S

2001-04-05

The large dipole moment of globular proteins has been well known because of the detailed studies using dielectric relaxation and electro-optical methods. The search for the origin of these dipolemoments, however, must be based on the detailed knowledge on protein structure with atomic resolutions. At present, we have two sources of information on the structure of protein molecules: (1) x-ray databases obtained in crystalline state; (2) NMR databases obtained in solution state. While x-ray databases consist of only one model, NMR databases, because of the fluctuation of the protein folding in solution, consist of a number of models, thus enabling the computation of dipole moment repeated for all these models. The aim of this work, using these databases, is the detailed investigation on the interdependence between the structure and dipole moment of protein molecules. The dipole moment of protein molecules has roughly two components: one dipole moment is due to surface charges and the other, core dipole moment, is due to polar groups such as N--H and C==O bonds. The computation of surface charge dipole moment consists of two steps: (A) calculation of the pK shifts of charged groups for electrostatic interactions and (B) calculation of the dipole moment using the pK corrected for electrostatic shifts. The dipole moments of several proteins were computed using both NMR and x-ray databases. The dipole moments of these two sets of calculations are, with a few exceptions, in good agreement with one another and also with measured dipole moments.

Testing the limits of sensitivity in a solid-state structural investigation by combined X-ray powder diffraction, solid-state NMR, and molecular modelling.

PubMed

Filip, Xenia; Borodi, Gheorghe; Filip, Claudiu

2011-10-28

A solid state structural investigation of ethoxzolamide is performed on microcrystalline powder by using a multi-technique approach that combines X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) data analysis based on direct space methods with information from (13)C((15)N) solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (SS-NMR) and molecular modeling. Quantum chemical computations of the crystal were employed for geometry optimization and chemical shift calculations based on the Gauge Including Projector Augmented-Wave (GIPAW) method, whereas a systematic search in the conformational space was performed on the isolated molecule using a molecular mechanics (MM) approach. The applied methodology proved useful for: (i) removing ambiguities in the XRPD crystal structure determination process and further refining the derived structure solutions, and (ii) getting important insights into the relationship between the complex network of non-covalent interactions and the induced supra-molecular architectures/crystal packing patterns. It was found that ethoxzolamide provides an ideal case study for testing the accuracy with which this methodology allows to distinguish between various structural features emerging from the analysis of the powder diffraction data. This journal is © the Owner Societies 2011

Structural investigation of α-LaZr2F11 by coupling X-ray powder diffraction, 19F solid state NMR and DFT calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martineau, Charlotte; Legein, Christophe; Body, Monique; Péron, Olivier; Boulard, Brigitte; Fayon, Franck

2013-03-01

α-LaZr2F11 has been synthesized by solid state reaction. Its crystal structure has been refined from X-ray powder diffraction data (space group no. 72 Ibam, a=7.785(1) Å, b=10.086(1) Å and c=11.102(1) Å). α-LaZr2F11 contains one La, one Zr and four F inequivalent crystallographic sites. F3 and F4 are shared between one ZrF73- polyhedron and one LaF85- polyhedron, while F1 and F2 bridge two ZrF73- polyhedra. 19F 1D MAS NMR spectra of α-LaZr2F11 are in agreement with the proposed structural model. Assignment of the 19F resonances to the corresponding crystallographic sites has been performed on the basis of both their relative intensities and their correlation patterns in a 19F 2D dipolar-based double-quantum recoupling MAS NMR spectrum. DFT calculations of the 19F chemical shielding tensors have been performed using the GIPAW method implemented in the NMR-CASTEP code, for the experimental structure and two PBE-DFT geometry optimized structures of α-LaZr2F11 (atomic position optimization and full geometry optimization with rescaling of the unit cell volume to the experimental value). Computations were done with and without using a modified La pseudopotential allowing the treatment of the 4f localized empty orbitals of La3+. A relatively nice agreement between the experimental 19F isotropic and anisotropic chemical shifts and the values calculated for the proposed structural model is obtained.

Theoretical NMR correlations based Structure Discussion.

PubMed

Junker, Jochen

2011-07-28

The constitutional assignment of natural products by NMR spectroscopy is usually based on 2D NMR experiments like COSY, HSQC, and HMBC. The actual difficulty of the structure elucidation problem depends more on the type of the investigated molecule than on its size. The moment HMBC data is involved in the process or a large number of heteroatoms is present, a possibility of multiple solutions fitting the same data set exists. A structure elucidation software can be used to find such alternative constitutional assignments and help in the discussion in order to find the correct solution. But this is rarely done. This article describes the use of theoretical NMR correlation data in the structure elucidation process with WEBCOCON, not for the initial constitutional assignments, but to define how well a suggested molecule could have been described by NMR correlation data. The results of this analysis can be used to decide on further steps needed to assure the correctness of the structural assignment. As first step the analysis of the deviation of carbon chemical shifts is performed, comparing chemical shifts predicted for each possible solution with the experimental data. The application of this technique to three well known compounds is shown. Using NMR correlation data alone for the description of the constitutions is not always enough, even when including 13C chemical shift prediction.

Quantitative analysis of protein-ligand interactions by NMR.

PubMed

Furukawa, Ayako; Konuma, Tsuyoshi; Yanaka, Saeko; Sugase, Kenji

2016-08-01

Protein-ligand interactions have been commonly studied through static structures of the protein-ligand complex. Recently, however, there has been increasing interest in investigating the dynamics of protein-ligand interactions both for fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanisms and for drug development. NMR is a versatile and powerful tool, especially because it provides site-specific quantitative information. NMR has widely been used to determine the dissociation constant (KD), in particular, for relatively weak interactions. The simplest NMR method is a chemical-shift titration experiment, in which the chemical-shift changes of a protein in response to ligand titration are measured. There are other quantitative NMR methods, but they mostly apply only to interactions in the fast-exchange regime. These methods derive the dissociation constant from population-averaged NMR quantities of the free and bound states of a protein or ligand. In contrast, the recent advent of new relaxation-based experiments, including R2 relaxation dispersion and ZZ-exchange, has enabled us to obtain kinetic information on protein-ligand interactions in the intermediate- and slow-exchange regimes. Based on R2 dispersion or ZZ-exchange, methods that can determine the association rate, kon, dissociation rate, koff, and KD have been developed. In these approaches, R2 dispersion or ZZ-exchange curves are measured for multiple samples with different protein and/or ligand concentration ratios, and the relaxation data are fitted to theoretical kinetic models. It is critical to choose an appropriate kinetic model, such as the two- or three-state exchange model, to derive the correct kinetic information. The R2 dispersion and ZZ-exchange methods are suitable for the analysis of protein-ligand interactions with a micromolar or sub-micromolar dissociation constant but not for very weak interactions, which are typical in very fast exchange. This contrasts with the NMR methods that are used to analyze population-averaged NMR quantities. Essentially, to apply NMR successfully, both the type of experiment and equation to fit the data must be carefully and specifically chosen for the protein-ligand interaction under analysis. In this review, we first explain the exchange regimes and kinetic models of protein-ligand interactions, and then describe the NMR methods that quantitatively analyze these specific interactions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interaction of lafutidine in binding to human serum albumin in gastric ulcer therapy: STD-NMR, WaterLOGSY-NMR, NMR relaxation times, Tr-NOESY, molecule docking, and spectroscopic studies.

PubMed

Yang, Hongqin; Huang, Yanmei; He, Jiawei; Li, Shanshan; Tang, Bin; Li, Hui

2016-09-15

In this study, lafutidine (LAF) was used as a model compound to investigate the binding mechanism between antiulcer drugs and human serum albumin (HSA) through various techniques, including STD-NMR, WaterLOGSY-NMR, (1)H NMR relaxation times, tr-NOESY, molecule docking calculation, FT-IR spectroscopy, and CD spectroscopy. The analyses of STD-NMR, which derived relative STD (%) intensities, and WaterLOGSY-NMR, determined that LAF bound to HSA. In particular, the pyridyl group of LAF was in close contact with HSA binding pocket, whereas furyl group had a secondary binding. Competitive STD-NMR and WaterLOGSY-NMR experiments, with warifarin and ibuprofen as site-selective probes, indicated that LAF preferentially bound to site II in the hydrophobic subdomains IIIA of HSA. The bound conformation of LAF at the HSA binding site was further elucidated by transferred NOE effect (tr-NOESY) experiment. Relaxation experiments provided quantitative information about the relationship between the affinity and structure of LAF. The molecule docking simulations conducted with AutoDock and the restraints derived from STD results led to three-dimensional models that were consistent with the NMR spectroscopic data. The presence of hydrophobic forces and hydrogen interactions was also determined. Additionally, FT-IR and CD spectroscopies showed that LAF induced secondary structure changes of HSA. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spectroscopic studies of the intramolecular hydrogen bonding in o-hydroxy Schiff bases, derived from diaminomaleonitrile, and their deprotonation reaction products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szady-Chełmieniecka, Anna; Kołodziej, Beata; Morawiak, Maja; Kamieński, Bohdan; Schilf, Wojciech

2018-01-01

The structural study of five Schiff bases derived from diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN) and 2-hydroxy carbonyl compounds was performed using 1H, 13C and 15N NMR methods in solution and in the solid state as well. ATR-FTIR and X-Ray spectroscopies were used for confirmation of the results obtained by NMR method. The imine obtained from DAMN and benzaldehyde was synthesized as a model compound which lacks intramolecular hydrogen bond. Deprotonation of all synthesized compounds was done by treating with tetramethylguanidine (TMG). NMR data revealed that salicylidene Schiff bases in DMSO solution exist as OH forms without intramolecular hydrogen bonds and independent on the substituents in aromatic ring. In the case of 2-hydroxy naphthyl derivative, the OH proton is engaged into weak intramolecular hydrogen bond. Two of imines (salDAMN and 5-BrsalDAMN) exist in DMSO solution as equilibrium mixtures of two isomers (A and B). The structures of equilibrium mixture in the solid state have been studied by NMR, ATR-FTIR and X-Ray methods. The deprotonation of three studied compounds (salDAMN, 5-BrsalDAMN, and 5-CH3salDAMN) proceeded in two different ways: deprotonation of oxygen atom (X form) or of nitrogen atom of free primary amine group of DAMN moiety (Y form). For 5-NO2salDAMN and naphDAMN only one form (X) was observed.

Bayesian Peak Picking for NMR Spectra

PubMed Central

Cheng, Yichen; Gao, Xin; Liang, Faming

2013-01-01

Protein structure determination is a very important topic in structural genomics, which helps people to understand varieties of biological functions such as protein-protein interactions, protein–DNA interactions and so on. Nowadays, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has often been used to determine the three-dimensional structures of protein in vivo. This study aims to automate the peak picking step, the most important and tricky step in NMR structure determination. We propose to model the NMR spectrum by a mixture of bivariate Gaussian densities and use the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm as the computational tool to solve the problem. Under the Bayesian framework, the peak picking problem is casted as a variable selection problem. The proposed method can automatically distinguish true peaks from false ones without preprocessing the data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort in the literature that tackles the peak picking problem for NMR spectrum data using Bayesian method. PMID:24184964

Characterization of proton exchange membrane materials for fuel cells by solid state nuclear magnetic resonance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kong, Zueqian

2010-01-01

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been used to explore the nanometer-scale structure of Nafion, the widely used fuel cell membrane, and its composites. We have shown that solid-state NMR can characterize chemical structure and composition, domain size and morphology, internuclear distances, molecular dynamics, etc. The newly-developed water channel model of Nafion has been confirmed, and important characteristic length-scales established. Nafion-based organic and inorganic composites with special properties have also been characterized and their structures elucidated. The morphology of Nafion varies with hydration level, and is reflected in the changes in surface-to-volume (S/V) ratio of the polymer obtained by small-anglemore » X-ray scattering (SAXS). The S/V ratios of different Nafion models have been evaluated numerically. It has been found that only the water channel model gives the measured S/V ratios in the normal hydration range of a working fuel cell, while dispersed water molecules and polymer ribbons account for the structures at low and high hydration levels, respectively.« less

Mixing and Matching Detergents for Membrane Protein NMR Structure Determination

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Columbus, Linda; Lipfert, Jan; Jambunathan, Kalyani

2009-10-21

One major obstacle to membrane protein structure determination is the selection of a detergent micelle that mimics the native lipid bilayer. Currently, detergents are selected by exhaustive screening because the effects of protein-detergent interactions on protein structure are poorly understood. In this study, the structure and dynamics of an integral membrane protein in different detergents is investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The results suggest that matching of the micelle dimensions to the protein's hydrophobic surface avoids exchange processes that reduce the completeness of the NMR observations. Based onmore » these dimensions, several mixed micelles were designed that improved the completeness of NMR observations. These findings provide a basis for the rational design of mixed micelles that may advance membrane protein structure determination by NMR.« less

VITAL NMR: Using Chemical Shift Derived Secondary Structure Information for a Limited Set of Amino Acids to Assess Homology Model Accuracy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brothers, Michael C; Nesbitt, Anna E; Hallock, Michael J

2011-01-01

Homology modeling is a powerful tool for predicting protein structures, whose success depends on obtaining a reasonable alignment between a given structural template and the protein sequence being analyzed. In order to leverage greater predictive power for proteins with few structural templates, we have developed a method to rank homology models based upon their compliance to secondary structure derived from experimental solid-state NMR (SSNMR) data. Such data is obtainable in a rapid manner by simple SSNMR experiments (e.g., (13)C-(13)C 2D correlation spectra). To test our homology model scoring procedure for various amino acid labeling schemes, we generated a library ofmore » 7,474 homology models for 22 protein targets culled from the TALOS+/SPARTA+ training set of protein structures. Using subsets of amino acids that are plausibly assigned by SSNMR, we discovered that pairs of the residues Val, Ile, Thr, Ala and Leu (VITAL) emulate an ideal dataset where all residues are site specifically assigned. Scoring the models with a predicted VITAL site-specific dataset and calculating secondary structure with the Chemical Shift Index resulted in a Pearson correlation coefficient (-0.75) commensurate to the control (-0.77), where secondary structure was scored site specifically for all amino acids (ALL 20) using STRIDE. This method promises to accelerate structure procurement by SSNMR for proteins with unknown folds through guiding the selection of remotely homologous protein templates and assessing model quality.« less

Accurate protein structure modeling using sparse NMR data and homologous structure information.

PubMed

Thompson, James M; Sgourakis, Nikolaos G; Liu, Gaohua; Rossi, Paolo; Tang, Yuefeng; Mills, Jeffrey L; Szyperski, Thomas; Montelione, Gaetano T; Baker, David

2012-06-19

While information from homologous structures plays a central role in X-ray structure determination by molecular replacement, such information is rarely used in NMR structure determination because it can be incorrect, both locally and globally, when evolutionary relationships are inferred incorrectly or there has been considerable evolutionary structural divergence. Here we describe a method that allows robust modeling of protein structures of up to 225 residues by combining (1)H(N), (13)C, and (15)N backbone and (13)Cβ chemical shift data, distance restraints derived from homologous structures, and a physically realistic all-atom energy function. Accurate models are distinguished from inaccurate models generated using incorrect sequence alignments by requiring that (i) the all-atom energies of models generated using the restraints are lower than models generated in unrestrained calculations and (ii) the low-energy structures converge to within 2.0 Å backbone rmsd over 75% of the protein. Benchmark calculations on known structures and blind targets show that the method can accurately model protein structures, even with very remote homology information, to a backbone rmsd of 1.2-1.9 Å relative to the conventional determined NMR ensembles and of 0.9-1.6 Å relative to X-ray structures for well-defined regions of the protein structures. This approach facilitates the accurate modeling of protein structures using backbone chemical shift data without need for side-chain resonance assignments and extensive analysis of NOESY cross-peak assignments.

Quantum-chemical, NMR and X-ray diffraction studies on (+/-)-1-[3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenyl]-2-methylaminopropane.

PubMed

Zapata-Torres, Gerald; Cassels, Bruce K; Parra-Mouchet, Julia; Mascarenhas, Yvonne P; Ellena, Javier; De Araujo, A S

2008-06-01

Time-averaged conformations of (+/-)-1-[3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenyl]-2-methylaminopropane hydrochloride (MDMA, "ecstasy") in D(2)O, and of its free base and trifluoroacetate in CDCl(3), were deduced from their (1)H NMR spectra and used to calculate their conformer distribution. Their rotational potential energy surface (PES) was calculated at the RHF/6-31G(d,p), B3LYP/6-31G(d,p), B3LYP/cc-pVDZ and AM1 levels. Solvent effects were evaluated using the polarizable continuum model. The NMR and theoretical studies showed that, in the free base, the N-methyl group and the ring are preferentially trans. This preference is stronger in the salts and corresponds to the X-ray structure of the hydrochloride. However, the energy barriers separating these forms are very low. The X-ray diffraction crystal structures of the anhydrous salt and its monohydrate differed mainly in the trans or cis relationship of the N-methyl group to the alpha-methyl, although these two forms interconvert freely in solution.

Methylpyrrole inhibitors of BET bromodomains

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hasvold, Lisa A.; Sheppard, George S.; Wang, Le

2017-05-01

An NMR fragment screen for binders to the bromodomains of BRD4 identified 2-methyl-3-ketopyrroles 1 and 2. Elaboration of these fragments guided by structure-based design provided lead molecules with significant activity in a mouse tumor model. Further modifications to the methylpyrrole core provided compounds with improved properties and enhanced activity in a mouse model of multiple myeloma.

Experimental Protein Structure Verification by Scoring with a Single, Unassigned NMR Spectrum.

PubMed

Courtney, Joseph M; Ye, Qing; Nesbitt, Anna E; Tang, Ming; Tuttle, Marcus D; Watt, Eric D; Nuzzio, Kristin M; Sperling, Lindsay J; Comellas, Gemma; Peterson, Joseph R; Morrissey, James H; Rienstra, Chad M

2015-10-06

Standard methods for de novo protein structure determination by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) require time-consuming data collection and interpretation efforts. Here we present a qualitatively distinct and novel approach, called Comparative, Objective Measurement of Protein Architectures by Scoring Shifts (COMPASS), which identifies the best structures from a set of structural models by numerical comparison with a single, unassigned 2D (13)C-(13)C NMR spectrum containing backbone and side-chain aliphatic signals. COMPASS does not require resonance assignments. It is particularly well suited for interpretation of magic-angle spinning solid-state NMR spectra, but also applicable to solution NMR spectra. We demonstrate COMPASS with experimental data from four proteins--GB1, ubiquitin, DsbA, and the extracellular domain of human tissue factor--and with reconstructed spectra from 11 additional proteins. For all these proteins, with molecular mass up to 25 kDa, COMPASS distinguished the correct fold, most often within 1.5 Å root-mean-square deviation of the reference structure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Protein Structure Verification by Scoring with a Single, Unassigned NMR Spectrum

PubMed Central

Courtney, Joseph M.; Ye, Qing; Nesbitt, Anna E.; Tang, Ming; Tuttle, Marcus D.; Watt, Eric D.; Nuzzio, Kristin M.; Sperling, Lindsay J.; Comellas, Gemma; Peterson, Joseph R.; Morrissey, James H.; Rienstra, Chad M.

2016-01-01

Standard methods for de novo protein structure determination by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) require time-consuming data collection and interpretation efforts. Here we present a qualitatively distinct and novel approach, called Comparative, Objective Measurement of Protein Architectures by Scoring Shifts (COMPASS), which identifies the best structures from a set of structural models by numerical comparison with a single, unassigned 2D 13C-13C NMR spectrum containing backbone and side-chain aliphatic signals. COMPASS does not require resonance assignments. It is particularly well suited for interpretation of magic-angle spinning solid-state NMR spectra, but also applicable to solution NMR spectra. We demonstrate COMPASS with experimental data from four proteins—GB1, ubiquitin, DsbA, and the extracellular domain of human tissue factor—and with reconstructed spectra from 11 additional proteins. For all these proteins, with molecular mass up to 25 kDa, COMPASS distinguished the correct fold, most often within 1.5 Å root-mean-square deviation of the reference structure. PMID:26365800

Sensitivity of ab Initio vs Empirical Methods in Computing Structural Effects on NMR Chemical Shifts for the Example of Peptides.

PubMed

Sumowski, Chris Vanessa; Hanni, Matti; Schweizer, Sabine; Ochsenfeld, Christian

2014-01-14

The structural sensitivity of NMR chemical shifts as computed by quantum chemical methods is compared to a variety of empirical approaches for the example of a prototypical peptide, the 38-residue kaliotoxin KTX comprising 573 atoms. Despite the simplicity of empirical chemical shift prediction programs, the agreement with experimental results is rather good, underlining their usefulness. However, we show in our present work that they are highly insensitive to structural changes, which renders their use for validating predicted structures questionable. In contrast, quantum chemical methods show the expected high sensitivity to structural and electronic changes. This appears to be independent of the quantum chemical approach or the inclusion of solvent effects. For the latter, explicit solvent simulations with increasing number of snapshots were performed for two conformers of an eight amino acid sequence. In conclusion, the empirical approaches neither provide the expected magnitude nor the patterns of NMR chemical shifts determined by the clearly more costly ab initio methods upon structural changes. This restricts the use of empirical prediction programs in studies where peptide and protein structures are utilized for the NMR chemical shift evaluation such as in NMR refinement processes, structural model verifications, or calculations of NMR nuclear spin relaxation rates.

Development and Use of a Virtual NMR Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keating, Kelly A.; Myers, James D.; Pelton, Jeffrey G.; Bair, Raymond A.; Wemmer, David E.; Ellis, Paul D.

2000-03-01

We have developed a "virtual NMR facility" (VNMRF) to enhance access to the NMR spectrometers in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). We use the term virtual facility to describe a real NMR facility made accessible via the Internet. The VNMRF combines secure remote operation of the EMSL's NMR spectrometers over the Internet with real-time videoconferencing, remotely controlled laboratory cameras, real-time computer display sharing, a Web-based electronic laboratory notebook, and other capabilities. Remote VNMRF users can see and converse with EMSL researchers, directly and securely control the EMSL spectrometers, and collaboratively analyze results. A customized Electronic Laboratory Notebook allows interactive Web-based access to group notes, experimental parameters, proposed molecular structures, and other aspects of a research project. This paper describes our experience developing a VNMRF and details the specific capabilities available through the EMSL VNMRF. We show how the VNMRF has evolved during a test project and present an evaluation of its impact in the EMSL and its potential as a model for other scientific facilities. All Collaboratory software used in the VNMRF is freely available from http://www.emsl.pnl.gov:2080/docs/collab.

Characterization of Sodium Mobility and Binding by 23 Na NMR Spectroscopy in a Model Lipoproteic Emulsion Gel for Sodium Reduction.

PubMed

Okada, Kyle S; Lee, Youngsoo

2017-07-01

The effects of formulation and processing parameters on sodium availability in a model lipid/protein-based emulsion gel were studied for purposes of sodium reduction. Heat-set model gels were prepared with varying levels of protein, lipid, and NaCl contents and high pressure homogenization treatments. Single quantum and double quantum-filtered 23 Na NMR spectroscopy experiments were used to characterize sodium mobility, structural order around "bound" (restricted mobility) sodium, and sodium binding, which have been correlated to saltiness perception in food systems previously. Total sodium mobility was lower in gels with higher protein or fat content, and was not affected by changes in homogenization pressure. The gels with increased protein, fat, or homogenization pressure had increased structure surrounding "bound" sodium and more relative "bound" sodium due to increased interfacial protein interactions. The data obtained in this study provide information on factors affecting sodium availability, which can be applied towards sodium reduction in lipid/protein-based foods. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Using NMR Spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Harner, Mary J.; Frank, Andreas O.; Fesik, Stephen W.

2013-01-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has evolved into a powerful tool for fragment-based drug discovery over the last two decades. While NMR has been traditionally used to elucidate the three-dimensional structures and dynamics of biomacromolecules and their interactions, it can also be a very valuable tool for the reliable identification of small molecules that bind to proteins and for hit-to-lead optimization. Here, we describe the use of NMR spectroscopy as a method for fragment-based drug discovery and how to most effectively utilize this approach for discovering novel therapeutics based on our experience. PMID:23686385

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leenheer, J.A.; Brown, G.K.; Cabaniss, S.E.

Fulvic acid, isolated from the Suwannee River, Georgia, was assessed for its ability to bind Ca{sup 2+}, Cd{sup 2+}, Cu{sup 2+}, Ni{sup 2+}, and Zn{sup 2+} ions at pH 6 before and after extensive fractionation that was designed to reveal the nature of metal binding functional groups. The binding constant for Ca{sup 2+} ion had the greatest increase of all the ions in a metal binding fraction that was selected for intensive characterization for the purpose of building quantitative average model structures. The metal binding fraction was characterized by quantitative {sup 13}C NMR, {sup 1}H NMR, and FT-IR spectrometry andmore » elemental, titrimetric, and molecular weight determinations. The characterization data revealed that carboxyl groups were clustered in short-chain aliphatic dibasic acid structures. The Ca{sup 2+} binding data suggested that ether-substituted oxysuccinic acid structures are good models for the metal binding sites at pH 6. Structural models were derived based upon oxidation and photolytic rearrangements of cutin, lignin, and tannin precursors. These structural models rich in substituted dibasic acid structures revealed polydentate binding sites with the potential for both inner-sphere and outer-sphere type binding. The majority of the fulvic acid molecule was involved with metal binding rather than a small substructural unit.« less

[superscript 1]H NMR Spectroscopy-Based Configurational Analysis of Mono- and Disaccharides and Detection of ß-Glucosidase Activity: An Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Periyannan, Gopal R.; Lawrence, Barbara A.; Egan, Annie E.

2015-01-01

A [superscript 1]H NMR spectroscopy-based laboratory experiment explores mono- and disaccharide structural chemistry, and the enzyme-substrate specificity of glycosidic bond cleavage by ß-glucosidase towards cellobiose (ß-linked gluco-disaccharide) and maltose (a-linked gluco-disaccharide). Structural differences between cellobiose, maltose, and…

Comprehensive computational design of ordered peptide macrocycles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hosseinzadeh, Parisa; Bhardwaj, Gaurav; Mulligan, Vikram Khipple

Mixed chirality peptide macrocycles such as cyclosporine are among the most potent therapeutics identified to-date, but there is currently no way to systematically search through the structural space spanned by such compounds for new drug candidates. Natural proteins do not provide a useful guide: peptide macrocycles lack regular secondary structures and hydrophobic cores and have different backbone torsional constraints. Hence the development of new peptide macrocycles has been approached by modifying natural products or using library selection methods; the former is limited by the small number of known structures, and the latter by the limited size and diversity accessible throughmore » library-based methods. To overcome these limitations, here we enumerate the stable structures that can be adopted by macrocyclic peptides composed of L and D amino acids. We identify more than 200 designs predicted to fold into single stable structures, many times more than the number of currently available unbound peptide macrocycle structures. We synthesize and characterize by NMR twelve 7-10 residue macrocycles, 9 of which have structures very close to the design models in solution. NMR structures of three 11-14 residue bicyclic designs are also very close to the computational models. Our results provide a nearly complete coverage of the rich space of structures possible for short peptide based macrocycles unparalleled for other molecular systems, and vastly increase the available starting scaffolds for both rational drug design and library selection methods.« less

Structure determination of Ba5AlF13 by coupling electron, synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction, solid-state NMR and ab initio calculations.

PubMed

Martineau, Charlotte; Allix, Mathieu; Suchomel, Matthew R; Porcher, Florence; Vivet, François; Legein, Christophe; Body, Monique; Massiot, Dominique; Taulelle, Francis; Fayon, Franck

2016-10-04

The room temperature structure of Ba 5 AlF 13 has been investigated by coupling electron, synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction, solid-state high-resolution NMR ( 19 F and 27 Al) and first principles calculations. An initial structural model has been obtained from electron and synchrotron powder diffraction data, and its main features have been confirmed by one- and two-dimensional NMR measurements. However, DFT GIPAW calculations of the 19 F isotropic shieldings revealed an inaccurate location of one fluorine site (F3, site 8a), which exhibited unusual long F-Ba distances. The atomic arrangement was reinvestigated using neutron powder diffraction data. Subsequent Fourier maps showed that this fluorine atom occupies a crystallographic site of lower symmetry (32e) with partial occupancy (25%). GIPAW computations of the NMR parameters validate the refined structural model, ruling out the presence of local static disorder and indicating that the partial occupancy of this F site reflects a local motional process. Visualisation of the dynamic process was then obtained from the Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data using an anharmonic description of the displacement parameters to account for the thermal motion of the mobile fluorine. The whole ensemble of powder diffraction and NMR data, coupled with first principles calculations, allowed drawing an accurate structural model of Ba 5 AlF 13 , including site-specific dynamical disorder in the fluorine sub-network.

Determination of the three-dimensional structure of oligosaccharides in the solid state from experimental 13C NMR data and ab initio chemical shift surfaces.

PubMed

Sergeyev, Ivan; Moyna, Guillermo

2005-05-02

A novel method for the determination of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of oligosaccharides in the solid state using experimental 13C NMR data is presented. The approach employs this information, combined with 13C chemical shift surfaces (CSSs) for the glycosidic bond carbons in the generation of NMR pseudopotential energy functions suitable for use as constraints in molecular modeling simulations. Application of the method to trehalose, cellobiose, and cellotetraose produces 3D models that agree remarkably well with the reported X-ray structures, with phi and psi dihedral angles that are within 10 degrees from the ones observed in the crystals. The usefulness of the approach is further demonstrated in the determination of the 3D structure of the cellohexaose, an hexasaccharide for which no X-ray data has been reported, as well as in the generation of accurate structural models for cellulose II and amylose V6.

Understanding the NMR properties and conformational behavior of indole vs. azaindole group in protoberberines: NICS and NCS analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadam, Shivaji S.; Toušek, Jaromír; Maier, Lukáš; Pipíška, Matej; Sklenář, Vladimír; Marek, Radek

2012-11-01

We report here the preparation and the structural investigation into a series of 8-(indol-1-yl)-7,8-dihydroprotoberberine derivatives derived from berberine, palmatine, and coptisine. Structures of these new compounds were characterized mainly by 2D NMR spectroscopy and the conformational behavior was investigated by using methods of density-functional theory (DFT). PBE0/6-311+G** calculated NMR chemical shifts for selected derivatives correlate excellently with the experimental NMR data and support the structural conclusions drawn from the NMR experiments. An interesting role of the nitrogen atom in position N7' of the indole moiety in 8-(7-azaindol-1-yl)-7,8-dihydroprotoberberines as compared to other 8-indolyl derivatives is investigated in detail. The experimentally observed trends in NMR chemical shifts are rationalized by DFT calculations and analysis based on the nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS) and natural localized molecular orbitals (NLMOs).

The chemical structure of highly aromatic humic acids in three volcanic ash soils as determined by dipolar dephasing NMR studies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hatcher, P.G.; Schnitzer, M.; Vassallo, A.M.; Wilson, M.A.

1989-01-01

Dipolar dephasing 13C NMR studies of three highly aromatic humic acids, one from a modern soil and two from paleosols, have permitted the determination of the degree of aromatic substitution. From these data and the normal solid-state 13C NMR data we have been able to develop a model for the average chemical structure of these humic acids that generally correlates well with permanganate oxidation data. The models depict these humic acids as benzene di- and tricarboxylic acids interconnected by biphenyl linkages. An increasing degree of substitution is observed with increasing geologic age. These structures may be characteristic of the resistant aromatic part of the "core" of humic substances that survives degradation. ?? 1989.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lammert, Heiko; Noel, Jeffrey K.; Haglund, Ellinor

The diversity in a set of protein nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures provides an estimate of native state fluctuations that can be used to refine and enrich structure-based protein models (SBMs). Dynamics are an essential part of a protein’s functional native state. The dynamics in the native state are controlled by the same funneled energy landscape that guides the entire folding process. SBMs apply the principle of minimal frustration, drawn from energy landscape theory, to construct a funneled folding landscape for a given protein using only information from the native structure. On an energy landscape smoothed by evolution towards minimalmore » frustration, geometrical constraints, imposed by the native structure, control the folding mechanism and shape the native dynamics revealed by the model. Native-state fluctuations can alternatively be estimated directly from the diversity in the set of NMR structures for a protein. Based on this information, we identify a highly flexible loop in the ribosomal protein S6 and modify the contact map in a SBM to accommodate the inferred dynamics. By taking into account the probable native state dynamics, the experimental transition state is recovered in the model, and the correct order of folding events is restored. Our study highlights how the shared energy landscape connects folding and function by showing that a better description of the native basin improves the prediction of the folding mechanism.« less

NMR studies of protein-nucleic acid interactions.

PubMed

Varani, Gabriele; Chen, Yu; Leeper, Thomas C

2004-01-01

Protein-DNA and protein-RNA complexes play key functional roles in every living organism. Therefore, the elucidation of their structure and dynamics is an important goal of structural and molecular biology. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies of protein and nucleic acid complexes have common features with studies of protein-protein complexes: the interaction surfaces between the molecules must be carefully delineated, the relative orientation of the two species needs to be accurately and precisely determined, and close intermolecular contacts defined by nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs) must be obtained. However, differences in NMR properties (e.g., chemical shifts) and biosynthetic pathways for sample productions generate important differences. Chemical shift differences between the protein and nucleic acid resonances can aid the NMR structure determination process; however, the relatively limited dispersion of the RNA ribose resonances makes the process of assigning intermolecular NOEs more difficult. The analysis of the resulting structures requires computational tools unique to nucleic acid interactions. This chapter summarizes the most important elements of the structure determination by NMR of protein-nucleic acid complexes and their analysis. The main emphasis is on recent developments (e.g., residual dipolar couplings and new Web-based analysis tools) that have facilitated NMR studies of these complexes and expanded the type of biological problems to which NMR techniques of structural elucidation can now be applied.

Rapid analysis of protein backbone resonance assignments using cryogenic probes, a distributed Linux-based computing architecture, and an integrated set of spectral analysis tools.

PubMed

Monleón, Daniel; Colson, Kimberly; Moseley, Hunter N B; Anklin, Clemens; Oswald, Robert; Szyperski, Thomas; Montelione, Gaetano T

2002-01-01

Rapid data collection, spectral referencing, processing by time domain deconvolution, peak picking and editing, and assignment of NMR spectra are necessary components of any efficient integrated system for protein NMR structure analysis. We have developed a set of software tools designated AutoProc, AutoPeak, and AutoAssign, which function together with the data processing and peak-picking programs NMRPipe and Sparky, to provide an integrated software system for rapid analysis of protein backbone resonance assignments. In this paper we demonstrate that these tools, together with high-sensitivity triple resonance NMR cryoprobes for data collection and a Linux-based computer cluster architecture, can be combined to provide nearly complete backbone resonance assignments and secondary structures (based on chemical shift data) for a 59-residue protein in less than 30 hours of data collection and processing time. In this optimum case of a small protein providing excellent spectra, extensive backbone resonance assignments could also be obtained using less than 6 hours of data collection and processing time. These results demonstrate the feasibility of high throughput triple resonance NMR for determining resonance assignments and secondary structures of small proteins, and the potential for applying NMR in large scale structural proteomics projects.

Molecular structures of amyloid and prion fibrils: consensus versus controversy.

PubMed

Tycko, Robert; Wickner, Reed B

2013-07-16

Many peptides and proteins self-assemble into amyloid fibrils. Examples include mammalian and fungal prion proteins, polypeptides associated with human amyloid diseases, and proteins that may have biologically functional amyloid states. To understand the propensity for polypeptides to form amyloid fibrils and to facilitate rational design of amyloid inhibitors and imaging agents, it is necessary to elucidate the molecular structures of these fibrils. Although fibril structures were largely mysterious 15 years ago, a considerable body of reliable structural information about amyloid fibril structures now exists, with essential contributions from solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. This Account reviews results from our laboratories and discusses several structural issues that have been controversial. In many cases, the amino acid sequences of amyloid fibrils do not uniquely determine their molecular structures. Self-propagating, molecular-level polymorphism complicates the structure determination problem and can lead to apparent disagreements between results from different laboratories, particularly when different laboratories study different polymorphs. For 40-residue β-amyloid (Aβ₁₋₄₀) fibrils associated with Alzheimer's disease, we have developed detailed structural models from solid state NMR and electron microscopy data for two polymorphs. These polymorphs have similar peptide conformations, identical in-register parallel β-sheet organizations, but different overall symmetry. Other polymorphs have also been partially characterized by solid state NMR and appear to have similar structures. In contrast, cryo-electron microscopy studies that use significantly different fibril growth conditions have identified structures that appear (at low resolution) to be different from those examined by solid state NMR. Based on solid state NMR and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements, the in-register parallel β-sheet organization found in β-amyloid fibrils also occurs in many other fibril-forming systems. We attribute this common structural motif to the stabilization of amyloid structures by intermolecular interactions among like amino acids, including hydrophobic interactions and polar zippers. Surprisingly, we have recently identified and characterized antiparallel β-sheets in certain fibrils that are formed by the D23N mutant of Aβ₁₋₄₀, a mutant that is associated with early-onset, familial neurodegenerative disease. Antiparallel D23N-Aβ₁₋₄₀ fibrils are metastable with respect to parallel structures and, therefore, represent an off-pathway intermediate in the amyloid fibril formation process. Other methods have recently produced additional evidence for antiparallel β-sheets in other amyloid-formation intermediates. As an alternative to simple parallel and antiparallel β-sheet structures, researchers have proposed β-helical structural models for some fibrils, especially those formed by mammalian and fungal prion proteins. Solid state NMR and EPR data show that fibrils formed in vitro by recombinant PrP have in-register parallel β-sheet structures. However, the structure of infectious PrP aggregates is not yet known. The fungal HET-s prion protein has been shown to contain a β-helical structure. However, all yeast prions studied by solid state NMR (Sup35p, Ure2p, and Rnq1p) have in-register parallel β-sheet structures, with their Gln- and Asn-rich N-terminal segments forming the fibril core.

Advanced solid-state NMR techniques for characterization of membrane protein structure and dynamics: Application to Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Meaghan E.; Brown, Leonid S.; Ladizhansky, Vladimir

2015-04-01

Studies of the structure, dynamics, and function of membrane proteins (MPs) have long been considered one of the main applications of solid-state NMR (SSNMR). Advances in instrumentation, and the plethora of new SSNMR methodologies developed over the past decade have resulted in a number of high-resolution structures and structural models of both bitopic and polytopic α-helical MPs. The necessity to retain lipids in the sample, the high proportion of one type of secondary structure, differential dynamics, and the possibility of local disorder in the loop regions all create challenges for structure determination. In this Perspective article we describe our recent efforts directed at determining the structure and functional dynamics of Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin, a heptahelical transmembrane (7TM) protein. We review some of the established and emerging methods which can be utilized for SSNMR-based structure determination, with a particular focus on those used for ASR, a bacterial protein which shares its 7TM architecture with G-protein coupled receptors.

Homonuclear 1H NMR and circular dichroism study of the HIV-1 Tat Eli variant.

PubMed

Watkins, Jennifer D; Campbell, Grant R; Halimi, Hubert; Loret, Erwann P

2008-09-22

The HIV-1 Tat protein is a promising target to develop AIDS therapies, particularly vaccines, due to its extracellular role that protects HIV-1-infected cells from the immune system. Tat exists in two different lengths, 86 or 87 residues and 99 or 101 residues, with the long form being predominant in clinical isolates. We report here a structural study of the 99 residue Tat Eli variant using 2D liquid-state NMR, molecular modeling and circular dichroism. Tat Eli was obtained from solid-phase peptide synthesis and the purified protein was proven biologically active in a trans-activation assay. Circular dichroism spectra at different temperatures up to 70 degrees C showed that Tat Eli is not a random coil at 20 degrees C. Homonuclear 1H NMR spectra allowed us to identify 1639 NMR distance constraints out of which 264 were interresidual. Molecular modeling satisfying at least 1474 NMR constraints revealed the same folding for different model structures. The Tat Eli model has a core region composed of a part of the N-terminus including the highly conserved Trp 11. The extra residues in the Tat Eli C-terminus protrude from a groove between the basic region and the cysteine-rich region and are well exposed to the solvent. We show that active Tat variants share a similar folding pattern whatever their size, but mutations induce local structural changes.

NMR Model of PrgI-SipD Interaction and its Implications in the Needle-Tip Assembly of the Salmonella Type III Secretion System

PubMed Central

Rathinavelan, Thenmalarchelvi; Lara-Tejero, Maria; Lefebre, Matthew; Chatterjee, Srirupa; McShan, Andrew C.; Guo, Da-Chuan; Tang, Chun; Galan, Jorge E.; De Guzman, Roberto N.

2014-01-01

Salmonella and other pathogenic bacteria use the type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject virulence proteins into human cells to initiate infections. The structural component of the T3SS contains a needle and a needle tip. The needle is assembled from PrgI needle protomers and the needle tip is capped with several copies of the SipD tip protein. How a tip protein docks on the needle is unclear. A crystal structure of a PrgI-SipD fusion protein docked on the PrgI needle results in steric clash of SipD at the needle tip when modeled on the recent atomic structure of the needle. Thus, there is currently no good model of how SipD is docked on the PrgI needle tip. Previously, we showed by NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) methods that a specific region in the SipD coiled-coil is the binding site for PrgI. Others have hypothesized that a domain of the tip protein – the N-terminal α-helical hairpin, has to swing away during the assembly of the needle apparatus. Here, we show by PRE methods that a truncated form of SipD lacking the α-helical hairpin domain binds more tightly to PrgI. Further, PRE-based structure calculations revealed multiple PrgI binding sites on the SipD coiled-coil. Our PRE results together with the recent NMR-derived atomic structure of the Salmonella needle suggest a possible model of how SipD might dock at the PrgI needle tip. SipD and PrgI are conserved in other bacterial T3SSs, thus our results have wider implication in understanding other needle-tip complexes. PMID:24951833

Characterization of D-glucaric acid using NMR, x-ray crystal structure, and MM3 molecular modeling analyses

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

D-glucaric acid was characterized in solution by comparing NMR spectra from the isotopically unlabeled molecule with those from D-glucaric acid labeled with deuterium or carbon-13 atoms. The NMR studies provided unequivocal assignments for all carbon atoms and non-hydroxyl protons of the molecule. ...

A new Schiff base compound N,N'-(2,2-dimetylpropane)-bis(dihydroxylacetophenone): synthesis, experimental and theoretical studies on its crystal structure, FTIR, UV-visible, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra.

PubMed

Saheb, Vahid; Sheikhshoaie, Iran

2011-10-15

The Schiff base compound, N,N'-(2,2-dimetylpropane)-bis(dihydroxylacetophenone) (NDHA) is synthesized through the condensation of 2-hydroxylacetophenone and 2,2-dimethyl 1,3-amino propane in methanol at ambient temperature. The yellow crystalline precipitate is used for X-ray single-crystal determination and measuring Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-visible, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectra. Electronic structure calculations at the B3LYP, PBEPBE and PW91PW91 levels of theory are performed to optimize the molecular geometry and to calculate the FTIR, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectra of the compound. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method is used to calculate the UV-visible spectrum of NDHA. Vibrational frequencies are determined experimentally and compared with those obtained theoretically. Vibrational assignments and analysis of the fundamental modes of the compound are also performed. All theoretical methods can well reproduce the structure of the compound. The (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR chemical shifts calculated by all DFT methods are consistent with the experimental data. However, the NMR shielding tensors computed at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory are in better agreement with experimental (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectra. The electronic absorption spectrum calculated at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level by using TD-DFT method is in accordance with the observed UV-visible spectrum of NDHA. In addition, some quantum descriptors of the molecule are calculated and conformational analysis is performed and the results were compared with the crystallographic data. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An introduction to NMR-based approaches for measuring protein dynamics

PubMed Central

Kleckner, Ian R; Foster, Mark P

2010-01-01

Proteins are inherently flexible at ambient temperature. At equilibrium, they are characterized by a set of conformations that undergo continuous exchange within a hierarchy of spatial and temporal scales ranging from nanometers to micrometers and femtoseconds to hours. Dynamic properties of proteins are essential for describing the structural bases of their biological functions including catalysis, binding, regulation and cellular structure. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy represents a powerful technique for measuring these essential features of proteins. Here we provide an introduction to NMR-based approaches for studying protein dynamics, highlighting eight distinct methods with recent examples, contextualized within a common experimental and analytical framework. The selected methods are (1) Real-time NMR, (2) Exchange spectroscopy, (3) Lineshape analysis, (4) CPMG relaxation dispersion, (5) Rotating frame relaxation dispersion, (6) Nuclear spin relaxation, (7) Residual dipolar coupling, (8) Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement. PMID:21059410

How to tackle protein structural data from solution and solid state: An integrated approach.

PubMed

Carlon, Azzurra; Ravera, Enrico; Andrałojć, Witold; Parigi, Giacomo; Murshudov, Garib N; Luchinat, Claudio

2016-02-01

Long-range NMR restraints, such as diamagnetic residual dipolar couplings and paramagnetic data, can be used to determine 3D structures of macromolecules. They are also used to monitor, and potentially to improve, the accuracy of a macromolecular structure in solution by validating or "correcting" a crystal model. Since crystal structures suffer from crystal packing forces they may not be accurate models for the macromolecular structures in solution. However, the presence of real differences should be tested for by simultaneous refinement of the structure using both crystal and solution NMR data. To achieve this, the program REFMAC5 from CCP4 was modified to allow the simultaneous use of X-ray crystallographic and paramagnetic NMR data and/or diamagnetic residual dipolar couplings. Inconsistencies between crystal structures and solution NMR data, if any, may be due either to structural rearrangements occurring on passing from the solution to solid state, or to a greater degree of conformational heterogeneity in solution with respect to the crystal. In the case of multidomain proteins, paramagnetic restraints can provide the correct mutual orientations and positions of domains in solution, as well as information on the conformational variability experienced by the macromolecule. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improved in-cell structure determination of proteins at near-physiological concentration

PubMed Central

Ikeya, Teppei; Hanashima, Tomomi; Hosoya, Saori; Shimazaki, Manato; Ikeda, Shiro; Mishima, Masaki; Güntert, Peter; Ito, Yutaka

2016-01-01

Investigating three-dimensional (3D) structures of proteins in living cells by in-cell nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy opens an avenue towards understanding the structural basis of their functions and physical properties under physiological conditions inside cells. In-cell NMR provides data at atomic resolution non-invasively, and has been used to detect protein-protein interactions, thermodynamics of protein stability, the behavior of intrinsically disordered proteins, etc. in cells. However, so far only a single de novo 3D protein structure could be determined based on data derived only from in-cell NMR. Here we introduce methods that enable in-cell NMR protein structure determination for a larger number of proteins at concentrations that approach physiological ones. The new methods comprise (1) advances in the processing of non-uniformly sampled NMR data, which reduces the measurement time for the intrinsically short-lived in-cell NMR samples, (2) automatic chemical shift assignment for obtaining an optimal resonance assignment, and (3) structure refinement with Bayesian inference, which makes it possible to calculate accurate 3D protein structures from sparse data sets of conformational restraints. As an example application we determined the structure of the B1 domain of protein G at about 250 μM concentration in living E. coli cells. PMID:27910948

NMR Crystallography of a Carbanionic Intermediate in Tryptophan Synthase: Chemical Structure, Tautomerization, and Reaction Specificity.

PubMed

Caulkins, Bethany G; Young, Robert P; Kudla, Ryan A; Yang, Chen; Bittbauer, Thomas J; Bastin, Baback; Hilario, Eduardo; Fan, Li; Marsella, Michael J; Dunn, Michael F; Mueller, Leonard J

2016-11-23

Carbanionic intermediates play a central role in the catalytic transformations of amino acids performed by pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes. Here, we make use of NMR crystallography-the synergistic combination of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray crystallography, and computational chemistry-to interrogate a carbanionic/quinonoid intermediate analogue in the β-subunit active site of the PLP-requiring enzyme tryptophan synthase. The solid-state NMR chemical shifts of the PLP pyridine ring nitrogen and additional sites, coupled with first-principles computational models, allow a detailed model of protonation states for ionizable groups on the cofactor, substrates, and nearby catalytic residues to be established. Most significantly, we find that a deprotonated pyridine nitrogen on PLP precludes formation of a true quinonoid species and that there is an equilibrium between the phenolic and protonated Schiff base tautomeric forms of this intermediate. Natural bond orbital analysis indicates that the latter builds up negative charge at the substrate C α and positive charge at C4' of the cofactor, consistent with its role as the catalytic tautomer. These findings support the hypothesis that the specificity for β-elimination/replacement versus transamination is dictated in part by the protonation states of ionizable groups on PLP and the reacting substrates and underscore the essential role that NMR crystallography can play in characterizing both chemical structure and dynamics within functioning enzyme active sites.

NMR Crystallography of a Carbanionic Intermediate in Tryptophan Synthase: Chemical Structure, Tautomerization, and Reaction Specificity

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Carbanionic intermediates play a central role in the catalytic transformations of amino acids performed by pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes. Here, we make use of NMR crystallography—the synergistic combination of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray crystallography, and computational chemistry—to interrogate a carbanionic/quinonoid intermediate analogue in the β-subunit active site of the PLP-requiring enzyme tryptophan synthase. The solid-state NMR chemical shifts of the PLP pyridine ring nitrogen and additional sites, coupled with first-principles computational models, allow a detailed model of protonation states for ionizable groups on the cofactor, substrates, and nearby catalytic residues to be established. Most significantly, we find that a deprotonated pyridine nitrogen on PLP precludes formation of a true quinonoid species and that there is an equilibrium between the phenolic and protonated Schiff base tautomeric forms of this intermediate. Natural bond orbital analysis indicates that the latter builds up negative charge at the substrate Cα and positive charge at C4′ of the cofactor, consistent with its role as the catalytic tautomer. These findings support the hypothesis that the specificity for β-elimination/replacement versus transamination is dictated in part by the protonation states of ionizable groups on PLP and the reacting substrates and underscore the essential role that NMR crystallography can play in characterizing both chemical structure and dynamics within functioning enzyme active sites. PMID:27779384

Bayesian peak picking for NMR spectra.

PubMed

Cheng, Yichen; Gao, Xin; Liang, Faming

2014-02-01

Protein structure determination is a very important topic in structural genomics, which helps people to understand varieties of biological functions such as protein-protein interactions, protein-DNA interactions and so on. Nowadays, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has often been used to determine the three-dimensional structures of protein in vivo. This study aims to automate the peak picking step, the most important and tricky step in NMR structure determination. We propose to model the NMR spectrum by a mixture of bivariate Gaussian densities and use the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm as the computational tool to solve the problem. Under the Bayesian framework, the peak picking problem is casted as a variable selection problem. The proposed method can automatically distinguish true peaks from false ones without preprocessing the data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort in the literature that tackles the peak picking problem for NMR spectrum data using Bayesian method. Copyright © 2013. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd.

Chemical shift and electric field gradient tensors for the amide and carboxyl hydrogens in the model peptide N-acetyl-D,L-valine. Single-crystal deuterium NMR study.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gerald, R. E., II; Bernhard, T.; Haeberlen, U.

1993-01-01

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is well established as a method for describing molecular structure with resolution on the atomic scale. Many of the NMR observables result from anisotropic interactions between the nuclear spin and its environment. These observables can be described by second-rank tensors. For example, the eigenvalues of the traceless symmetric part of the hydrogen chemical shift (CS) tensor provide information about the strength of inter- or intramolecular hydrogen bonding. On the other hand, the eigenvectors of the deuterium electric field gradient (EFG) tensor give deuteron/proton bond directions with an accuracy rivalled only by neutron diffraction. In this paper themore » authors report structural information of this type for the amide and carboxyl hydrogen sites in a single crystal of the model peptide N-acetyl-D,L-valine (NAV). They use deuterium NMR to infer both the EFG and CS tensors at the amide and carboxyl hydrogen sites in NAV. Advantages of this technique over multiple-pulse proton NMR are that it works in the presence of {sup 14}N spins which are very hard to decouple from protons and that additional information in form of the EFG tensors can be derived. The change in the CS and EFG tensors upon exchange of a deuteron for a proton (the isotope effect) is anticipated to be very small; the effect on the CS tensors is certainly smaller than the experimental errors. NAV has served as a model peptide before in a variety of NMR studies, including those concerned with developing solid-state NMR spectroscopy as a method for determining the structure of proteins. NMR experiments on peptide or protein samples which are oriented in at least one dimension can provide important information about the three-dimensional structure of the peptide or the protein. In order to interpret the NMR data in terms of the structure of the polypeptide, the relationship of the CS and EFG tensors to the local symmetry elements of an amino acide, e.g., the peptide plane, is essential. The main purpose of this work is to investigate this relationship for the amide hydrogen CS tensor. The amide hydrogen CS tensor will also provide orientational information for peptide bonds in proteins complementary to that from the nitrogen CS and EFG tensors and the nitrogen-hydrogen heteronuclear dipole-dipole coupling which have been used previously to determine protein structures by solid-state NMR spectroscopy. This information will be particularly valuable because the amide hydrogen CS tensor is not axially symmetric. In addition, the use of the amide hydrogen CS interaction in high-field solid-state NMR experiments will increase the available resolution among peptide sites.« less

Small-molecule ligand docking into comparative models with Rosetta

PubMed Central

Combs, Steven A; DeLuca, Samuel L; DeLuca, Stephanie H; Lemmon, Gordon H; Nannemann, David P; Nguyen, Elizabeth D; Willis, Jordan R; Sheehan, Jonathan H; Meiler, Jens

2017-01-01

Structure-based drug design is frequently used to accelerate the development of small-molecule therapeutics. Although substantial progress has been made in X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the availability of high-resolution structures is limited owing to the frequent inability to crystallize or obtain sufficient NMR restraints for large or flexible proteins. Computational methods can be used to both predict unknown protein structures and model ligand interactions when experimental data are unavailable. This paper describes a comprehensive and detailed protocol using the Rosetta modeling suite to dock small-molecule ligands into comparative models. In the protocol presented here, we review the comparative modeling process, including sequence alignment, threading and loop building. Next, we cover docking a small-molecule ligand into the protein comparative model. In addition, we discuss criteria that can improve ligand docking into comparative models. Finally, and importantly, we present a strategy for assessing model quality. The entire protocol is presented on a single example selected solely for didactic purposes. The results are therefore not representative and do not replace benchmarks published elsewhere. We also provide an additional tutorial so that the user can gain hands-on experience in using Rosetta. The protocol should take 5–7 h, with additional time allocated for computer generation of models. PMID:23744289

Spectroscopic studies of the intramolecular hydrogen bonding in o-hydroxy Schiff bases, derived from diaminomaleonitrile, and their deprotonation reaction products.

PubMed

Szady-Chełmieniecka, Anna; Kołodziej, Beata; Morawiak, Maja; Kamieński, Bohdan; Schilf, Wojciech

2018-01-15

The structural study of five Schiff bases derived from diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN) and 2-hydroxy carbonyl compounds was performed using 1 H, 13 C and 15 N NMR methods in solution and in the solid state as well. ATR-FTIR and X-Ray spectroscopies were used for confirmation of the results obtained by NMR method. The imine obtained from DAMN and benzaldehyde was synthesized as a model compound which lacks intramolecular hydrogen bond. Deprotonation of all synthesized compounds was done by treating with tetramethylguanidine (TMG). NMR data revealed that salicylidene Schiff bases in DMSO solution exist as OH forms without intramolecular hydrogen bonds and independent on the substituents in aromatic ring. In the case of 2-hydroxy naphthyl derivative, the OH proton is engaged into weak intramolecular hydrogen bond. Two of imines (salDAMN and 5-BrsalDAMN) exist in DMSO solution as equilibrium mixtures of two isomers (A and B). The structures of equilibrium mixture in the solid state have been studied by NMR, ATR-FTIR and X-Ray methods. The deprotonation of three studied compounds (salDAMN, 5-BrsalDAMN, and 5-CH 3 salDAMN) proceeded in two different ways: deprotonation of oxygen atom (X form) or of nitrogen atom of free primary amine group of DAMN moiety (Y form). For 5-NO 2 salDAMN and naphDAMN only one form (X) was observed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unraveling the meaning of chemical shifts in protein NMR.

PubMed

Berjanskii, Mark V; Wishart, David S

2017-11-01

Chemical shifts are among the most informative parameters in protein NMR. They provide wealth of information about protein secondary and tertiary structure, protein flexibility, and protein-ligand binding. In this report, we review the progress in interpreting and utilizing protein chemical shifts that has occurred over the past 25years, with a particular focus on the large body of work arising from our group and other Canadian NMR laboratories. More specifically, this review focuses on describing, assessing, and providing some historical context for various chemical shift-based methods to: (1) determine protein secondary and super-secondary structure; (2) derive protein torsion angles; (3) assess protein flexibility; (4) predict residue accessible surface area; (5) refine 3D protein structures; (6) determine 3D protein structures and (7) characterize intrinsically disordered proteins. This review also briefly covers some of the methods that we previously developed to predict chemical shifts from 3D protein structures and/or protein sequence data. It is hoped that this review will help to increase awareness of the considerable utility of NMR chemical shifts in structural biology and facilitate more widespread adoption of chemical-shift based methods by the NMR spectroscopists, structural biologists, protein biophysicists, and biochemists worldwide. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biophysics in Canada, edited by Lewis Kay, John Baenziger, Albert Berghuis and Peter Tieleman. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NMR structure of biosynthetic engineered human insulin monomer B31(Lys)-B32(Arg) in water/acetonitrile solution. Comparison with the solution structure of native human insulin monomer.

PubMed

Bocian, Wojciech; Borowicz, Piotr; Mikołajczyk, Jerzy; Sitkowski, Jerzy; Tarnowska, Anna; Bednarek, Elzbieta; Głabski, Tadeusz; Tejchman-Małecka, Bozena; Bogiel, Monika; Kozerski, Lech

2008-10-01

A solution NMR-derived structure of a new long -acting, B31(Lys)-B32(Arg) (LysArg), engineered human insulin monomer, in H(2)O/CD(3)CN, 65/35 vol %, pH 3.6, is presented and compared with the available X-ray structure of a monomer that forms part of a hexamer (Smith, et al., Acta Crystallogr D 2003, 59, 474) and with NMR structure of human insulin in the same solvent (Bocian, et al., J Biomol NMR 2008, 40, 55-64). Detailed analysis using PFGSE NMR (Pulsed Field Gradient Spin Echo NMR) in dilution experiments and CSI analysis prove that the structure is monomeric in the concentration range 0.1-3 mM. The presence of long-range interstrand NOEs in a studied structure, relevant to the distances found in the crystal structure of the monomer, provides the evidence for conservation of the tertiary structure. Therefore the results suggest that this solvent system is a suitable medium for studying the native conformation of the protein, especially in situations (as found for insulins) in which extensive aggregation renders structure elucidations in water difficult or impossible. Starting from the structures calculated by the program CYANA, two different molecular dynamics (MD) simulated annealing refinement protocols were applied, either using the program AMBER in vacuum (AMBER_VC), or including a generalized Born solvent model (AMBER_GB). Here we present another independent evidence to the one presented recently by us (Bocian et al., J Biomol NMR 2008, 40, 55-64), that in water/acetonitrile solvent detailed structural and dynamic information can be obtained for important proteins that are naturally present as oligomers under native conditions. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Structural characterization of rubber from jackfruit and euphorbia as a model of natural rubber.

PubMed

Mekkriengkrai, Dararat; Ute, Koiichi; Swiezewska, Ewa; Chojnacki, Tadeusz; Tanaka, Yasuyuki; Sakdapipanich, Jitladda T

2004-01-01

A structural study of low molecular weight rubbers from Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) and Painted spurge (Euphorbia heterophylla) was carried out as model compounds of natural rubber from Hevea brasiliensis. The rubber content of latex from Jackfruit was 0.4-0.7%, which is very low compared with that of 30-35% in the latex from Hevea tree. The rubber from Jackfruit latex was low molecular weight with narrow unimodal molecular weight distribution (MWD), whereas that obtained from E. heterophylla showed very broad MWD. The 1H and 13C NMR analyses showed that Jackfruit rubber consists of a dimethylallyl group and two trans-isoprene units connected to a long sequence of cis-isoprene units. The alpha-terminal group of Jackfruit rubber was presumed to be composed of a phosphate group based on the presence of 1H NMR signal at 4.08 ppm corresponding to the terminal =CH-CH2OP group.

Bonding structure in amorphous carbon nitride: A spectroscopic and nuclear magnetic resonance study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-López, J. C.; Donnet, C.; Lefèbvre, F.; Fernández-Ramos, C.; Fernández, A.

2001-07-01

Since the prediction of Liu and Cohen [Science 245, 841 (1989)] of the potential extraordinary mechanical properties of crystalline β-C3N4, many authors have attempted its synthesis. However, in most cases, the obtained materials are amorphous phases with a complex bonding structure. Their characterization is complicated due to the absence of a reference compound, the lack of long-range order, and the poor knowledge about their bonding structure. In this article, we present 1H, 13C, and 15N solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements for the determination of the bonding types in amorphous CNx films. NMR measurements do not require long-range order and are able to clearly identify the signals from the sp2- and sp3-bonded phases. The analysis of the data obtained by other characterization techniques, such as infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron energy-loss spectroscopy, and x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy on the same sample, based on the information acquired by NMR, enables the description of a structure model for the studied amorphous-CNx phase prepared by dc-magnetron sputtering and to revise the interpretation found in the literature.

Proton transfer and hydrogen bonding in the organic solid state: a combined XRD/XPS/ssNMR study of 17 organic acid-base complexes.

PubMed

Stevens, Joanna S; Byard, Stephen J; Seaton, Colin C; Sadiq, Ghazala; Davey, Roger J; Schroeder, Sven L M

2014-01-21

The properties of nitrogen centres acting either as hydrogen-bond or Brønsted acceptors in solid molecular acid-base complexes have been probed by N 1s X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as well as (15)N solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy and are interpreted with reference to local crystallographic structure information provided by X-ray diffraction (XRD). We have previously shown that the strong chemical shift of the N 1s binding energy associated with the protonation of nitrogen centres unequivocally distinguishes protonated (salt) from hydrogen-bonded (co-crystal) nitrogen species. This result is further supported by significant ssNMR shifts to low frequency, which occur with proton transfer from the acid to the base component. Generally, only minor chemical shifts occur upon co-crystal formation, unless a strong hydrogen bond is formed. CASTEP density functional theory (DFT) calculations of (15)N ssNMR isotropic chemical shifts correlate well with the experimental data, confirming that computational predictions of H-bond strengths and associated ssNMR chemical shifts allow the identification of salt and co-crystal structures (NMR crystallography). The excellent agreement between the conclusions drawn by XPS and the combined CASTEP/ssNMR investigations opens up a reliable avenue for local structure characterization in molecular systems even in the absence of crystal structure information, for example for non-crystalline or amorphous matter. The range of 17 different systems investigated in this study demonstrates the generic nature of this approach, which will be applicable to many other molecular materials in organic, physical, and materials chemistry.

Combining automated peak tracking in SAR by NMR with structure-based backbone assignment from 15N-NOESY

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Chemical shift mapping is an important technique in NMR-based drug screening for identifying the atoms of a target protein that potentially bind to a drug molecule upon the molecule's introduction in increasing concentrations. The goal is to obtain a mapping of peaks with known residue assignment from the reference spectrum of the unbound protein to peaks with unknown assignment in the target spectrum of the bound protein. Although a series of perturbed spectra help to trace a path from reference peaks to target peaks, a one-to-one mapping generally is not possible, especially for large proteins, due to errors, such as noise peaks, missing peaks, missing but then reappearing, overlapped, and new peaks not associated with any peaks in the reference. Due to these difficulties, the mapping is typically done manually or semi-automatically, which is not efficient for high-throughput drug screening. Results We present PeakWalker, a novel peak walking algorithm for fast-exchange systems that models the errors explicitly and performs many-to-one mapping. On the proteins: hBclXL, UbcH5B, and histone H1, it achieves an average accuracy of over 95% with less than 1.5 residues predicted per target peak. Given these mappings as input, we present PeakAssigner, a novel combined structure-based backbone resonance and NOE assignment algorithm that uses just 15N-NOESY, while avoiding TOCSY experiments and 13C-labeling, to resolve the ambiguities for a one-to-one mapping. On the three proteins, it achieves an average accuracy of 94% or better. Conclusions Our mathematical programming approach for modeling chemical shift mapping as a graph problem, while modeling the errors directly, is potentially a time- and cost-effective first step for high-throughput drug screening based on limited NMR data and homologous 3D structures. PMID:22536902

A Kinetic Study of DDGS Hemicellulose Acid Hydrolysis and NMR Characterization of DDGS Hydrolysate.

PubMed

Chen, Hanchi; Liu, Shijie

2015-09-01

Liquid hot water (LHW) extraction was used as a pretreatment method to separate the hemicellulose fraction from dried distiller's grain with solubles (DDGS) into liquid phase. Acid hydrolysis using 3.264 % w/w sulfuric acid at 130 °C was performed to convert polysaccharides in LHW extract to monosaccharides. The structure characterization of DDGS in anomeric carbon region based on proton NMR and heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) during acid hydrolysis was studied in this work. It reveals that the sugar units in DDGS hemicelluloses are constructed with (1-4)-β-D-xylopyranose and α-L-arabinofuranosyl residues. A kinetic model is included to explain the changing concentration of monomer, oligomer, and sugar units. The model was further tested based on the changing concentration of five carbon sugar units during hydrolysis.

Customizing model membranes and samples for NMR spectroscopic studies of complex membrane proteins.

PubMed

Sanders, C R; Oxenoid, K

2000-11-23

Both solution and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for structural determination are advancing rapidly such that it is possible to contemplate bringing these techniques to bear upon integral membrane proteins having multiple transmembrane segments. This review outlines existing and emerging options for model membrane media for use in such studies and surveys the special considerations which must be taken into account when preparing larger membrane proteins for NMR spectroscopic studies.

Exploiting the Synergy of Powder X-ray Diffraction and Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy in Structure Determination of Organic Molecular Solids

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

We report a strategy for structure determination of organic materials in which complete solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral data is utilized within the context of structure determination from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. Following determination of the crystal structure from powder XRD data, first-principles density functional theory-based techniques within the GIPAW approach are exploited to calculate the solid-state NMR data for the structure, followed by careful scrutiny of the agreement with experimental solid-state NMR data. The successful application of this approach is demonstrated by structure determination of the 1:1 cocrystal of indomethacin and nicotinamide. The 1H and 13C chemical shifts calculated for the crystal structure determined from the powder XRD data are in excellent agreement with those measured experimentally, notably including the two-dimensional correlation of 1H and 13C chemical shifts for directly bonded 13C–1H moieties. The key feature of this combined approach is that the quality of the structure determined is assessed both against experimental powder XRD data and against experimental solid-state NMR data, thus providing a very robust validation of the veracity of the structure. PMID:24386493

Exploiting the Synergy of Powder X-ray Diffraction and Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy in Structure Determination of Organic Molecular Solids.

PubMed

Dudenko, Dmytro V; Williams, P Andrew; Hughes, Colan E; Antzutkin, Oleg N; Velaga, Sitaram P; Brown, Steven P; Harris, Kenneth D M

2013-06-13

We report a strategy for structure determination of organic materials in which complete solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral data is utilized within the context of structure determination from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. Following determination of the crystal structure from powder XRD data, first-principles density functional theory-based techniques within the GIPAW approach are exploited to calculate the solid-state NMR data for the structure, followed by careful scrutiny of the agreement with experimental solid-state NMR data. The successful application of this approach is demonstrated by structure determination of the 1:1 cocrystal of indomethacin and nicotinamide. The 1 H and 13 C chemical shifts calculated for the crystal structure determined from the powder XRD data are in excellent agreement with those measured experimentally, notably including the two-dimensional correlation of 1 H and 13 C chemical shifts for directly bonded 13 C- 1 H moieties. The key feature of this combined approach is that the quality of the structure determined is assessed both against experimental powder XRD data and against experimental solid-state NMR data, thus providing a very robust validation of the veracity of the structure.

DNA-binding mechanism of the Escherichia coli Ada O6-alkylguanine–DNA alkyltransferase

PubMed Central

Verdemato, Philip E.; Brannigan, James A.; Damblon, Christian; Zuccotto, Fabio; Moody, Peter C. E.; Lian, Lu-Yun

2000-01-01

The C-terminal domain of the Escherichia coli Ada protein (Ada-C) aids in the maintenance of genomic integrity by efficiently repairing pre-mutagenic O6-alkylguanine lesions in DNA. Structural and thermodynamic studies were carried out to obtain a model of the DNA-binding process. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies map the DNA-binding site to helix 5, and a loop region (residues 151–160) which form the recognition helix and the ‘wing’ of a helix–turn–wing motif, respectively. The NMR data also suggest the absence of a large conformational change in the protein upon binding to DNA. Hence, an O6-methylguanine (O6meG) lesion would be inaccessible to active site nucleophile Cys146 if the modified base remained stacked within the DNA duplex. The experimentally determined DNA-binding face of Ada-C was used in combination with homology modelling, based on the catabolite activator protein, and the accepted base-flipping mechanism, to construct a model of how Ada-C binds to DNA in a productive manner. To complement the structural studies, thermodynamic data were obtained which demonstrate that binding to unmethylated DNA was entropically driven, whilst the demethylation reaction provoked an exothermic heat change. Methylation of Cys146 leads to a loss of structural integrity of the DNA-binding subdomain. PMID:11000262

Atomic-resolution 3D structure of amyloid β fibrils: The Osaka mutation

DOE PAGES

Schutz, Anne K.; Wall, Joseph; Vagt, Toni; ...

2014-11-13

Despite its central importance for understanding the molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), high-resolution structural information on amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) fibrils, which are intimately linked with AD, is scarce. We report an atomic-resolution fibril structure of the Aβ 1-40 peptide with the Osaka mutation (E22Δ), associated with early-onset AD. The structure, which differs substantially from all previously proposed models, is based on a large number of unambiguous intra- and intermolecular solid-state NMR distance restraints

Transmembrane Polyproline Helix.

PubMed

Kubyshkin, Vladimir; Grage, Stephan L; Bürck, Jochen; Ulrich, Anne S; Budisa, Nediljko

2018-05-03

The third most abundant polypeptide conformation in nature, the polyproline-II helix, is a polar, extended secondary structure with a local organization stabilized by intercarbonyl interactions within the peptide chain. Here we design a hydrophobic polyproline-II helical peptide based on an oligomeric octahydroindole-2-carboxylic acid scaffold and demonstrate its transmembrane alignment in model lipid bilayers by means of solid-state 19 F NMR. As result, we provide a first example of a purely artificial transmembrane peptide with a structural organization that is not based on hydrogen-bonding.

Structure-property correlations of ion-containing polymers for fuel cell applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sproll, Véronique; Nagy, Gergely; Gasser, Urs; Balog, Sandor; Gustavsson, Sanna; Schmidt, Thomas J.; Gubler, Lorenz

2016-01-01

In order to investigate the structure-property correlations of grafted proton conducting membranes, the model system consisting of an ETFE base film grafted with polystyrene and subsequent sulfonation (ETFE-g-PSSA) along with crosslinked derivatives ETFE-g-P(SSA-co-DiPB) were synthesized. The characteristics of the final membranes were characterized by PFG-NMR diffusometry, in-plane conductivity and by investigations of the dimensional changes of the grafted membranes. The collected data were correlated with the inherent anisotropy of the ETFE base film.

Preparation of Protein Samples for NMR Structure, Function, and Small Molecule Screening Studies

PubMed Central

Acton, Thomas B.; Xiao, Rong; Anderson, Stephen; Aramini, James; Buchwald, William A.; Ciccosanti, Colleen; Conover, Ken; Everett, John; Hamilton, Keith; Huang, Yuanpeng Janet; Janjua, Haleema; Kornhaber, Gregory; Lau, Jessica; Lee, Dong Yup; Liu, Gaohua; Maglaqui, Melissa; Ma, Lichung; Mao, Lei; Patel, Dayaban; Rossi, Paolo; Sahdev, Seema; Shastry, Ritu; Swapna, G.V.T.; Tang, Yeufeng; Tong, Saichiu; Wang, Dongyan; Wang, Huang; Zhao, Li; Montelione, Gaetano T.

2014-01-01

In this chapter, we concentrate on the production of high quality protein samples for NMR studies. In particular, we provide an in-depth description of recent advances in the production of NMR samples and their synergistic use with recent advancements in NMR hardware. We describe the protein production platform of the Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium, and outline our high-throughput strategies for producing high quality protein samples for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies. Our strategy is based on the cloning, expression and purification of 6X-His-tagged proteins using T7-based Escherichia coli systems and isotope enrichment in minimal media. We describe 96-well ligation-independent cloning and analytical expression systems, parallel preparative scale fermentation, and high-throughput purification protocols. The 6X-His affinity tag allows for a similar two-step purification procedure implemented in a parallel high-throughput fashion that routinely results in purity levels sufficient for NMR studies (> 97% homogeneity). Using this platform, the protein open reading frames of over 17,500 different targeted proteins (or domains) have been cloned as over 28,000 constructs. Nearly 5,000 of these proteins have been purified to homogeneity in tens of milligram quantities (see Summary Statistics, http://nesg.org/statistics.html), resulting in more than 950 new protein structures, including more than 400 NMR structures, deposited in the Protein Data Bank. The Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium pipeline has been effective in producing protein samples of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic origin. Although this paper describes our entire pipeline for producing isotope-enriched protein samples, it focuses on the major updates introduced during the last 5 years (Phase 2 of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Protein Structure Initiative). Our advanced automated and/or parallel cloning, expression, purification, and biophysical screening technologies are suitable for implementation in a large individual laboratory or by a small group of collaborating investigators for structural biology, functional proteomics, ligand screening and structural genomics research. PMID:21371586

A novel tridentate Schiff base dioxo-molybdenum(VI) complex: synthesis, experimental and theoretical studies on its crystal structure, FTIR, UV-visible, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectra.

PubMed

Saheb, Vahid; Sheikhshoaie, Iran; Stoeckli-Evans, Helen

2012-09-01

A new dioxo-molybdenum(VI) complex [MoO(2)(L)(H(2)O)] has been synthesized, using 5-methoxy 2-[(2-hydroxypropylimino)methyl]phenol as tridentate ONO donor Schiff base ligand (H(2)L) and MoO(2)(acac)(2). The yellow crystals of the compound are used for single-crystal X-ray analysis and measuring Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV-visible, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectra. Electronic structure calculations at the B3LYP and PW91PW91 levels of theory are performed to optimize the molecular geometry and to calculate the UV-visible, FTIR, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectra of the compound. Vibrational assignments and analysis of the fundamental modes of the compound are performed. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method is used to calculate the electronic transitions of the complex. All theoretical methods can well reproduce the structure of the compound. The (1)H NMR shielding tensors computed at the B3LYP/DGDZVP level of theory is in agreement with experimental (1)H NMR spectra. However, the (13)C NMR shielding tensors computed at the B3LYP level, employing a combined basis set of DGDZVP for Mo and 6-31+G(2df,p) for other atoms, are in better agreement with experimental (13)C NMR spectra. The electronic transitions calculated at the B3LYP/DGDZVP level by using TD-DFT method is in accordance with the observed UV-visible spectrum of the compound. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, crystal structure and redox properties of dihydropyrazole-bridged ferrocene-based derivatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Heng-Dong; Ma, Zai-He; Yang, Kun; Xie, Li-Li; Yuan, Yao-Feng

2012-09-01

Dihydropyrazole-bridged ferrocene-based derivatives were prepared by corresponding chalcones with hydrazine hydrate, then acylation with 3-(ethoxycarbonyl)propionyl chloride directly in high yields and purity. All of these compounds were characterized by MS, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and elemental analysis. The relationship between the structure and redox properties was investigated based on the results of single crystal X-ray structure determinations and cyclic voltammetry. The mechanism of the electron transfer for representative compound 4b was verified by density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Confirming the 3D Solution Structure of a Short Double-Stranded DNA Sequence Using NMR Spectroscopy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruhayel, Rasha A.; Berners-Price, Susan J.

2010-01-01

2D [superscript 1]H NOESY NMR spectroscopy is routinely used to give information on the closeness of hydrogen atoms through space. This work is based on a 2D [superscript 1]H NOESY NMR spectrum of a 12 base-pair DNA duplex. This 6-h laboratory workshop aims to provide advanced-level chemistry students with a basic, yet solid, understanding of how…

Evaluating the quality of NMR structures by local density of protons.

PubMed

Ban, Yih-En Andrew; Rudolph, Johannes; Zhou, Pei; Edelsbrunner, Herbert

2006-03-01

Evaluating the quality of experimentally determined protein structural models is an essential step toward identifying potential errors and guiding further structural refinement. Herein, we report the use of proton local density as a sensitive measure to assess the quality of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures. Using 256 high-resolution crystal structures with protons added and optimized, we show that the local density of different proton types display distinct distributions. These distributions can be characterized by statistical moments and are used to establish local density Z-scores for evaluating both global and local packing for individual protons. Analysis of 546 crystal structures at various resolutions shows that the local density Z-scores increase as the structural resolution decreases and correlate well with the ClashScore (Word et al. J Mol Biol 1999;285(4):1711-1733) generated by all atom contact analysis. Local density Z-scores for NMR structures exhibit a significantly wider range of values than for X-ray structures and demonstrate a combination of potentially problematic inflation and compression. Water-refined NMR structures show improved packing quality. Our analysis of a high-quality structural ensemble of ubiquitin refined against order parameters shows proton density distributions that correlate nearly perfectly with our standards derived from crystal structures, further validating our approach. We present an automated analysis and visualization tool for proton packing to evaluate the quality of NMR structures. 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

CHARACTERIZATION OF METABOLITES IN SMALL FISH BIOFLUIDS AND TISSUES BY NMR SPECTROSCOPY

EPA Science Inventory

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been utilized for assessing ecotoxicity in small fish models by means of metabolomics. Two fundamental challenges of NMR-based metabolomics are the detection limit and characterization of metabolites (or NMR resonance assignments...

Homonuclear 1H NMR and circular dichroism study of the HIV-1 Tat Eli variant

PubMed Central

Watkins, Jennifer D; Campbell, Grant R; Halimi, Hubert; Loret, Erwann P

2008-01-01

Background The HIV-1 Tat protein is a promising target to develop AIDS therapies, particularly vaccines, due to its extracellular role that protects HIV-1-infected cells from the immune system. Tat exists in two different lengths, 86 or 87 residues and 99 or 101 residues, with the long form being predominant in clinical isolates. We report here a structural study of the 99 residue Tat Eli variant using 2D liquid-state NMR, molecular modeling and circular dichroism. Results Tat Eli was obtained from solid-phase peptide synthesis and the purified protein was proven biologically active in a trans-activation assay. Circular dichroism spectra at different temperatures up to 70°C showed that Tat Eli is not a random coil at 20°C. Homonuclear 1H NMR spectra allowed us to identify 1639 NMR distance constraints out of which 264 were interresidual. Molecular modeling satisfying at least 1474 NMR constraints revealed the same folding for different model structures. The Tat Eli model has a core region composed of a part of the N-terminus including the highly conserved Trp 11. The extra residues in the Tat Eli C-terminus protrude from a groove between the basic region and the cysteine-rich region and are well exposed to the solvent. Conclusion We show that active Tat variants share a similar folding pattern whatever their size, but mutations induce local structural changes. PMID:18808674

Syntheses, structural, computational, and thermal analysis of acid-base complexes of picric acid with N-heterocyclic bases.

PubMed

Goel, Nidhi; Singh, Udai P

2013-10-10

Four new acid-base complexes using picric acid [(OH)(NO2)3C6H2] (PA) and N-heterocyclic bases (1,10-phenanthroline (phen)/2,2';6',2"-terpyridine (terpy)/hexamethylenetetramine (hmta)/2,4,6-tri(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (tptz)) were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR and X-ray crystallography. Crystal structures provide detailed information of the noncovalent interactions present in different complexes. The optimized structures of the complexes were calculated in terms of the density functional theory. The thermolysis of these complexes was investigated by TG-DSC and ignition delay measurements. The model-free isoconversional and model-fitting kinetic approaches have been applied to isothermal TG data for kinetics investigation of thermal decomposition of these complexes.

NVR-BIP: Nuclear Vector Replacement using Binary Integer Programming for NMR Structure-Based Assignments.

PubMed

Apaydin, Mehmet Serkan; Çatay, Bülent; Patrick, Nicholas; Donald, Bruce R

2011-05-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an important experimental technique that allows one to study protein structure and dynamics in solution. An important bottleneck in NMR protein structure determination is the assignment of NMR peaks to the corresponding nuclei. Structure-based assignment (SBA) aims to solve this problem with the help of a template protein which is homologous to the target and has applications in the study of structure-activity relationship, protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions. We formulate SBA as a linear assignment problem with additional nuclear overhauser effect constraints, which can be solved within nuclear vector replacement's (NVR) framework (Langmead, C., Yan, A., Lilien, R., Wang, L. and Donald, B. (2003) A Polynomial-Time Nuclear Vector Replacement Algorithm for Automated NMR Resonance Assignments. Proc. the 7th Annual Int. Conf. Research in Computational Molecular Biology (RECOMB) , Berlin, Germany, April 10-13, pp. 176-187. ACM Press, New York, NY. J. Comp. Bio. , (2004), 11, pp. 277-298; Langmead, C. and Donald, B. (2004) An expectation/maximization nuclear vector replacement algorithm for automated NMR resonance assignments. J. Biomol. NMR , 29, 111-138). Our approach uses NVR's scoring function and data types and also gives the option of using CH and NH residual dipolar coupling (RDCs), instead of NH RDCs which NVR requires. We test our technique on NVR's data set as well as on four new proteins. Our results are comparable to NVR's assignment accuracy on NVR's test set, but higher on novel proteins. Our approach allows partial assignments. It is also complete and can return the optimum as well as near-optimum assignments. Furthermore, it allows us to analyze the information content of each data type and is easily extendable to accept new forms of input data, such as additional RDCs.

Mapping substrate interactions of the human membrane-associated neuraminidase, NEU3, using STD NMR.

PubMed

Albohy, Amgad; Richards, Michele R; Cairo, Christopher W

2015-03-01

Saturation transfer difference (STD) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique which can be used to investigate interactions between proteins and their substrates. The method identifies specific sites of interaction found on a small molecule ligand when in complex with a protein. The ability of STD NMR to provide specific insight into binding interactions in the absence of other structural data is an attractive feature for its use with membrane proteins. We chose to employ STD NMR in our ongoing investigations of the human membrane-associated neuraminidase NEU3 and its interaction with glycolipid substrates (e.g., GM3). In order to identify critical substrate-enzyme interactions, we performed STD NMR with a catalytically inactive form of the enzyme, NEU3(Y370F), containing an N-terminal maltose-binding protein (MBP)-affinity tag. In the absence of crystallographic data on the enzyme, these data represent a critical experimental test of proposed homology models, as well as valuable new structural data. To aid interpretation of the STD NMR data, we compared the results with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the enzyme-substrate complexes. We find that the homology model is able to predict essential features of the experimental data, including close contact of the hydrophobic aglycone and the Neu5Ac residue with the enzyme. Additionally, the model and STD NMR data agree on the facial recognition of the galactose and glucose residues of the GM3-analog studied. We conclude that the homology model of NEU3 can be used to predict substrate recognition, but our data indicate that unstructured portions of the NEU3 model may require further refinement. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Spectroscopic study on variations in illite surface properties after acid-base titration.

PubMed

Liu, Wen-xin; Coveney, R M; Tang, Hong-xiao

2003-07-01

FT-IR, Raman microscopy, XRD, 29Si and 27Al MAS NMR, were used to investigate changes in surface properties of a natural illite sample after acid-base potentiometric titration. The characteristic XRD lines indicated the presence of surface Al-Si complexes, preferable to Al(OH)3 precipitates. In the microscopic Raman spectra, the vibration peaks of Si-O and Al-O bonds diminished as a result of treatment with acid, then increased after hydroxide back titration. The varied ratio of signal intensity between (IV)Al and (VI)Al species in 27Al MAS NMR spectra, together with the stable BET surface area after acidimetric titration, suggested that edge faces and basal planes in the layer structure of illite participated in dissolution of structural components. The combined spectroscopic evidence demonstrated that the reactions between illite surfaces and acid-leaching silicic acid and aluminum ions should be considered in the model description of surface acid-base properties of the aqueous illite.

Proton-Based Ultrafast Magic Angle Spinning Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy.

PubMed

Zhang, Rongchun; Mroue, Kamal H; Ramamoorthy, Ayyalusamy

2017-04-18

Protons are vastly abundant in a wide range of exciting macromolecules and thus can be a powerful probe to investigate the structure and dynamics at atomic resolution using solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy. Unfortunately, the high signal sensitivity, afforded by the high natural-abundance and high gyromagnetic ratio of protons, is greatly compromised by severe line broadening due to the very strong 1 H- 1 H dipolar couplings. As a result, protons are rarely used, in spite of the desperate need for enhancing the sensitivity of ssNMR to study a variety of systems that are not amenable for high resolution investigation using other techniques including X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and solution NMR spectroscopy. Thanks to the remarkable improvement in proton spectral resolution afforded by the significant advances in magic-angle-spinning (MAS) probe technology, 1 H ssNMR spectroscopy has recently attracted considerable attention in the structural and dynamics studies of various molecular systems. However, it still remains a challenge to obtain narrow 1 H spectral lines, especially from proteins, without resorting to deuteration. In this Account, we review recent proton-based ssNMR strategies that have been developed in our laboratory to further improve proton spectral resolution without resorting to chemical deuteration for the purposes of gaining atomistic-level insights into molecular structures of various crystalline solid systems, using small molecules and peptides as illustrative examples. The proton spectral resolution enhancement afforded by the ultrafast MAS frequencies up to 120 kHz is initially discussed, followed by a description of an ensemble of multidimensional NMR pulse sequences, all based on proton detection, that have been developed to obtain in-depth information from dipolar couplings and chemical shift anisotropy (CSA). Simple single channel multidimensional proton NMR experiments could be performed to probe the proximity of protons for structure determination using 1 H- 1 H dipolar couplings and to evaluate the changes in chemical environments as well as the relative orientation to the external magnetic field using proton CSA. Due to the boost in signal sensitivity enabled by proton detection under ultrafast MAS, by virtue of high proton natural abundance and gyromagnetic ratio, proton-detected multidimensional experiments involving low-γ nuclei can now be accomplished within a reasonable time, while the higher dimension also offers additional resolution enhancement. In addition, the application of proton-based ssNMR spectroscopy under ultrafast MAS in various challenging and crystalline systems is also presented. Finally, we briefly discuss the limitations and challenges pertaining to proton-based ssNMR spectroscopy under ultrafast MAS conditions, such as the presence of high-order dipolar couplings, friction-induced sample heating, and limited sample volume. Although there are still a number of challenges that must be circumvented by further developments in radio frequency pulse sequences, MAS probe technology and approaches to prepare NMR-friendly samples, proton-based ssNMR has already gained much popularity in various research domains, especially in proteins where uniform or site-selective deuteration can be relatively easily achieved. In addition, implementation of the recently developed fast data acquisition approaches would also enable further developments in the design and applications of proton-based ultrafast MAS multidimensional ssNMR techniques.

On the crystal structure of the vaterite polymorph of CaCO3: a calcium-43 solid-state NMR and computational assessment.

PubMed

Burgess, Kevin M N; Bryce, David L

2015-02-01

The vaterite polymorph of CaCO3 has puzzled crystallographers for decades in part due to difficulties in obtaining single crystals. The multiple proposed structures for the vaterite polymorph of CaCO3 are assessed using a combined (43)Ca solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopic and computational approach. A combination of improved experimental and computational methods, along with a calibrated chemical shift scale and (43)Ca nuclear quadrupole moment, allow for improved insights relative to our earlier work (Bryce et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 9282). Here, we synthesize a (43)Ca isotopically-enriched sample of vaterite and perform high-resolution quadrupolar SSNMR experiments including magic-angle spinning (MAS), double-rotation (DOR), and multiple-quantum (MQ) MAS experiments at magnetic field strengths of 9.4 and 21.1T. We identify one crystallographically unique Ca(2+) site in vaterite with a slight distribution in both chemical shifts and quadrupolar parameters. Both the experimental (43)Ca electric field gradient tensor and the isotropic chemical shift for vaterite are compared to those calculated with the gauge-including projector-augmented-wave (GIPAW) DFT method in an attempt to identify the model that best represents the crystal structure of vaterite. Simulations of (43)Ca DOR and MAS NMR spectra based on the NMR parameters computed for a total of 18 structural models for vaterite allow us to distinguish between these models. Among these 18, the P3221 and C2 structures provide simulated spectra and diffractograms in best agreement with all experimental data. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of comprehensive NMR-based analysis strategy in annotation, isolation and structure elucidation of low molecular weight metabolites of Ricinus communis seeds.

PubMed

Vučković, Ivan; Rapinoja, Marja-Leena; Vaismaa, Matti; Vanninen, Paula; Koskela, Harri

2016-01-01

Powder-like extract of Ricinus communis seeds contain a toxic protein, ricin, which has a history of military, criminal and terroristic use. As the detection of ricin in this "terrorist powder" is difficult and time-consuming, related low mass metabolites have been suggested to be useful for screening as biomarkers of ricin. To apply a comprehensive NMR-based analysis strategy for annotation, isolation and structure elucidation of low molecular weight plant metabolites of Ricinus communis seeds. The seed extract was prepared with a well-known acetone extraction approach. The common metabolites were annotated from seed extract dissolved in acidic solution using (1)H NMR spectroscopy with spectrum library comparison and standard addition, whereas unconfirmed metabolites were identified using multi-step off-line HPLC-DAD-NMR approach. In addition to the common plant metabolites, two previously unreported compounds, 1,3-digalactoinositol and ricinyl-alanine, were identified with support of MS analyses. The applied comprehensive NMR-based analysis strategy provided identification of the prominent low molecular weight metabolites with high confidence. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A rapid NMR-based method for discrimination of strain-specific cell wall teichoic acid structures reveals a third backbone type in Lactobacillus plantarum.

PubMed

Tomita, Satoru; Tanaka, Naoto; Okada, Sanae

2017-03-01

The lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum is capable of producing strain-specific structures of cell wall teichoic acid (WTA), an anionic polysaccharide found in the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall. In this study, we established a rapid, NMR-based procedure to discriminate WTA structures in this species, and applied it to 94 strains of L. plantarum. Six previously reported glycerol- and ribitol-containing WTA subtypes were successfully identified from 78 strains, suggesting that these were the dominant structures. However, the level of structural variety differed markedly among bacterial sources, possibly reflecting differences in strain-level microbial diversity. WTAs from eight strains were not identified based on NMR spectra and were classified into three groups. Structural analysis of a partial degradation product of an unidentified WTA produced by strain TUA 1496L revealed that the WTA was 1-O-β-d-glucosylglycerol. Two-dimensional NMR analysis of the polymer structure showed phosphodiester bonds between C-3 and C-6 of the glycerol and glucose residues, suggesting a polymer structure of 3,6΄-linked poly(1-O-β-d-glucosyl-sn-glycerol phosphate). This is the third WTA backbone structure in L. plantarum, following 3,6΄-linked poly(1-O-α-d-glucosyl-sn-glycerol phosphate) and 1,5-linked poly(ribitol phosphate). © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Automated protein NMR structure determination using wavelet de-noised NOESY spectra.

PubMed

Dancea, Felician; Günther, Ulrich

2005-11-01

A major time-consuming step of protein NMR structure determination is the generation of reliable NOESY cross peak lists which usually requires a significant amount of manual interaction. Here we present a new algorithm for automated peak picking involving wavelet de-noised NOESY spectra in a process where the identification of peaks is coupled to automated structure determination. The core of this method is the generation of incremental peak lists by applying different wavelet de-noising procedures which yield peak lists of a different noise content. In combination with additional filters which probe the consistency of the peak lists, good convergence of the NOESY-based automated structure determination could be achieved. These algorithms were implemented in the context of the ARIA software for automated NOE assignment and structure determination and were validated for a polysulfide-sulfur transferase protein of known structure. The procedures presented here should be commonly applicable for efficient protein NMR structure determination and automated NMR peak picking.

Solid-State NMR Studies of Amyloid Materials: A Protocol to Define an Atomic Model of Aβ(1-42) in Amyloid Fibrils.

PubMed

Xiao, Yiling; McElheny, Dan; Hoshi, Minako; Ishii, Yoshitaka

2018-01-01

Intense efforts have been made to understand the molecular structures of misfolded amyloid β (Aβ) in order to gain insight into the pathological mechanism of Alzheimer's disease. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy (SSNMR) is considered a primary tool for elucidating the structures of insoluble and noncrystalline amyloid fibrils and other amyloid assemblies. In this chapter, we describe a detailed protocol to obtain the first atomic model of the 42-residue human Aβ peptide Aβ(1-42) in structurally homogeneous amyloid fibrils from our recent SSNMR study (Nat Struct Mol Biol 22:499-505, 2015). Despite great biological and clinical interest in Aβ(1-42) fibrils, their structural details have been long-elusive until this study. The protocol is divided into four sections. First, the solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and purification of monomeric Aβ(1-42) is described. We illustrate a controlled incubation method to prompt misfolding of Aβ(1-42) into homogeneous amyloid fibrils in an aqueous solution with fragmented Aβ(1-42) fibrils as seeds. Next, we detail analysis of Aβ(1-42) fibrils by SSNMR to obtain structural restraints. Finally, we describe methods to construct atomic models of Aβ(1-42) fibrils based on SSNMR results through two-stage molecular dynamics calculations.

Combining NMR spectral and structural data to form models of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, dibenzofurans, and biphenyls binding to the AhR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beger, Richard D.; Buzatu, Dan A.; Wilkes, Jon G.

2002-10-01

A three-dimensional quantitative spectrometric data-activity relationship (3D-QSDAR) modeling technique which uses NMR spectral and structural information that is combined in a 3D-connectivity matrix has been developed. A 3D-connectivity matrix was built by displaying all possible assigned carbon NMR chemical shifts, carbon-to-carbon connections, and distances between the carbons. Two-dimensional 13C-13C COSY and 2D slices from the distance dimension of the 3D-connectivity matrix were used to produce a relationship among the 2D spectral patterns for polychlorinated dibenzofurans, dibenzodioxins, and biphenyls (PCDFs, PCDDs, and PCBs respectively) binding to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). We refer to this technique as comparative structural connectivity spectral analysis (CoSCoSA) modeling. All CoSCoSA models were developed using forward multiple linear regression analysis of the predicted 13C NMR structure-connectivity spectral bins. A CoSCoSA model for 26 PCDFs had an explained variance (r2) of 0.93 and an average leave-four-out cross-validated variance (q4 2) of 0.89. A CoSCoSA model for 14 PCDDs produced an r2 of 0.90 and an average leave-two-out cross-validated variance (q2 2) of 0.79. One CoSCoSA model for 12 PCBs gave an r2 of 0.91 and an average q2 2 of 0.80. Another CoSCoSA model for all 52 compounds had an r2 of 0.85 and an average q4 2 of 0.52. Major benefits of CoSCoSA modeling include ease of development since the technique does not use molecular docking routines.

NMR based solvent exchange experiments to understand the conformational preference of intrinsically disordered proteins using FG-nucleoporin peptide as a model

PubMed Central

Heisel, Kurt A.; Krishnan, V. V.

2014-01-01

The conformational preference of a peptide with three phenylalanine-glycine (FG) repeats from the intrinsically disordered domain of nucleoporin 159 (nup159) from the yeast nucleopore complex (NPC) is studied. Conformational states of this FG-peptide in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a non-native solvent are first studied. A solvent exchange scheme is designed and performed to understand how the conformational preferences of the peptide are altered as the solvent shifts from DMSO to water. An ensemble of structures of a 19-residue peptide is determined based on 13Cα, 1Hα, and 1HN chemical shifts and with inter-proton distances. An experimental model is then presented where chemical shifts and amide-proton temperature dependence is probed at changing DMSO to water ratios. These co-solvent experiments provide evidence of a conformational change as the fraction of water increases by the stark change in the behavior of amide protons under varied temperature. This investigation provides a NMR based experimental method in the field of intrinsically disordered proteins to realize conformational transitions from a non-native set of structures (in DMSO) to a native set of disordered conformers (in water). PMID:24037535

Statistical total correlation spectroscopy scaling for enhancement of metabolic information recovery in biological NMR spectra.

PubMed

Maher, Anthony D; Fonville, Judith M; Coen, Muireann; Lindon, John C; Rae, Caroline D; Nicholson, Jeremy K

2012-01-17

The high level of complexity in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolic spectroscopic data sets has fueled the development of experimental and mathematical techniques that enhance latent biomarker recovery and improve model interpretability. We previously showed that statistical total correlation spectroscopy (STOCSY) can be used to edit NMR spectra to remove drug metabolite signatures that obscure metabolic variation of diagnostic interest. Here, we extend this "STOCSY editing" concept to a generalized scaling procedure for NMR data that enhances recovery of latent biochemical information and improves biological classification and interpretation. We call this new procedure STOCSY-scaling (STOCSY(S)). STOCSY(S) exploits the fixed proportionality in a set of NMR spectra between resonances from the same molecule to suppress or enhance features correlated with a resonance of interest. We demonstrate this new approach using two exemplar data sets: (a) a streptozotocin rat model (n = 30) of type 1 diabetes and (b) a human epidemiological study utilizing plasma NMR spectra of patients with metabolic syndrome (n = 67). In both cases significant biomarker discovery improvement was observed by using STOCSY(S): the approach successfully suppressed interfering NMR signals from glucose and lactate that otherwise dominate the variation in the streptozotocin study, which then allowed recovery of biomarkers such as glycine, which were otherwise obscured. In the metabolic syndrome study, we used STOCSY(S) to enhance variation from the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol peak, improving the prediction of individuals with metabolic syndrome from controls in orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis models and facilitating the biological interpretation of the results. Thus, STOCSY(S) is a versatile technique that is applicable in any situation in which variation, either biological or otherwise, dominates a data set at the expense of more interesting or important features. This approach is generally appropriate for many types of NMR-based complex mixture analyses and hence for wider applications in bioanalytical science.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Singer, Jared W.; Yazaydin, A. O.; Kirkpatrick, Robert J.

Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) is a metastable precursor to crystalline CaCO{sub 3} phases that precipitates by aggregation of ion pairs and prenucleation clusters. We use {sup 43}Ca solid-state NMR spectroscopy to probe the local structure and transformation of ACC synthesized from seawater-like solutions with and without Mg{sup 2+} and computational molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to provide more detailed molecular-scale understanding of the ACC structure. The {sup 43}Ca NMR spectra of ACC collected immediately after synthesis consist of broad, featureless resonances with Gaussian line shapes (FWHH = 27.6 {+-} 1 ppm) that do not depend on Mg{sup 2+} or H{sub 2}Omore » content. A correlation between {sup 43}Ca isotropic chemical shifts and mean Ca-O bond distances for crystalline hydrous and anhydrous calcium carbonate phases indicates indistinguishable maximum mean Ca-O bond lengths of {approx}2.45 {angstrom} for all our samples. This value is near the upper end of the published Ca-O bond distance range for biogenic and synthetic ACCs obtained by Ca-X-ray absorption spectroscopy. It is slightly smaller than the values from the structural model of Mgfree ACC by Goodwin et al. obtained from reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) modeling of X-ray scattering data and our own computational molecular dynamics (MD) simulation based on this model. An MD simulation starting with the atomic positions of the Goodwin et al. RMC model using the force field of Raiteri and Gale shows significant structural reorganization during the simulation and that the interconnected carbonate/water-rich channels in the Goodwin et al. model shrink in size over the 2 ns simulation time. The distribution of polyhedrally averaged Ca-O bond distances from the MD simulation is in good agreement with the {sup 43}Ca NMR peak shape, suggesting that local structural disorder dominates the experimental line width of ACC.« less

On the nanosecond proton dynamics in phosphoric acid–benzimidazole and phosphoric acid–water mixtures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Melchior, Jan-Patrick; Frick, Bernhard

Combining 1H-NMR, 17O-NMR, and high-resolution backscattering QENS hydrodynamic and structural proton transport in phosphoric acid is separated. The rate limiting steps for structural proton diffusion in mixtures of acid with Brønsted bases are found to occur below the nanosecond timescale.

On the nanosecond proton dynamics in phosphoric acid–benzimidazole and phosphoric acid–water mixtures

DOE PAGES

Melchior, Jan-Patrick; Frick, Bernhard

2017-09-22

Combining 1H-NMR, 17O-NMR, and high-resolution backscattering QENS hydrodynamic and structural proton transport in phosphoric acid is separated. The rate limiting steps for structural proton diffusion in mixtures of acid with Brønsted bases are found to occur below the nanosecond timescale.

Solution NMR Refinement of a Metal Ion Bound Protein Using Metal Ion Inclusive Restrained Molecular Dynamics Methods

PubMed Central

Chakravorty, Dhruva K.; Wang, Bing; Lee, Chul Won; Guerra, Alfredo J.; Giedroc, David P.; Merz, Kenneth M.

2013-01-01

Correctly calculating the structure of metal coordination sites in a protein during the process of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure determination and refinement continues to be a challenging task. In this study, we present an accurate and convenient means by which to include metal ions in the NMR structure determination process using molecular dynamics (MD) constrained by NMR-derived data to obtain a realistic and physically viable description of the metal binding site(s). This method provides the framework to accurately portray the metal ions and its binding residues in a pseudo-bond or dummy-cation like approach, and is validated by quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) MD calculations constrained by NMR-derived data. To illustrate this approach, we refine the zinc coordination complex structure of the zinc sensing transcriptional repressor protein Staphylococcus aureus CzrA, generating over 130 ns of MD and QM/MM MD NMR-data compliant sampling. In addition to refining the first coordination shell structure of the Zn(II) ion, this protocol benefits from being performed in a periodically replicated solvation environment including long-range electrostatics. We determine that unrestrained (not based on NMR data) MD simulations correlated to the NMR data in a time-averaged ensemble. The accurate solution structure ensemble of the metal-bound protein accurately describes the role of conformational dynamics in allosteric regulation of DNA binding by zinc and serves to validate our previous unrestrained MD simulations of CzrA. This methodology has potentially broad applicability in the structure determination of metal ion bound proteins, protein folding and metal template protein-design studies. PMID:23609042

The application of tailor-made force fields and molecular dynamics for NMR crystallography: a case study of free base cocaine

PubMed Central

Neumann, Marcus A.

2017-01-01

Motional averaging has been proven to be significant in predicting the chemical shifts in ab initio solid-state NMR calculations, and the applicability of motional averaging with molecular dynamics has been shown to depend on the accuracy of the molecular mechanical force field. The performance of a fully automatically generated tailor-made force field (TMFF) for the dynamic aspects of NMR crystallography is evaluated and compared with existing benchmarks, including static dispersion-corrected density functional theory calculations and the COMPASS force field. The crystal structure of free base cocaine is used as an example. The results reveal that, even though the TMFF outperforms the COMPASS force field for representing the energies and conformations of predicted structures, it does not give significant improvement in the accuracy of NMR calculations. Further studies should direct more attention to anisotropic chemical shifts and development of the method of solid-state NMR calculations. PMID:28250956

Chemical behavior of methylpyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside in aqueous solution studied by NMR and UV-visible spectroscopy.

PubMed

Oliveira, Joana; Petrov, Vesselin; Parola, A Jorge; Pina, Fernando; Azevedo, Joana; Teixeira, Natércia; Brás, Natércia F; Fernandes, Pedro A; Mateus, Nuno; Ramos, Maria João; de Freitas, Victor

2011-02-17

In the present work, the proton-transfer reactions of the methylpyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside pigment in water with different pH values was studied by NMR and UV-visible spectroscopies. The results showed four equilibrium forms: the methylpyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside cation, the neutral quinoidal base, the respective anionic quinoidal base, and a dianionic base unprotonated at the methyl group. According to the NMR data, it seems that for methylpyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside besides the acid-base equilibrium between the pyranoflavylium cation and the neutral quinoidal base, a new species is formed at pD 4.88-6.10. This is corroborated by the appearance of a new set of signals in the NMR spectrum that may be assigned to the formation of hemiketal/cis-chalcone species to a small extent. The two ionization constants (pK(a1) and pK(a2)) obtained by both methods (NMR and UV-visible) for methylpyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside are in agreement (pK(a1) = 5.17 ± 0.03; pK(a2) = 8.85 ± 0.08; and pK(a1) = 4.57 ± 0.07; pK(a2) = 8.23 ± 0.04 obtained by NMR and UV-visible spectroscopies, respectively). Moreover, the fully dianionic unprotonated form (at the methyl group) of the methylpyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside is converted slowly into a new structure that displays a yellow color at basic pH. On the basis of the results obtained through LC-MS and NMR, the proposed structure was found to correspond to the flavonol syringetin-3-glucoside.

High-resolution structure of the Shigella type-III secretion needle by solid-state NMR and cryo-electron microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demers, Jean-Philippe; Habenstein, Birgit; Loquet, Antoine; Kumar Vasa, Suresh; Giller, Karin; Becker, Stefan; Baker, David; Lange, Adam; Sgourakis, Nikolaos G.

2014-09-01

We introduce a general hybrid approach for determining the structures of supramolecular assemblies. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) data define the overall envelope of the assembly and rigid-body orientation of the subunits while solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) chemical shifts and distance constraints define the local secondary structure, protein fold and inter-subunit interactions. Finally, Rosetta structure calculations provide a general framework to integrate the different sources of structural information. Combining a 7.7-Å cryo-EM density map and 996 ssNMR distance constraints, the structure of the type-III secretion system needle of Shigella flexneri is determined to a precision of 0.4 Å. The calculated structures are cross-validated using an independent data set of 691 ssNMR constraints and scanning transmission electron microscopy measurements. The hybrid model resolves the conformation of the non-conserved N terminus, which occupies a protrusion in the cryo-EM density, and reveals conserved pore residues forming a continuous pattern of electrostatic interactions, thereby suggesting a mechanism for effector protein translocation.

Sum frequency generation and solid-state NMR study of the structure, orientation, and dynamics of polystyrene-adsorbed peptides

PubMed Central

Weidner, Tobias; Breen, Nicholas F.; Li, Kun; Drobny, Gary P.; Castner, David G.

2010-01-01

The power of combining sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy to quantify, with site specificity and atomic resolution, the orientation and dynamics of side chains in synthetic model peptides adsorbed onto polystyrene (PS) surfaces is demonstrated in this study. Although isotopic labeling has long been used in ssNMR studies to site-specifically probe the structure and dynamics of biomolecules, the potential of SFG to probe side chain orientation in isotopically labeled surface-adsorbed peptides and proteins remains largely unexplored. The 14 amino acid leucine-lysine peptide studied in this work is known to form an α-helical secondary structure at liquid-solid interfaces. Selective, individual deuteration of the isopropyl group in each leucine residue was used to probe the orientation and dynamics of each individual leucine side chain of LKα14 adsorbed onto PS. The selective isotopic labeling methods allowed SFG analysis to determine the orientations of individual side chains in adsorbed peptides. Side chain dynamics were obtained by fitting the deuterium ssNMR line shape to specific motional models. Through the combined use of SFG and ssNMR, the dynamic trends observed for individual side chains by ssNMR have been correlated with side chain orientation relative to the PS surface as determined by SFG. This combination provides a more complete and quantitative picture of the structure, orientation, and dynamics of these surface-adsorbed peptides than could be obtained if either technique were used separately. PMID:20628016

Simultaneous use of solution NMR and X-ray data in REFMAC5 for joint refinement/detection of structural differences.

PubMed

Rinaldelli, Mauro; Ravera, Enrico; Calderone, Vito; Parigi, Giacomo; Murshudov, Garib N; Luchinat, Claudio

2014-04-01

The program REFMAC5 from CCP4 was modified to allow the simultaneous use of X-ray crystallographic data and paramagnetic NMR data (pseudocontact shifts and self-orientation residual dipolar couplings) and/or diamagnetic residual dipolar couplings. Incorporation of these long-range NMR restraints in REFMAC5 can reveal differences between solid-state and solution conformations of molecules or, in their absence, can be used together with X-ray crystallographic data for structural refinement. Since NMR and X-ray data are complementary, when a single structure is consistent with both sets of data and still maintains reasonably `ideal' geometries, the reliability of the derived atomic model is expected to increase. The program was tested on five different proteins: the catalytic domain of matrix metalloproteinase 1, GB3, ubiquitin, free calmodulin and calmodulin complexed with a peptide. In some cases the joint refinement produced a single model consistent with both sets of observations, while in other cases it indicated, outside the experimental uncertainty, the presence of different protein conformations in solution and in the solid state.

Synergy between NMR measurements and MD simulations of protein/RNA complexes: application to the RRMs, the most common RNA recognition motifs

PubMed Central

Krepl, Miroslav; Cléry, Antoine; Blatter, Markus; Allain, Frederic H.T.; Sponer, Jiri

2016-01-01

RNA recognition motif (RRM) proteins represent an abundant class of proteins playing key roles in RNA biology. We present a joint atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) and experimental study of two RRM-containing proteins bound with their single-stranded target RNAs, namely the Fox-1 and SRSF1 complexes. The simulations are used in conjunction with NMR spectroscopy to interpret and expand the available structural data. We accumulate more than 50 μs of simulations and show that the MD method is robust enough to reliably describe the structural dynamics of the RRM–RNA complexes. The simulations predict unanticipated specific participation of Arg142 at the protein–RNA interface of the SRFS1 complex, which is subsequently confirmed by NMR and ITC measurements. Several segments of the protein–RNA interface may involve competition between dynamical local substates rather than firmly formed interactions, which is indirectly consistent with the primary NMR data. We demonstrate that the simulations can be used to interpret the NMR atomistic models and can provide qualified predictions. Finally, we propose a protocol for ‘MD-adapted structure ensemble’ as a way to integrate the simulation predictions and expand upon the deposited NMR structures. Unbiased μs-scale atomistic MD could become a technique routinely complementing the NMR measurements of protein–RNA complexes. PMID:27193998

Tertiary structure-based analysis of microRNA–target interactions

PubMed Central

Gan, Hin Hark; Gunsalus, Kristin C.

2013-01-01

Current computational analysis of microRNA interactions is based largely on primary and secondary structure analysis. Computationally efficient tertiary structure-based methods are needed to enable more realistic modeling of the molecular interactions underlying miRNA-mediated translational repression. We incorporate algorithms for predicting duplex RNA structures, ionic strength effects, duplex entropy and free energy, and docking of duplex–Argonaute protein complexes into a pipeline to model and predict miRNA–target duplex binding energies. To ensure modeling accuracy and computational efficiency, we use an all-atom description of RNA and a continuum description of ionic interactions using the Poisson–Boltzmann equation. Our method predicts the conformations of two constructs of Caenorhabditis elegans let-7 miRNA–target duplexes to an accuracy of ∼3.8 Å root mean square distance of their NMR structures. We also show that the computed duplex formation enthalpies, entropies, and free energies for eight miRNA–target duplexes agree with titration calorimetry data. Analysis of duplex–Argonaute docking shows that structural distortions arising from single-base-pair mismatches in the seed region influence the activity of the complex by destabilizing both duplex hybridization and its association with Argonaute. Collectively, these results demonstrate that tertiary structure-based modeling of miRNA interactions can reveal structural mechanisms not accessible with current secondary structure-based methods. PMID:23417009

Use of 13Cα Chemical-Shifts in Protein Structure Determination

PubMed Central

Vila, Jorge A.; Ripoll, Daniel R.; Scheraga, Harold A.

2008-01-01

A physics-based method, aimed at determining protein structures by using NOE-derived distances together with observed and computed 13C chemical shifts, is proposed. The approach makes use of 13Cα chemical shifts, computed at the density functional level of theory, to obtain torsional constraints for all backbone and side-chain torsional angles without making a priori use of the occupancy of any region of the Ramachandran map by the amino acid residues. The torsional constraints are not fixed but are changed dynamically in each step of the procedure, following an iterative self-consistent approach intended to identify a set of conformations for which the computed 13Cα chemical shifts match the experimental ones. A test is carried out on a 76-amino acid all-α-helical protein, namely the B. Subtilis acyl carrier protein. It is shown that, starting from randomly generated conformations, the final protein models are more accurate than an existing NMR-derived structure model of this protein, in terms of both the agreement between predicted and observed 13Cα chemical shifts and some stereochemical quality indicators, and of similar accuracy as one of the protein models solved at a high level of resolution. The results provide evidence that this methodology can be used not only for structure determination but also for additional protein structure refinement of NMR-derived models deposited in the Protein Data Bank. PMID:17516673

Structural Model of the Bilitranslocase Transmembrane Domain Supported by NMR and FRET Data.

PubMed

Roy Choudhury, Amrita; Sikorska, Emilia; van den Boom, Johannes; Bayer, Peter; Popenda, Łukasz; Szutkowski, Kosma; Jurga, Stefan; Bonomi, Massimiliano; Sali, Andrej; Zhukov, Igor; Passamonti, Sabina; Novič, Marjana

2015-01-01

We present a 3D model of the four transmembrane (TM) helical regions of bilitranslocase (BTL), a structurally uncharacterized protein that transports organic anions across the cell membrane. The model was computed by considering helix-helix interactions as primary constraints, using Monte Carlo simulations. The interactions between the TM2 and TM3 segments have been confirmed by Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, increasing our confidence in the model. Several insights into the BTL transport mechanism were obtained by analyzing the model. For example, the observed cis-trans Leu-Pro peptide bond isomerization in the TM3 fragment may indicate a key conformational change during anion transport by BTL. Our structural model of BTL may facilitate further studies, including drug discovery.

The relationship between crystal structure and methyl and t-butyl group dynamics in van der Waals organic solids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beckmann, Peter A.; Paty, Carol; Allocco, Elizabeth; Herd, Maria; Kuranz, Carolyn; Rheingold, Arnold L.

2004-03-01

We report x-ray diffractometry in a single crystal of 2-t-butyl-4-methylphenol (TMP) and low-frequency solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) proton relaxometry in a polycrystalline sample of TMP. The x-ray data show TMP to have a monoclinic, P21/c, structure with eight molecules per unit cell and two crystallographically inequivalent t-butyl group (C(CH3)3) sites. The proton spin-lattice relaxation rates were measured between 90 and 310 K at NMR frequencies of 8.50, 22.5, and 53.0 MHz. The relaxometry data is fitted with two models characterizing the dynamics of the t-butyl groups and their constituent methyl groups, both of which are consistent with the determined x-ray structure. In addition to presenting results for TMP, we review previously reported x-ray diffractometry and low-frequency NMR relaxometry in two other van der Waals solids which have a simpler structure. In both cases, a unique model for the reorientational dynamics was found. Finally, we review a similar previously reported analysis in a van der Waals solid with a very complex structure in which case fitting the NMR relaxometry requires very many parameters and serves mainly as a flag for a careful x-ray diffraction study.

NMR crystallography of 2-acylamino-6-[1 H]-pyridones: Solid-state NMR, GIPAW computational, and single crystal X-ray diffraction studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ośmiałowski, Borys; Kolehmainen, Erkki; Ikonen, Satu; Ahonen, Kari; Löfman, Miika

2011-12-01

2-Acylamino-6-[1 H]-pyridones [acyl = RCO, where R = methyl ( 1), ethyl ( 2), iso-propyl ( 3), tert-butyl ( 4), and 1-adamantyl ( 5)] have been synthesized and characterized by NMR spectroscopy. From three congeners, 2, 3 and 5, also single crystal X-ray structures have been solved. For these derivatives GIPAW calculations acts as a "bridge" between solid-state NMR data and calculated chemical shifts based on X-ray determined geometry. In crystals all three compounds exist as pyridone tautomers possessing similar six-membered ring structure stabilized by intramolecular C dbnd O⋯HN hydrogen bond. Theoretical GIPAW calculated and experimental 13C and 15N CPMAS NMR shifts are in excellent agreement with each other.

Flexibility at a glycosidic linkage revealed by molecular dynamics, stochastic modeling, and (13)C NMR spin relaxation: conformational preferences of α-L-Rhap-α-(1 → 2)-α-L-Rhap-OMe in water and dimethyl sulfoxide solutions.

PubMed

Pendrill, Robert; Engström, Olof; Volpato, Andrea; Zerbetto, Mirco; Polimeno, Antonino; Widmalm, Göran

2016-01-28

The monosaccharide L-rhamnose is common in bacterial polysaccharides and the disaccharide α-L-Rhap-α-(1 → 2)-α-L-Rhap-OMe represents a structural model for a part of Shigella flexneri O-antigen polysaccharides. Utilization of [1'-(13)C]-site-specific labeling in the anomeric position at the glycosidic linkage between the two sugar residues facilitated the determination of transglycosidic NMR (3)JCH and (3)JCC coupling constants. Based on these spin-spin couplings the major state and the conformational distribution could be determined with respect to the ψ torsion angle, which changed between water and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as solvents, a finding mirrored by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with explicit solvent molecules. The (13)C NMR spin relaxation parameters T1, T2, and heteronuclear NOE of the probe were measured for the disaccharide in DMSO-d6 at two magnetic field strengths, with standard deviations ≤1%. The combination of MD simulation and a stochastic description based on the diffusive chain model resulted in excellent agreement between calculated and experimentally observed (13)C relaxation parameters, with an average error of <2%. The coupling between the global reorientation of the molecule and the local motion of the spin probe is deemed essential if reproduction of NMR relaxation parameters should succeed, since decoupling of the two modes of motion results in significantly worse agreement. Calculation of (13)C relaxation parameters based on the correlation functions obtained directly from the MD simulation of the solute molecule in DMSO as solvent showed satisfactory agreement with errors on the order of 10% or less.

Two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance structure determination module for introductory biochemistry: synthesis and structural characterization of lyso-glycerophospholipids.

PubMed

Garrett, Teresa A; Rose, Rebecca L; Bell, Sidney M

2013-01-01

In this laboratory module, introductory biochemistry students are exposed to two-dimensional (1) H-nuclear magnetic resonance of glycerophospholipids (GPLs). Working in groups of three, students enzymatically synthesized and purified a variety of 2-acyl lyso GPLs. The structure of the 2-acyl lyso GPL was verified using (1) H-correlation spectroscopy. Students scored significantly higher on an assessment of NMR knowledge after having participated in this lab module and in comparison to a similar cohort who did not participate. Inaddition, student confidence in their NMR knowledge and abilities increased 62% following the module and correlated with their ability to apply their NMR knowledge. Based on these results, the laboratory module was very effective at providing students with a more extensive understanding of the underlying concepts of NMR as a tool for structural determination. Copyright © 2013 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Bayesian reconstruction of projection reconstruction NMR (PR-NMR).

PubMed

Yoon, Ji Won

2014-11-01

Projection reconstruction nuclear magnetic resonance (PR-NMR) is a technique for generating multidimensional NMR spectra. A small number of projections from lower-dimensional NMR spectra are used to reconstruct the multidimensional NMR spectra. In our previous work, it was shown that multidimensional NMR spectra are efficiently reconstructed using peak-by-peak based reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) algorithm. We propose an extended and generalized RJMCMC algorithm replacing a simple linear model with a linear mixed model to reconstruct close NMR spectra into true spectra. This statistical method generates samples in a Bayesian scheme. Our proposed algorithm is tested on a set of six projections derived from the three-dimensional 700 MHz HNCO spectrum of a protein HasA. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The NMR-Rosetta capsid model of M13 bacteriophage reveals a quadrupled hydrophobic packing epitope.

PubMed

Morag, Omry; Sgourakis, Nikolaos G; Baker, David; Goldbourt, Amir

2015-01-27

Filamentous phage are elongated semiflexible ssDNA viruses that infect bacteria. The M13 phage, belonging to the family inoviridae, has a length of ∼1 μm and a diameter of ∼7 nm. Here we present a structural model for the capsid of intact M13 bacteriophage using Rosetta model building guided by structure restraints obtained from magic-angle spinning solid-state NMR experimental data. The C5 subunit symmetry observed in fiber diffraction studies was enforced during model building. The structure consists of stacked pentamers with largely alpha helical subunits containing an N-terminal type II β-turn; there is a rise of 16.6-16.7 Å and a tilt of 36.1-36.6° between consecutive pentamers. The packing of the subunits is stabilized by a repeating hydrophobic stacking pocket; each subunit participates in four pockets by contributing different hydrophobic residues, which are spread along the subunit sequence. Our study provides, to our knowledge, the first magic-angle spinning NMR structure of an intact filamentous virus capsid and further demonstrates the strength of this technique as a method of choice to study noncrystalline, high-molecular-weight molecular assemblies.

NMR crystallography: structure and properties of materials from solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance observables

PubMed Central

Bryce, David L.

2017-01-01

This topical review provides a brief overview of recent developments in NMR crystallography and related NMR approaches to studying the properties of molecular and ionic solids. Areas of complementarity with diffraction-based methods are underscored. These include the study of disordered systems, of dynamic systems, and other selected examples where NMR can provide unique insights. Highlights from the literature as well as recent work from my own group are discussed. PMID:28875022

Modeling of temperature-induced near-infrared and low-field time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance spectral variation: chemometric prediction of limonene and water content in spray-dried delivery systems.

PubMed

Andrade, Letícia; Farhat, Imad A; Aeberhardt, Kasia; Bro, Rasmus; Engelsen, Søren Balling

2009-02-01

The influence of temperature on near-infrared (NIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy complicates the industrial applications of both spectroscopic methods. The focus of this study is to analyze and model the effect of temperature variation on NIR spectra and NMR relaxation data. Different multivariate methods were tested for constructing robust prediction models based on NIR and NMR data acquired at various temperatures. Data were acquired on model spray-dried limonene systems at five temperatures in the range from 20 degrees C to 60 degrees C and partial least squares (PLS) regression models were computed for limonene and water predictions. The predictive ability of the models computed on the NIR spectra (acquired at various temperatures) improved significantly when data were preprocessed using extended inverted signal correction (EISC). The average PLS regression prediction error was reduced to 0.2%, corresponding to 1.9% and 3.4% of the full range of limonene and water reference values, respectively. The removal of variation induced by temperature prior to calibration, by direct orthogonalization (DO), slightly enhanced the predictive ability of the models based on NMR data. Bilinear PLS models, with implicit inclusion of the temperature, enabled limonene and water predictions by NMR with an error of 0.3% (corresponding to 2.8% and 7.0% of the full range of limonene and water). For NMR, and in contrast to the NIR results, modeling the data using multi-way N-PLS improved the models' performance. N-PLS models, in which temperature was included as an extra variable, enabled more accurate prediction, especially for limonene (prediction error was reduced to 0.2%). Overall, this study proved that it is possible to develop models for limonene and water content prediction based on NIR and NMR data, independent of the measurement temperature.

Structure Elucidation of Mixed-Linker Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks by Solid-State (1)H CRAMPS NMR Spectroscopy and Computational Modeling.

PubMed

Jayachandrababu, Krishna C; Verploegh, Ross J; Leisen, Johannes; Nieuwendaal, Ryan C; Sholl, David S; Nair, Sankar

2016-06-15

Mixed-linker zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are nanoporous materials that exhibit continuous and controllable tunability of properties like effective pore size, hydrophobicity, and organophilicity. The structure of mixed-linker ZIFs has been studied on macroscopic scales using gravimetric and spectroscopic techniques. However, it has so far not been possible to obtain information on unit-cell-level linker distribution, an understanding of which is key to predicting and controlling their adsorption and diffusion properties. We demonstrate the use of (1)H combined rotation and multiple pulse spectroscopy (CRAMPS) NMR spin exchange measurements in combination with computational modeling to elucidate potential structures of mixed-linker ZIFs, particularly the ZIF 8-90 series. All of the compositions studied have structures that have linkers mixed at a unit-cell-level as opposed to separated or highly clustered phases within the same crystal. Direct experimental observations of linker mixing were accomplished by measuring the proton spin exchange behavior between functional groups on the linkers. The data were then fitted to a kinetic spin exchange model using proton positions from candidate mixed-linker ZIF structures that were generated computationally using the short-range order (SRO) parameter as a measure of the ordering, clustering, or randomization of the linkers. The present method offers the advantages of sensitivity without requiring isotope enrichment, a straightforward NMR pulse sequence, and an analysis framework that allows one to relate spin diffusion behavior to proposed atomic positions. We find that structures close to equimolar composition of the two linkers show a greater tendency for linker clustering than what would be predicted based on random models. Using computational modeling we have also shown how the window-type distribution in experimentally synthesized mixed-linker ZIF-8-90 materials varies as a function of their composition. The structural information thus obtained can be further used for predicting, screening, or understanding the tunable adsorption and diffusion behavior of mixed-linker ZIFs, for which the knowledge of linker distributions in the framework is expected to be important.

Solid-state NMR studies of form I of atorvastatin calcium.

PubMed

Wang, Wei David; Gao, Xudong; Strohmeier, Mark; Wang, Wei; Bai, Shi; Dybowski, Cecil

2012-03-22

Solid-state (13)C, (19)F, and (15)N magic angle spinning NMR studies of Form I of atorvastatin calcium are reported, including chemical shift tensors of all resolvable carbon sites and fluorine sites. The complete (13)C and (19)F chemical shift assignments are given based on an extensive analysis of (13)C-(1)H HETCOR and (13)C-(19)F HETCOR results. The solid-state NMR data indicate that the asymmetric unit of this material contains two atorvastatin molecules. A possible structure of Form I of atorvastatin calcium (ATC-I), derived from solid-state NMR data and density functional theory calculations of various structures, is proposed for this important active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).

Challenges in NMR-based structural genomics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sue, Shih-Che; Chang, Chi-Fon; Huang, Yao-Te; Chou, Ching-Yu; Huang, Tai-huang

2005-05-01

Understanding the functions of the vast number of proteins encoded in many genomes that have been completely sequenced recently is the main challenge for biologists in the post-genomics era. Since the function of a protein is determined by its exact three-dimensional structure it is paramount to determine the 3D structures of all proteins. This need has driven structural biologists to undertake the structural genomics project aimed at determining the structures of all known proteins. Several centers for structural genomics studies have been established throughout the world. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has played a major role in determining protein structures in atomic details and in a physiologically relevant solution state. Since the number of new genes being discovered daily far exceeds the number of structures determined by both NMR and X-ray crystallography, a high-throughput method for speeding up the process of protein structure determination is essential for the success of the structural genomics effort. In this article we will describe NMR methods currently being employed for protein structure determination. We will also describe methods under development which may drastically increase the throughput, as well as point out areas where opportunities exist for biophysicists to make significant contribution in this important field.

Combining 27Al Solid-State NMR and First-Principles Simulations To Explore Crystal Structure in Disordered Aluminum Oxynitride.

PubMed

Tu, Bingtian; Liu, Xin; Wang, Hao; Wang, Weimin; Zhai, Pengcheng; Fu, Zhengyi

2016-12-19

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique gives insight into the local information in a crystal structure, while Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) sketches out the framework of a crystal lattice. In this work, first-principles calculations were combined with the solid-state NMR technique and Rietveld refinement to explore the crystal structure of a disordered aluminum oxynitride (γ-alon). The theoretical NMR parameters (chemical shift, δ iso , quadrupolar coupling constants, C Q , and asymmetry parameter, η) of Al 22.5 O 28.5 N 3.5 , predicted by the gauge-including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) algorithm, were used to facilitate the analytical investigation of the 27 Al magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectra of the as-prepared sample, whose formula was confirmed to be Al 2.811 O 3.565 N 0.435 by quantitative analysis. The experimental δ iso , C Q , and η of 27 Al showed a small discrepancy compared with theoretical models. The ratio of aluminum located at the 8a to 16d sites was calculated to be 0.531 from the relative integration of peaks in the 27 Al NMR spectra. The occupancies of aluminum at the 8a and 16d positions were determined through NMR investigations to be 0.9755 and 0.9178, respectively, and were used in the Rietveld refinement to obtain the lattice parameter and anion parameter of Al 2.811 O 3.565 N 0.435 . The results from 27 Al NMR investigations and PXRD structural refinement complemented each other. This work provides a powerful and accessible strategy to precisely understand the crystal structure of novel oxynitride materials with multiple disorder.

Revealing lithium-silicide phase transformations in nano-structured silicon-based lithium ion batteries via in situ NMR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Ogata, K; Salager, E; Kerr, C J; Fraser, A E; Ducati, C; Morris, A J; Hofmann, S; Grey, C P

2014-01-01

Nano-structured silicon anodes are attractive alternatives to graphitic carbons in rechargeable Li-ion batteries, owing to their extremely high capacities. Despite their advantages, numerous issues remain to be addressed, the most basic being to understand the complex kinetics and thermodynamics that control the reactions and structural rearrangements. Elucidating this necessitates real-time in situ metrologies, which are highly challenging, if the whole electrode structure is studied at an atomistic level for multiple cycles under realistic cycling conditions. Here we report that Si nanowires grown on a conducting carbon-fibre support provide a robust model battery system that can be studied by (7)Li in situ NMR spectroscopy. The method allows the (de)alloying reactions of the amorphous silicides to be followed in the 2nd cycle and beyond. In combination with density-functional theory calculations, the results provide insight into the amorphous and amorphous-to-crystalline lithium-silicide transformations, particularly those at low voltages, which are highly relevant to practical cycling strategies.

Precise side-chain conformation analysis of L-phenylalanine in α-helical polypeptide by quantum-chemical calculation and 13C CP-MAS NMR measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niimura, Subaru; Suzuki, Junya; Kurosu, Hiromichi; Yamanobe, Takeshi; Shoji, Akira

2010-04-01

To clarify the positive role of side-chain conformation in the stability of protein secondary structure (main-chain conformation), we successfully calculated the optimization structure of a well-defined α-helical octadecapeptide composed of L-alanine (Ala) and L-phenylalanine (Phe) residues, H-(Ala) 8-Phe-(Ala) 9-OH, based on the molecular orbital calculation with density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d)). From the total energy and the precise secondary structural parameters such as main-chain dihedral angles and hydrogen-bond parameters of the optimized structure, we confirmed that the conformational stability of an α-helix is affected dominantly by the side-chain conformation ( χ1) of the Phe residue in this system: model A ( T form: around 180° of χ1) is most stable in α-helix and model B ( G + form: around -60° of χ1) is next stable, but model C ( G - form: around 60° of χ1) is less stable. In addition, we demonstrate that the stable conformation of poly( L-phenylalanine) is an α-helix with the side-chain T form, by comparison of the carbonyl 13C chemical shift measured by 13C CP-MAS NMR and the calculated one.

Hepatitis B virus nuclear export elements: RNA stem-loop α and β, key parts of the HBV post-transcriptional regulatory element.

PubMed

Lim, Chun Shen; Brown, Chris M

2016-09-01

Many viruses contain RNA elements that modulate splicing and/or promote nuclear export of their RNAs. The RNAs of the major human pathogen, hepatitis B virus (HBV) contain a large (~600 bases) composite cis-acting 'post-transcriptional regulatory element' (PRE). This element promotes expression from these naturally intronless transcripts. Indeed, the related woodchuck hepadnavirus PRE (WPRE) is used to enhance expression in gene therapy and other expression vectors. These PRE are likely to act through a combination of mechanisms, including promotion of RNA nuclear export. Functional components of both the HBV PRE and WPRE are 2 conserved RNA cis-acting stem-loop (SL) structures, SLα and SLβ. They are within the coding regions of polymerase (P) gene, and both P and X genes, respectively. Based on previous studies using mutagenesis and/or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), here we propose 2 covariance models for SLα and SLβ. The model for the 30-nucleotide SLα contains a G-bulge and a CNGG(U) apical loop of which the first and the fourth loop residues form a CG pair and the fifth loop residue is bulged out, as observed in the NMR structure. The model for the 23-nucleotide SLβ contains a 7-base-pair stem and a 9-nucleotide loop. Comparison of the models with other RNA structural elements, as well as similarity searches of human transcriptome and viral genomes demonstrate that SLα and SLβ are specific to HBV transcripts. However, they are well conserved among the hepadnaviruses of non-human primates, the woodchuck and ground squirrel.

Hepatitis B virus nuclear export elements: RNA stem-loop α and β, key parts of the HBV post-transcriptional regulatory element

PubMed Central

Lim, Chun Shen; Brown, Chris M.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Many viruses contain RNA elements that modulate splicing and/or promote nuclear export of their RNAs. The RNAs of the major human pathogen, hepatitis B virus (HBV) contain a large (~600 bases) composite cis-acting 'post-transcriptional regulatory element' (PRE). This element promotes expression from these naturally intronless transcripts. Indeed, the related woodchuck hepadnavirus PRE (WPRE) is used to enhance expression in gene therapy and other expression vectors. These PRE are likely to act through a combination of mechanisms, including promotion of RNA nuclear export. Functional components of both the HBV PRE and WPRE are 2 conserved RNA cis-acting stem-loop (SL) structures, SLα and SLβ. They are within the coding regions of polymerase (P) gene, and both P and X genes, respectively. Based on previous studies using mutagenesis and/or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), here we propose 2 covariance models for SLα and SLβ. The model for the 30-nucleotide SLα contains a G-bulge and a CNGG(U) apical loop of which the first and the fourth loop residues form a CG pair and the fifth loop residue is bulged out, as observed in the NMR structure. The model for the 23-nucleotide SLβ contains a 7-base-pair stem and a 9-nucleotide loop. Comparison of the models with other RNA structural elements, as well as similarity searches of human transcriptome and viral genomes demonstrate that SLα and SLβ are specific to HBV transcripts. However, they are well conserved among the hepadnaviruses of non-human primates, the woodchuck and ground squirrel. PMID:27031749

A Markov Random Field Framework for Protein Side-Chain Resonance Assignment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Jianyang; Zhou, Pei; Donald, Bruce Randall

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy plays a critical role in structural genomics, and serves as a primary tool for determining protein structures, dynamics and interactions in physiologically-relevant solution conditions. The current speed of protein structure determination via NMR is limited by the lengthy time required in resonance assignment, which maps spectral peaks to specific atoms and residues in the primary sequence. Although numerous algorithms have been developed to address the backbone resonance assignment problem [68,2,10,37,14,64,1,31,60], little work has been done to automate side-chain resonance assignment [43, 48, 5]. Most previous attempts in assigning side-chain resonances depend on a set of NMR experiments that record through-bond interactions with side-chain protons for each residue. Unfortunately, these NMR experiments have low sensitivity and limited performance on large proteins, which makes it difficult to obtain enough side-chain resonance assignments. On the other hand, it is essential to obtain almost all of the side-chain resonance assignments as a prerequisite for high-resolution structure determination. To overcome this deficiency, we present a novel side-chain resonance assignment algorithm based on alternative NMR experiments measuring through-space interactions between protons in the protein, which also provide crucial distance restraints and are normally required in high-resolution structure determination. We cast the side-chain resonance assignment problem into a Markov Random Field (MRF) framework, and extend and apply combinatorial protein design algorithms to compute the optimal solution that best interprets the NMR data. Our MRF framework captures the contact map information of the protein derived from NMR spectra, and exploits the structural information available from the backbone conformations determined by orientational restraints and a set of discretized side-chain conformations (i.e., rotamers). A Hausdorff-based computation is employed in the scoring function to evaluate the probability of side-chain resonance assignments to generate the observed NMR spectra. The complexity of the assignment problem is first reduced by using a dead-end elimination (DEE) algorithm, which prunes side-chain resonance assignments that are provably not part of the optimal solution. Then an A* search algorithm is used to find a set of optimal side-chain resonance assignments that best fit the NMR data. We have tested our algorithm on NMR data for five proteins, including the FF Domain 2 of human transcription elongation factor CA150 (FF2), the B1 domain of Protein G (GB1), human ubiquitin, the ubiquitin-binding zinc finger domain of the human Y-family DNA polymerase Eta (pol η UBZ), and the human Set2-Rpb1 interacting domain (hSRI). Our algorithm assigns resonances for more than 90% of the protons in the proteins, and achieves about 80% correct side-chain resonance assignments. The final structures computed using distance restraints resulting from the set of assigned side-chain resonances have backbone RMSD 0.5 - 1.4 Å and all-heavy-atom RMSD 1.0 - 2.2 Å from the reference structures that were determined by X-ray crystallography or traditional NMR approaches. These results demonstrate that our algorithm can be successfully applied to automate side-chain resonance assignment and high-quality protein structure determination. Since our algorithm does not require any specific NMR experiments for measuring the through-bond interactions with side-chain protons, it can save a significant amount of both experimental cost and spectrometer time, and hence accelerate the NMR structure determination process.

Aromatic claw: A new fold with high aromatic content that evades structural prediction: Aromatic Claw

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sachleben, Joseph R.; Adhikari, Aashish N.; Gawlak, Grzegorz

2016-11-10

We determined the NMR structure of a highly aromatic (13%) protein of unknown function, Aq1974 from Aquifex aeolicus (PDB ID: 5SYQ). The unusual sequence of this protein has a tryptophan content five times the normal (six tryptophan residues of 114 or 5.2% while the average tryptophan content is 1.0%) with the tryptophans occurring in a WXW motif. It has no detectable sequence homology with known protein structures. Although its NMR spectrum suggested that the protein was rich in β-sheet, upon resonance assignment and solution structure determination, the protein was found to be primarily α-helical with a small two-stranded β-sheet withmore » a novel fold that we have termed an Aromatic Claw. As this fold was previously unknown and the sequence unique, we submitted the sequence to CASP10 as a target for blind structural prediction. At the end of the competition, the sequence was classified a hard template based model; the structural relationship between the template and the experimental structure was small and the predictions all failed to predict the structure. CSRosetta was found to predict the secondary structure and its packing; however, it was found that there was little correlation between CSRosetta score and the RMSD between the CSRosetta structure and the NMR determined one. This work demonstrates that even in relatively small proteins, we do not yet have the capacity to accurately predict the fold for all primary sequences. The experimental discovery of new folds helps guide the improvement of structural prediction methods.« less

Pseudopeptide foldamers: the homo-oligomers of pyroglutamic acid.

PubMed

Bernardi, Fernando; Garavelli, Marco; Scatizzi, Marco; Tomasini, Claudia; Trigari, Valerio; Crisma, Marco; Formaggio, Fernando; Peggion, Cristina; Toniolo, Claudio

2002-06-03

As a part of a program evaluating substituted gamma-lactams as conformationally constrained building blocks of pseudopeptide foldamers, we synthesized the homo-oligomers of L-pyroglutamic acid up to the tetramer level by solution methods. The preferred conformation of this pseudopeptide series in structure-supporting solvents was assessed by FT-IR absorption, 1H NMR and CD techniques. In addition, the crystal structure of the N alpha-protected dimer was established by X-ray diffraction. A high-level DFT computational modeling was performed based on the crystallographic parameters. In this analysis, we demonstrated that an alpha C-H...O=C intramolecular hydrogen bond is responsible for the stabilization of the s-trans L-pGlu-L-pGlu conformation by 1.4 kcal mol-1. This effect can be easily detected by 1H NMR spectroscopy, owing to the anomalous chemical shifts of the alpha CH protons present in all of the oligomers. In summary, we have developed a new polyimide-based, foldameric structure that, if appropriately functionalized, has promise as a rigid scaffold for novel functions and applications.

1H and 13C-NMR studies on phenol-formaldehyde prepolymers for tannin-based adhesives

Treesearch

Gerald W. McGraw; Lawerence L. Lanucci; Seiji Ohara; Richard W. Hemingway

1989-01-01

The number average structure and the molecular weight distribution of phenol-formaldehyde prepolymers for use in synthesis of tannin-based adhesive resins were determined with 1H and 13C-NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography of acetylated resins. These methods were used to determine differences in phenol-...

Structure of the charge density wave in cuprate superconductors: Lessons from NMR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atkinson, W. A.; Ufkes, S.; Kampf, A. P.

2018-03-01

Using a mix of numerical and analytic methods, we show that recent NMR 17O measurements provide detailed information about the structure of the charge-density wave (CDW) phase in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6 +x . We perform Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) calculations of both the local density of states and the orbitally resolved charge density, which are closely related to the magnetic and electric quadrupole contributions to the NMR spectrum, using a microscopic model that was shown previously to agree closely with x-ray experiments. The BdG results reproduce qualitative features of the experimental spectrum extremely well. These results are interpreted in terms of a generic "hot-spot" model that allows one to trace the origins of the NMR line shapes. We find that four quantities—the orbital character of the Fermi surface at the hot spots, the Fermi surface curvature at the hot spots, the CDW correlation length, and the magnitude of the subdominant CDW component—are key in determining the line shapes.

WaVPeak: picking NMR peaks through wavelet-based smoothing and volume-based filtering.

PubMed

Liu, Zhi; Abbas, Ahmed; Jing, Bing-Yi; Gao, Xin

2012-04-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been widely used as a powerful tool to determine the 3D structures of proteins in vivo. However, the post-spectra processing stage of NMR structure determination usually involves a tremendous amount of time and expert knowledge, which includes peak picking, chemical shift assignment and structure calculation steps. Detecting accurate peaks from the NMR spectra is a prerequisite for all following steps, and thus remains a key problem in automatic NMR structure determination. We introduce WaVPeak, a fully automatic peak detection method. WaVPeak first smoothes the given NMR spectrum by wavelets. The peaks are then identified as the local maxima. The false positive peaks are filtered out efficiently by considering the volume of the peaks. WaVPeak has two major advantages over the state-of-the-art peak-picking methods. First, through wavelet-based smoothing, WaVPeak does not eliminate any data point in the spectra. Therefore, WaVPeak is able to detect weak peaks that are embedded in the noise level. NMR spectroscopists need the most help isolating these weak peaks. Second, WaVPeak estimates the volume of the peaks to filter the false positives. This is more reliable than intensity-based filters that are widely used in existing methods. We evaluate the performance of WaVPeak on the benchmark set proposed by PICKY (Alipanahi et al., 2009), one of the most accurate methods in the literature. The dataset comprises 32 2D and 3D spectra from eight different proteins. Experimental results demonstrate that WaVPeak achieves an average of 96%, 91%, 88%, 76% and 85% recall on (15)N-HSQC, HNCO, HNCA, HNCACB and CBCA(CO)NH, respectively. When the same number of peaks are considered, WaVPeak significantly outperforms PICKY. WaVPeak is an open source program. The source code and two test spectra of WaVPeak are available at http://faculty.kaust.edu.sa/sites/xingao/Pages/Publications.aspx. The online server is under construction. statliuzhi@xmu.edu.cn; ahmed.abbas@kaust.edu.sa; majing@ust.hk; xin.gao@kaust.edu.sa.

WaVPeak: picking NMR peaks through wavelet-based smoothing and volume-based filtering

PubMed Central

Liu, Zhi; Abbas, Ahmed; Jing, Bing-Yi; Gao, Xin

2012-01-01

Motivation: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been widely used as a powerful tool to determine the 3D structures of proteins in vivo. However, the post-spectra processing stage of NMR structure determination usually involves a tremendous amount of time and expert knowledge, which includes peak picking, chemical shift assignment and structure calculation steps. Detecting accurate peaks from the NMR spectra is a prerequisite for all following steps, and thus remains a key problem in automatic NMR structure determination. Results: We introduce WaVPeak, a fully automatic peak detection method. WaVPeak first smoothes the given NMR spectrum by wavelets. The peaks are then identified as the local maxima. The false positive peaks are filtered out efficiently by considering the volume of the peaks. WaVPeak has two major advantages over the state-of-the-art peak-picking methods. First, through wavelet-based smoothing, WaVPeak does not eliminate any data point in the spectra. Therefore, WaVPeak is able to detect weak peaks that are embedded in the noise level. NMR spectroscopists need the most help isolating these weak peaks. Second, WaVPeak estimates the volume of the peaks to filter the false positives. This is more reliable than intensity-based filters that are widely used in existing methods. We evaluate the performance of WaVPeak on the benchmark set proposed by PICKY (Alipanahi et al., 2009), one of the most accurate methods in the literature. The dataset comprises 32 2D and 3D spectra from eight different proteins. Experimental results demonstrate that WaVPeak achieves an average of 96%, 91%, 88%, 76% and 85% recall on 15N-HSQC, HNCO, HNCA, HNCACB and CBCA(CO)NH, respectively. When the same number of peaks are considered, WaVPeak significantly outperforms PICKY. Availability: WaVPeak is an open source program. The source code and two test spectra of WaVPeak are available at http://faculty.kaust.edu.sa/sites/xingao/Pages/Publications.aspx. The online server is under construction. Contact: statliuzhi@xmu.edu.cn; ahmed.abbas@kaust.edu.sa; majing@ust.hk; xin.gao@kaust.edu.sa PMID:22328784

The theoretical investigation of solvent effects on the relative stability and 15N NMR shielding of antidepressant heterocyclic drug

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tahan, Arezoo; Khojandi, Mahya; Salari, Ali Akbar

2016-01-01

The density functional theory (DFT) and Tomasi's polarized continuum model (PCM) were used for the investigation of solvent polarity and its dielectric constant effects on the relative stability and NMR shielding tensors of antidepressant mirtazapine (MIR). The obtained results indicated that the relative stability in the polar solvents is higher than that in non-polar solvents and the most stable structure was observed in the water at the B3LYP/6-311++G ( d, p) level of theory. Also, natural bond orbital (NBO) interpretation demonstrated that by increase of solvent dielectric constant, negative charge on nitrogen atoms of heterocycles and resonance energy for LP(N10) → σ* and π* delocalization of the structure's azepine ring increase and the highest values of them were observed in water. On the other hand, NMR calculations showed that with an increase in negative charge of nitrogen atoms, isotropic chemical shielding (σiso) around them increase and nitrogen of piperazine ring (N19) has the highest values of negative charge and σiso among nitrogen atoms. NMR calculations also represented that direct solvent effect on nitrogen of pyridine ring (N15) is more than other nitrogens, while its effect on N19 is less than other ones. Based on NMR data and NBO interpretation, it can be deduced that with a decrease in the negative charge on nitrogen atoms, the intramolecular effects on them decrease, while direct solvent effect increases.

A review of whole cell wall NMR by the direct-dissolution of biomass

DOE PAGES

Foston, Marcus B.; Samuel, Reichel; He, Jian; ...

2016-01-19

To fully realize the potential of lignocellulosic biomass as a renewable resource for the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials, an improved understanding of the chemical and molecular structures within biomass and how those structures are formed during biosynthesis and transformed during (thermochemical and biological) conversion must be developed. This effort will require analytical techniques which are not only in-depth, rapid, and cost-effective, but also leave native cell wall features intact. Whole plant cell wall nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis facilitates unparalleled structural characterization of lignocellulosic biomass without causing (or with minimal) structural modification. The objective of this review ismore » to summarize research pertaining to solution- or gel-state whole plant cell wall NMR analysis of biomass, demonstrating the capability of NMR to delineate the structural features and transformations of biomass. In particular, this review will focus on the application of a two-dimensional solution-state NMR technique and perdeuterated ionic liquid based organic electrolyte solvents for the direct dissolution and analysis of biomass. Furthermore, we believe this type of analysis will be critical to advancing biofuel research, improving bioprocessing methodology, and enhancing plant bioengineering efforts.« less

A review of whole cell wall NMR by the direct-dissolution of biomass

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Foston, Marcus B.; Samuel, Reichel; He, Jian

To fully realize the potential of lignocellulosic biomass as a renewable resource for the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials, an improved understanding of the chemical and molecular structures within biomass and how those structures are formed during biosynthesis and transformed during (thermochemical and biological) conversion must be developed. This effort will require analytical techniques which are not only in-depth, rapid, and cost-effective, but also leave native cell wall features intact. Whole plant cell wall nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis facilitates unparalleled structural characterization of lignocellulosic biomass without causing (or with minimal) structural modification. The objective of this review ismore » to summarize research pertaining to solution- or gel-state whole plant cell wall NMR analysis of biomass, demonstrating the capability of NMR to delineate the structural features and transformations of biomass. In particular, this review will focus on the application of a two-dimensional solution-state NMR technique and perdeuterated ionic liquid based organic electrolyte solvents for the direct dissolution and analysis of biomass. Furthermore, we believe this type of analysis will be critical to advancing biofuel research, improving bioprocessing methodology, and enhancing plant bioengineering efforts.« less

Probing silicon and aluminium chemical environments in silicate and aluminosilicate glasses by solid state NMR spectroscopy and accurate first-principles calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gambuzzi, Elisa; Pedone, Alfonso; Menziani, Maria Cristina; Angeli, Frédéric; Caurant, Daniel; Charpentier, Thibault

2014-01-01

Silicon and aluminium chemical environments in silicate and aluminosilicate glasses with compositions 60SiO2·20Na2O·20CaO (CSN), 60SiO2·20Al2O3·20CaO (CAS), 78SiO2·11Al2O3·11Na2O (NAS) and 60SiO2·10Al2O3·10Na2O·20CaO (CASN) have been investigated by 27Al and 29Si solid state magic angle spinning (MAS) and multiple quantum MAS (MQMAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. To interpret the NMR data, first-principles calculations using density functional theory were performed on structural models of these glasses. These models were generated by Shell-model molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The theoretical NMR parameters and spectra were computed using the gauge including projected augmented wave (GIPAW) method and spin-effective Hamiltonians, respectively. This synergetic computational-experimental approach offers a clear structural characterization of these glasses, particularly in terms of network polymerization, chemical disorder (i.e. Si and Al distribution in second coordination sphere) and modifier cation distributions. The relationships between the local structural environments and the 29Si and 27Al NMR parameters are highlighted, and show that: (i) the isotropic chemical shift of both 29Si and 27Al increases of about +5 ppm for each Al added in the second sphere and (ii) both the 27Al and 29Si isotropic chemical shifts linearly decrease with the reduction of the average Si/Al-O-T bond angle. Conversely, 27Al and 29Si NMR parameters are much less sensitive to the connectivity with triple bridging oxygen atoms, precluding their indirect detection from 27Al and 29Si NMR.

PICKY: a novel SVD-based NMR spectra peak picking method.

PubMed

Alipanahi, Babak; Gao, Xin; Karakoc, Emre; Donaldson, Logan; Li, Ming

2009-06-15

Picking peaks from experimental NMR spectra is a key unsolved problem for automated NMR protein structure determination. Such a process is a prerequisite for resonance assignment, nuclear overhauser enhancement (NOE) distance restraint assignment, and structure calculation tasks. Manual or semi-automatic peak picking, which is currently the prominent way used in NMR labs, is tedious, time consuming and costly. We introduce new ideas, including noise-level estimation, component forming and sub-division, singular value decomposition (SVD)-based peak picking and peak pruning and refinement. PICKY is developed as an automated peak picking method. Different from the previous research on peak picking, we provide a systematic study of the proposed method. PICKY is tested on 32 real 2D and 3D spectra of eight target proteins, and achieves an average of 88% recall and 74% precision. PICKY is efficient. It takes PICKY on average 15.7 s to process an NMR spectrum. More important than these numbers, PICKY actually works in practice. We feed peak lists generated by PICKY to IPASS for resonance assignment, feed IPASS assignment to SPARTA for fragments generation, and feed SPARTA fragments to FALCON for structure calculation. This results in high-resolution structures of several proteins, for example, TM1112, at 1.25 A. PICKY is available upon request. The peak lists of PICKY can be easily loaded by SPARKY to enable a better interactive strategy for rapid peak picking.

Characterization of solid polymer dispersions of active pharmaceutical ingredients by 19F MAS NMR and factor analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urbanova, Martina; Brus, Jiri; Sedenkova, Ivana; Policianova, Olivia; Kobera, Libor

In this contribution the ability of 19F MAS NMR spectroscopy to probe structural variability of poorly water-soluble drugs formulated as solid dispersions in polymer matrices is discussed. The application potentiality of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a moderately sized active pharmaceutical ingredient (API, Atorvastatin) exhibiting extensive polymorphism. In this respect, a range of model systems with the API incorporated in the matrix of polvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was prepared. The extent of mixing of both components was determined by T1(1H) and T1ρ(1H) relaxation experiments, and it was found that the API forms nanosized domains. Subsequently it was found out that the polymer matrix induces two kinds of changes in 19F MAS NMR spectra. At first, this is a high-frequency shift reaching 2-3 ppm which is independent on molecular structure of the API and which results from the long-range polarization of the electron cloud around 19F nucleus induced by electrostatic fields of the polymer matrix. At second, this is broadening of the signals and formation of shoulders reflecting changes in molecular arrangement of the API. To avoid misleading in the interpretation of the recorded 19F MAS NMR spectra, because both the contributions act simultaneously, we applied chemometric approach based on multivariate analysis. It is demonstrated that factor analysis of the recorded spectra can separate both these spectral contributions, and the subtle structural differences in the molecular arrangement of the API in the nanosized domains can be traced. In this way 19F MAS NMR spectra of both pure APIs and APIs in solid dispersions can be directly compared. The proposed strategy thus provides a powerful tool for the analysis of new formulations of fluorinated pharmaceutical substances in polymer matrices.

NMR-based Structural Analysis of Threonylcarbamoyl-AMP Synthase and Its Substrate Interactions.

PubMed

Harris, Kimberly A; Bobay, Benjamin G; Sarachan, Kathryn L; Sims, Alexis F; Bilbille, Yann; Deutsch, Christopher; Iwata-Reuyl, Dirk; Agris, Paul F

2015-08-14

The hypermodified nucleoside N(6)-threonylcarbamoyladenosine (t(6)A37) is present in many distinct tRNA species and has been found in organisms in all domains of life. This post-transcriptional modification enhances translation fidelity by stabilizing the anticodon/codon interaction in the ribosomal decoding site. The biosynthetic pathway of t(6)A37 is complex and not well understood. In bacteria, the following four proteins have been discovered to be both required and sufficient for t(6)A37 modification: TsaC, TsaD, TsaB, and TsaE. Of these, TsaC and TsaD are members of universally conserved protein families. Although TsaC has been shown to catalyze the formation of L-threonylcarbamoyl-AMP, a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of t(6)A37, the details of the enzymatic mechanism remain unsolved. Therefore, the solution structure of Escherichia coli TsaC was characterized by NMR to further study the interactions with ATP and L-threonine, both substrates of TsaC in the biosynthesis of L-threonylcarbamoyl-AMP. Several conserved amino acids were identified that create a hydrophobic binding pocket for the adenine of ATP. Additionally, two residues were found to interact with L-threonine. Both binding sites are located in a deep cavity at the center of the protein. Models derived from the NMR data and molecular modeling reveal several sites with considerable conformational flexibility in TsaC that may be important for L-threonine recognition, ATP activation, and/or protein/protein interactions. These observations further the understanding of the enzymatic reaction catalyzed by TsaC, a threonylcarbamoyl-AMP synthase, and provide structure-based insight into the mechanism of t(6)A37 biosynthesis. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Dimerization of the EphA1 Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Transmembrane Domain: Insights into the Mechanism of Receptor Activation

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

EphA1 is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) that plays a key role in developmental processes, including guidance of the migration of axons and cells in the nervous system. EphA1, in common with other RTKs, contains an N-terminal extracellular domain, a single transmembrane (TM) α-helix, and a C-terminal intracellular kinase domain. The TM helix forms a dimer, as seen in recent NMR studies. We have modeled the EphA1 TM dimer using a multiscale approach combining coarse-grain (CG) and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The one-dimensional potential of mean force (PMF) for this system, based on interhelix separation, has been calculated using CG MD simulations. This provides a view of the free energy landscape for helix–helix interactions of the TM dimer in a lipid bilayer. The resulting PMF profiles suggest two states, consistent with a rotation-coupled activation mechanism. The more stable state corresponds to a right-handed helix dimer interacting via an N-terminal glycine zipper motif, consistent with a recent NMR structure (2K1K). A second metastable state corresponds to a structure in which the glycine zipper motif is not involved. Analysis of unrestrained CG MD simulations based on representative models from the PMF calculations or on the NMR structure reveals possible pathways of interconversion between these two states, involving helix rotations about their long axes. This suggests that the interaction of TM helices in EphA1 dimers may be intrinsically dynamic. This provides a potential mechanism for signaling whereby extracellular events drive a shift in the repopulation of the underlying TM helix dimer energy landscape. PMID:25286141

NMR Structure of Francisella tularensis Virulence Determinant Reveals Structural Homology to Bet v1 Allergen Proteins.

PubMed

Zook, James; Mo, Gina; Sisco, Nicholas J; Craciunescu, Felicia M; Hansen, Debra T; Baravati, Bobby; Cherry, Brian R; Sykes, Kathryn; Wachter, Rebekka; Van Horn, Wade D; Fromme, Petra

2015-06-02

Tularemia is a potentially fatal bacterial infection caused by Francisella tularensis, and is endemic to North America and many parts of northern Europe and Asia. The outer membrane lipoprotein, Flpp3, has been identified as a virulence determinant as well as a potential subunit template for vaccine development. Here we present the first structure for the soluble domain of Flpp3 from the highly infectious Type A SCHU S4 strain, derived through high-resolution solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; the first structure of a lipoprotein from the genus Francisella. The Flpp3 structure demonstrates a globular protein with an electrostatically polarized surface containing an internal cavity-a putative binding site based on the structurally homologous Bet v1 protein family of allergens. NMR-based relaxation studies suggest loop regions that potentially modulate access to the internal cavity. The Flpp3 structure may add to the understanding of F. tularensis virulence and contribute to the development of effective vaccines. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NMR conformational properties of an Anthrax Lethal Factor domain studied by multiple amino acid-selective labeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vourtsis, Dionysios J.; Chasapis, Christos T.; Pairas, George

2014-07-18

Highlights: • A polypeptide, N-ALF{sub 233}, was overexpressed in E. coli and successfully isolated. • We produced {sup 2}H/{sup 15}N/{sup 13}C labeled protein samples. • Amino acid selective approaches were applied. • We acquired several heteronuclear NMR spectra, to complete the backbone assignment. • Prediction of the secondary structure was performed. - Abstract: NMR-based structural biology urgently needs cost- and time-effective methods to assist both in the process of acquiring high-resolution NMR spectra and their subsequent analysis. Especially for bigger proteins (>20 kDa) selective labeling is a frequently used means of sequence-specific assignment. In this work we present the successfulmore » overexpression of a polypeptide of 233 residues, corresponding to the structured part of the N-terminal domain of Anthrax Lethal Factor, using Escherichia coli expression system. The polypeptide was subsequently isolated in pure, soluble form and analyzed structurally by solution NMR spectroscopy. Due to the non-satisfying quality and resolution of the spectra of this 27 kDa protein, an almost complete backbone assignment became feasible only by the combination of uniform and novel amino acid-selective labeling schemes. Moreover, amino acid-type selective triple-resonance NMR experiments proved to be very helpful.« less

Fraction of boroxol rings in vitreous boron oxide from a first-principles analysis of Raman and NMR spectra.

PubMed

Umari, P; Pasquarello, Alfredo

2005-09-23

We determine the fraction f of B atoms belonging to boroxol rings in vitreous boron oxide through a first-principles analysis. After generating a model structure of vitreous B2O3 by first-principles molecular dynamics, we address a large set of properties, including the neutron structure factor, the neutron density of vibrational states, the infrared spectra, the Raman spectra, and the 11B NMR spectra, and find overall good agreement with corresponding experimental data. From the analysis of Raman and 11B NMR spectra, we yield consistently for both probes a fraction f of approximately 0.75. This result indicates that the structure of vitreous boron oxide is largely dominated by boroxol rings.

Molecular dynamics correctly models the unusual major conformation of the GAGU RNA internal loop and with NMR reveals an unusual minor conformation.

PubMed

Spasic, Aleksandar; Kennedy, Scott D; Needham, Laura; Manoharan, Muthiah; Kierzek, Ryszard; Turner, Douglas H; Mathews, David H

2018-05-01

The RNA "GAGU" duplex, (5'GAC GAGU GUCA) 2 , contains the internal loop (5'-GAGU-3') 2 , which has two conformations in solution as determined by NMR spectroscopy. The major conformation has a loop structure consisting of trans -Watson-Crick/Hoogsteen GG pairs, A residues stacked on each other, U residues bulged outside the helix, and all sugars with a C2'- endo conformation. This differs markedly from the internal loops, (5'-G AG C-3') 2 , (5'-A AG U-3') 2 , and (5'-UAGG-3') 2 , which all have cis -Watson-Crick/Watson-Crick AG "imino" pairs flanked by cis -Watson-Crick/Watson-Crick canonical pairs resulting in maximal hydrogen bonding. Here, molecular dynamics was used to test whether the Amber force field (ff99 + bsc0 + OL3) approximates molecular interactions well enough to keep stable the unexpected conformation of the GAGU major duplex structure and the NMR structures of the duplexes containing (5'-G AG C-3') 2 , (5'-A AG U-3') 2 , and (5'-U AG G-3') 2 internal loops. One-microsecond simulations were repeated four times for each of the duplexes starting in their NMR conformations. With the exception of (5'-UAGG-3') 2 , equivalent simulations were also run starting with alternative conformations. Results indicate that the Amber force field keeps the NMR conformations of the duplexes stable for at least 1 µsec. They also demonstrate an unexpected minor conformation for the (5'-GAGU-3') 2 loop that is consistent with newly measured NMR spectra of duplexes with natural and modified nucleotides. Thus, unrestrained simulations led to the determination of the previously unknown minor conformation. The stability of the native (5'-GAGU-3') 2 internal loop as compared to other loops can be explained by changes in hydrogen bonding and stacking as the flanking bases are changed. © 2018 Spasic et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society.

Conceptual-level workflow modeling of scientific experiments using NMR as a case study

PubMed Central

Verdi, Kacy K; Ellis, Heidi JC; Gryk, Michael R

2007-01-01

Background Scientific workflows improve the process of scientific experiments by making computations explicit, underscoring data flow, and emphasizing the participation of humans in the process when intuition and human reasoning are required. Workflows for experiments also highlight transitions among experimental phases, allowing intermediate results to be verified and supporting the proper handling of semantic mismatches and different file formats among the various tools used in the scientific process. Thus, scientific workflows are important for the modeling and subsequent capture of bioinformatics-related data. While much research has been conducted on the implementation of scientific workflows, the initial process of actually designing and generating the workflow at the conceptual level has received little consideration. Results We propose a structured process to capture scientific workflows at the conceptual level that allows workflows to be documented efficiently, results in concise models of the workflow and more-correct workflow implementations, and provides insight into the scientific process itself. The approach uses three modeling techniques to model the structural, data flow, and control flow aspects of the workflow. The domain of biomolecular structure determination using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is used to demonstrate the process. Specifically, we show the application of the approach to capture the workflow for the process of conducting biomolecular analysis using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Conclusion Using the approach, we were able to accurately document, in a short amount of time, numerous steps in the process of conducting an experiment using NMR spectroscopy. The resulting models are correct and precise, as outside validation of the models identified only minor omissions in the models. In addition, the models provide an accurate visual description of the control flow for conducting biomolecular analysis using NMR spectroscopy experiment. PMID:17263870

Conceptual-level workflow modeling of scientific experiments using NMR as a case study.

PubMed

Verdi, Kacy K; Ellis, Heidi Jc; Gryk, Michael R

2007-01-30

Scientific workflows improve the process of scientific experiments by making computations explicit, underscoring data flow, and emphasizing the participation of humans in the process when intuition and human reasoning are required. Workflows for experiments also highlight transitions among experimental phases, allowing intermediate results to be verified and supporting the proper handling of semantic mismatches and different file formats among the various tools used in the scientific process. Thus, scientific workflows are important for the modeling and subsequent capture of bioinformatics-related data. While much research has been conducted on the implementation of scientific workflows, the initial process of actually designing and generating the workflow at the conceptual level has received little consideration. We propose a structured process to capture scientific workflows at the conceptual level that allows workflows to be documented efficiently, results in concise models of the workflow and more-correct workflow implementations, and provides insight into the scientific process itself. The approach uses three modeling techniques to model the structural, data flow, and control flow aspects of the workflow. The domain of biomolecular structure determination using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is used to demonstrate the process. Specifically, we show the application of the approach to capture the workflow for the process of conducting biomolecular analysis using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Using the approach, we were able to accurately document, in a short amount of time, numerous steps in the process of conducting an experiment using NMR spectroscopy. The resulting models are correct and precise, as outside validation of the models identified only minor omissions in the models. In addition, the models provide an accurate visual description of the control flow for conducting biomolecular analysis using NMR spectroscopy experiment.

Fractional motion model for characterization of anomalous diffusion from NMR signals.

PubMed

Fan, Yang; Gao, Jia-Hong

2015-07-01

Measuring molecular diffusion has been used to characterize the properties of living organisms and porous materials. NMR is able to detect the diffusion process in vivo and noninvasively. The fractional motion (FM) model is appropriate to describe anomalous diffusion phenomenon in crowded environments, such as living cells. However, no FM-based NMR theory has yet been established. Here, we present a general formulation of the FM-based NMR signal under the influence of arbitrary magnetic field gradient waveforms. An explicit analytic solution of the stretched exponential decay format for NMR signals with finite-width Stejskal-Tanner bipolar pulse magnetic field gradients is presented. Signals from a numerical simulation matched well with the theoretical prediction. In vivo diffusion-weighted brain images were acquired and analyzed using the proposed theory, and the resulting parametric maps exhibit remarkable contrasts between different brain tissues.

Fractional motion model for characterization of anomalous diffusion from NMR signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Yang; Gao, Jia-Hong

2015-07-01

Measuring molecular diffusion has been used to characterize the properties of living organisms and porous materials. NMR is able to detect the diffusion process in vivo and noninvasively. The fractional motion (FM) model is appropriate to describe anomalous diffusion phenomenon in crowded environments, such as living cells. However, no FM-based NMR theory has yet been established. Here, we present a general formulation of the FM-based NMR signal under the influence of arbitrary magnetic field gradient waveforms. An explicit analytic solution of the stretched exponential decay format for NMR signals with finite-width Stejskal-Tanner bipolar pulse magnetic field gradients is presented. Signals from a numerical simulation matched well with the theoretical prediction. In vivo diffusion-weighted brain images were acquired and analyzed using the proposed theory, and the resulting parametric maps exhibit remarkable contrasts between different brain tissues.

NMR Investigations of Structure and Dynamics in Polymers for Energy Storage Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenbaum, Steven

Materials innovation is needed to realize major progress in energy storage capacity for lithium batteries and capacitors. Polymers hold considerable promise as ion conducting media in batteries and electrochemical capacitors and as dielectrics in thin film capacitors. Structural studies of materials utilized in lithium battery technology are hampered by the lack of long-range order found in well-defined crystalline phases. Powder x-ray diffraction yields structural parameters that have been averaged over hundreds of lattice sites, and is unable to provide structural information about amorphous phases. Our laboratory uses solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods to investigate structural and chemical aspects of lithium ion cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, interfaces and interphases. NMR is element- (nuclear-) specific and sensitive to small variations in the immediate environment of the ions being probed, for example Li+, and in most cases is a reliably quantitative spectroscopy in that the integrated intensity of a particular spectral component is directly proportional to the number of nuclei in the corresponding material phase. NMR is also a powerful tool for probing ionic and molecular motion in lithium battery electrolytes with a dynamic range spanning some ten orders of magnitude through spin-lattice relaxation and self-diffusion measurements. Broadband relaxometry based on Fast Field Cycling NMR (FFCNMR) methods can span three to four of these orders of magnitude in a single set of measurements. Results of several recent NMR investigations performed on our lab will be presented. We explore the ion transport mechanism in polyether-based and lithium polymer electrolytes and those based on other base polymers, in particular, the extent to which ionic motion is coupled to polymer segmental motion. Polycarbonates are being considered as a possible replacement for polypropylene in high power thin film capacitors due to their favorable dielectric properties. We investigate the effects of incorporation of two types of additives in the polymer film on the ring-flip motions corresponding to the γ relaxation: (i) high dielectric constant ceramic particles; (ii) polar organic diluent molecules, The low frequency realm of broadband relaxometry allows meaningful comparison with dielectric relaxation studies of these samples performed by collaborators. Work Supported in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Investigating Sodium Storage Mechanisms in Tin Anodes: A Combined Pair Distribution Function Analysis, Density Functional Theory, and Solid-State NMR Approach.

PubMed

Stratford, Joshua M; Mayo, Martin; Allan, Phoebe K; Pecher, Oliver; Borkiewicz, Olaf J; Wiaderek, Kamila M; Chapman, Karena W; Pickard, Chris J; Morris, Andrew J; Grey, Clare P

2017-05-31

The alloying mechanism of high-capacity tin anodes for sodium-ion batteries is investigated using a combined theoretical and experimental approach. Ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) and high-throughput screening using a species-swap method provide insights into a range of possible sodium-tin structures. These structures are linked to experiments using both average and local structure probes in the form of operando pair distribution function analysis, X-ray diffraction, and 23 Na solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR), along with ex situ 119 Sn ssNMR. Through this approach, we propose structures for the previously unidentified crystalline and amorphous intermediates. The first electrochemical process of sodium insertion into tin results in the conversion of crystalline tin into a layered structure consisting of mixed Na/Sn occupancy sites intercalated between planar hexagonal layers of Sn atoms (approximate stoichiometry NaSn 3 ). Following this, NaSn 2 , which is predicted to be thermodynamically stable by AIRSS, forms; this contains hexagonal layers closely related to NaSn 3 , but has no tin atoms between the layers. NaSn 2 is broken down into an amorphous phase of approximate composition Na 1.2 Sn. Reverse Monte Carlo refinements of an ab initio molecular dynamics model of this phase show that the predominant tin connectivity is chains. Further reaction with sodium results in the formation of structures containing Sn-Sn dumbbells, which interconvert through a solid-solution mechanism. These structures are based upon Na 5-x Sn 2 , with increasing occupancy of one of its sodium sites commensurate with the amount of sodium added. ssNMR results indicate that the final product, Na 15 Sn 4 , can store additional sodium atoms as an off-stoichiometry compound (Na 15+x Sn 4 ) in a manner similar to Li 15 Si 4 .

Investigating Sodium Storage Mechanisms in Tin Anodes: A Combined Pair Distribution Function Analysis, Density Functional Theory, and Solid-State NMR Approach

DOE PAGES

Stratford, Joshua M.; Mayo, Martin; Allan, Phoebe K.; ...

2017-05-04

Here, the alloying mechanism of high-capacity tin anodes for sodium-ion batteries is investigated using a combined theoretical and experimental approach. Ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) and high-throughput screening using a species-swap method provide insights into a range of possible sodium–tin structures. These structures are linked to experiments using both average and local structure probes in the form of operando pair distribution function analysis, X-ray diffraction, and 23Na solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR), along with ex situ 119Sn ssNMR. Through this approach, we propose structures for the previously unidentified crystalline and amorphous intermediates. The first electrochemical process of sodium insertionmore » into tin results in the conversion of crystalline tin into a layered structure consisting of mixed Na/Sn occupancy sites intercalated between planar hexagonal layers of Sn atoms (approximate stoichiometry NaSn 3). Following this, NaSn 2, which is predicted to be thermodynamically stable by AIRSS, forms; this contains hexagonal layers closely related to NaSn 3, but has no tin atoms between the layers. NaSn 2 is broken down into an amorphous phase of approximate composition Na 1.2Sn. Reverse Monte Carlo refinements of an ab initio molecular dynamics model of this phase show that the predominant tin connectivity is chains. Further reaction with sodium results in the formation of structures containing Sn–Sn dumbbells, which interconvert through a solid-solution mechanism. These structures are based upon Na 5–xSn 2, with increasing occupancy of one of its sodium sites commensurate with the amount of sodium added. ssNMR results indicate that the final product, Na 15Sn 4, can store additional sodium atoms as an off-stoichiometry compound (Na 15+xSn 4) in a manner similar to Li 15Si 4.« less

Investigating Sodium Storage Mechanisms in Tin Anodes: A Combined Pair Distribution Function Analysis, Density Functional Theory, and Solid-State NMR Approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stratford, Joshua M.; Mayo, Martin; Allan, Phoebe K.

Here, the alloying mechanism of high-capacity tin anodes for sodium-ion batteries is investigated using a combined theoretical and experimental approach. Ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) and high-throughput screening using a species-swap method provide insights into a range of possible sodium–tin structures. These structures are linked to experiments using both average and local structure probes in the form of operando pair distribution function analysis, X-ray diffraction, and 23Na solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR), along with ex situ 119Sn ssNMR. Through this approach, we propose structures for the previously unidentified crystalline and amorphous intermediates. The first electrochemical process of sodium insertionmore » into tin results in the conversion of crystalline tin into a layered structure consisting of mixed Na/Sn occupancy sites intercalated between planar hexagonal layers of Sn atoms (approximate stoichiometry NaSn 3). Following this, NaSn 2, which is predicted to be thermodynamically stable by AIRSS, forms; this contains hexagonal layers closely related to NaSn 3, but has no tin atoms between the layers. NaSn 2 is broken down into an amorphous phase of approximate composition Na 1.2Sn. Reverse Monte Carlo refinements of an ab initio molecular dynamics model of this phase show that the predominant tin connectivity is chains. Further reaction with sodium results in the formation of structures containing Sn–Sn dumbbells, which interconvert through a solid-solution mechanism. These structures are based upon Na 5–xSn 2, with increasing occupancy of one of its sodium sites commensurate with the amount of sodium added. ssNMR results indicate that the final product, Na 15Sn 4, can store additional sodium atoms as an off-stoichiometry compound (Na 15+xSn 4) in a manner similar to Li 15Si 4.« less

NMR characterization of weak interactions between RhoGDI2 and fragment screening hits.

PubMed

Liu, Jiuyang; Gao, Jia; Li, Fudong; Ma, Rongsheng; Wei, Qingtao; Wang, Aidong; Wu, Jihui; Ruan, Ke

2017-01-01

The delineation of intrinsically weak interactions between novel targets and fragment screening hits has long limited the pace of hit-to-lead evolution. Rho guanine-nucleotide dissociation inhibitor 2 (RhoGDI2) is a novel target that lacks any chemical probes for the treatment of tumor metastasis. Protein-observed and ligand-observed NMR spectroscopy was used to characterize the weak interactions between RhoGDI2 and fragment screening hits. We identified three hits of RhoGDI2 using streamlined NMR fragment-based screening. The binding site residues were assigned using non-uniformly sampled C α - and H α -based three dimensional NMR spectra. The molecular docking to the proposed geranylgeranyl binding pocket of RhoGDI2 was guided by NMR restraints of chemical shift perturbations and ligand-observed transferred paramagnetic relaxation enhancement. We further validated the weak RhoGDI2-hit interactions using mutagenesis and structure-affinity analysis. Weak interactions between RhoGDI2 and fragment screening hits were delineated using an integrated NMR approach. Binders to RhoGDI2 as a potential anti-cancer target have been first reported, and their weak interactions were depicted using NMR spectroscopy. Our work highlights the powerfulness and the versatility of the integrative NMR techniques to provide valuable structural insight into the intrinsically weak interactions between RhoGDI2 and the fragment screening hits, which could hardly be conceived using other biochemical techniques. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diazole-based powdered cocrystal featuring a helical hydrogen-bonded network: structure determination from PXRD, solid-state NMR and computer modeling.

PubMed

Sardo, Mariana; Santos, Sérgio M; Babaryk, Artem A; López, Concepción; Alkorta, Ibon; Elguero, José; Claramunt, Rosa M; Mafra, Luís

2015-02-01

We present the structure of a new equimolar 1:1 cocrystal formed by 3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazole (dmpz) and 4,5-dimethyl-1H-imidazole (dmim), determined by means of powder X-ray diffraction data combined with solid-state NMR that provided insight into topological details of hydrogen bonding connectivities and weak interactions such as CH···π contacts. The use of various 1D/2D (13)C, (15)N and (1)H high-resolution solid-state NMR techniques provided structural insight on local length scales revealing internuclear proximities and relative orientations between the dmim and dmpz molecular building blocks of the studied cocrystal. Molecular modeling and DFT calculations were also employed to generate meaningful structures. DFT refinement was able to decrease the figure of merit R(F(2)) from ~11% (PXRD only) to 5.4%. An attempt was made to rationalize the role of NH···N and CH···π contacts in stabilizing the reported cocrystal. For this purpose four imidazole derivatives with distinct placement of methyl substituents were reacted with dmpz to understand the effect of methylation in blocking or enabling certain intermolecular contacts. Only one imidazole derivative (dmim) was able to incorporate into the dmpz trimeric motif thus resulting in a cocrystal, which contains both hydrophobic (methyl groups) and hydrophilic components that self-assemble to form an atypical 1D network of helicoidal hydrogen bonded pattern, featuring structural similarities with alpha-helix arrangements in proteins. The 1:1 dmpz···dmim compound I is the first example of a cocrystal formed by two different azoles. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NMR Investigations of Noncovalent Carbon Tetrel Bonds. Computational Assessment and Initial Experimental Observation.

PubMed

Southern, Scott A; Bryce, David L

2015-12-10

Group IV tetrel elements may act as tetrel bond donors, whereby a region of positive electrostatic potential (σ-hole) interacts with a Lewis base. The results of calculations of NMR parameters are reported for a series of model compounds exhibiting tetrel bonding from a methyl carbon to the oxygen or nitrogen atoms in various functional groups. The (13)C chemical shift (δiso) and the (1c)J((13)C,Y) coupling (Y = (17)O, (15)N) across the tetrel bond are recorded as a function of geometry. The sensitivity of the NMR parameters to the noncovalent interaction is demonstrated via an increase in δiso and in |(1c)J((13)C,Y)| as the tetrel bond shortens. Gauge-including projector-augmented wave density functional theory (DFT) calculations of δiso are reported for crystals that exhibit tetrel bonding in the solid state. Experimental δiso values for solid sarcosine and its tetrel-bonded salts corroborate the computational findings. This work offers new insights into tetrel bonding and facilitates the incorporation of tetrel bonds as restraints in NMR crystallographic structure refinement.

Solvent and temperature effects on crambin, a hydrophobic protein

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Llinas, M.; Lecomte, J.T.J.; De Marco, A.

1980-10-01

Crambin, a 5000-mol. wt. water-insoluble protein found in crambe abyssinica seeds is presently being studied by x-ray diffraction to 0.9 A resolution and /sup 1/H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Preliminary /sup 1/H-NMR data at 250 and 600 MHz have suggested that this hydrophobic protein retains a similar globular conformation in both glacial acetic acid (AA), a Bronsted acid, and dimethylformamide (DMF), a Lewis base. These observations suggest that the globular conformation observed in these organic solvents is most likely the native structure present in the crystalline state. As suggested by the high intrinsic resolution of the crystallographic x-ray diffraction pattern,more » and demonstrated by the NMR data, crambin is a very rigid protein. Work is in progress to assign the /sup 1/H-resonances and to correlate H and /sup 13/C NMR dynamic data with the crystallographic model. It is hoped that unravelling conformational features of this hydrophobic protein will provide clues to help us understand other membrane-bound functional proteins.« less

STD-NMR-Based Protein Engineering of the Unique Arylpropionate-Racemase AMDase G74C.

PubMed

Gaßmeyer, Sarah Katharina; Yoshikawa, Hiroyuki; Enoki, Junichi; Hülsemann, Nadine; Stoll, Raphael; Miyamoto, Kenji; Kourist, Robert

2015-06-23

Structure-guided protein engineering achieved a variant of the unique racemase AMDase G74C, with 40-fold increased activity in the racemisation of several arylaliphatic carboxylic acids. Substrate binding during catalysis was investigated by saturation-transfer-difference NMR (STD-NMR) spectroscopy. All atoms of the substrate showed interactions with the enzyme. STD-NMR measurements revealed distinct nuclear Overhauser effects in experiments with and without molecular conversion. The spectroscopic analysis led to the identification of several amino acid residues whose substitutions increased the activity of G74C. Single amino acid exchanges increased the activity moderately; structure-guided saturation mutagenesis yielded a quadruple mutant with a 40 times higher reaction rate. This study presents STD-NMR as versatile tool for the analysis of enzyme-substrate interactions in catalytically competent systems and for the guidance of protein engineering. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

DNA Nanotubes for NMR Structure Determination of Membrane Proteins

PubMed Central

Bellot, Gaëtan; McClintock, Mark A.; Chou, James J; Shih, William M.

2013-01-01

Structure determination of integral membrane proteins by solution NMR represents one of the most important challenges of structural biology. A Residual-Dipolar-Coupling-based refinement approach can be used to solve the structure of membrane proteins up to 40 kDa in size, however, a weak-alignment medium that is detergent-resistant is required. Previously, availability of media suitable for weak alignment of membrane proteins was severely limited. We describe here a protocol for robust, large-scale synthesis of detergent-resistant DNA nanotubes that can be assembled into dilute liquid crystals for application as weak-alignment media in solution NMR structure determination of membrane proteins in detergent micelles. The DNA nanotubes are heterodimers of 400nm-long six-helix bundles each self-assembled from a M13-based p7308 scaffold strand and >170 short oligonucleotide staple strands. Compatibility with proteins bearing considerable positive charge as well as modulation of molecular alignment, towards collection of linearly independent restraints, can be introduced by reducing the negative charge of DNA nanotubes via counter ions and small DNA binding molecules. This detergent-resistant liquid-crystal media offers a number of properties conducive for membrane protein alignment, including high-yield production, thermal stability, buffer compatibility, and structural programmability. Production of sufficient nanotubes for 4–5 NMR experiments can be completed in one week by a single individual. PMID:23518667

integrating Solid State NMR and Computations in Membrane Protein Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cross, Timothy

2015-03-01

Helical membrane protein structures are influenced by their native environment. Therefore the characterization of their structure in an environment that models as closely as possible their native environment is critical for achieving not only structural but functional understanding of these proteins. Solid state NMR spectroscopy in liquid crystalline lipid bilayers provides an excellent tool for such characterizations. Two classes of restraints can be obtained - absolute restraints that constrain the structure to a laboratory frame of reference when using uniformly oriented samples (approximately 1° of mosaic spread) and relative restraints that restrain one part of the structure with respect to another part such as torsional and distance restraints. Here, I will discuss unique restraints derived from uniformly oriented samples and the characterization of initial structures utilizing both restraint types, followed by restrained molecular dynamics refinement in the same lipid bilayer environment as that used for the experimental restraint collection. Protein examples will be taken from Influenza virus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. When available comparisons of structures to those obtained using different membrane mimetic environments will be shown and the causes for structural distortions explained based on an understanding of membrane biophysics and its sophisticated influence on membrane proteins.

Exotic phases of frustrated antiferromagnet LiCu2O2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bush, A. A.; Büttgen, N.; Gippius, A. A.; Horvatić, M.; Jeong, M.; Kraetschmer, W.; Marchenko, V. I.; Sakhratov, Yu. A.; Svistov, L. E.

2018-02-01

7Li NMR spectra were measured in a magnetic field up to 17 T at temperatures 5-30 K on single crystalline LiCu2O2 . Earlier reported anomalies on magnetization curves correspond to magnetic field values where we observe changes of the NMR spectral shape. For the interpretation of the field and temperature evolutions of our NMR spectra, the magnetic structures were analyzed in the frame of the phenomenological theoretical approach of the Dzyaloshinskii-Landau theory. A set of possible planar and collinear structures was obtained. Most of these structures have an unusual configuration; they are characterized by a two-component order parameter and their magnetic moments vary harmonically not only in direction, but also in size. From the modeling of the observed spectra, a possible scenario of magnetic structure transformations is obtained.

Structure of dimethylphenyl betaine hydrochloride studied by X-ray diffraction, DFT calculation, NMR and FTIR spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szafran, M.; Katrusiak, A.; Dega-Szafran, Z.; Kowalczyk, I.

2013-01-01

The structure of dimethylphenyl betaine hydrochloride (1) has been studied by X-ray diffraction, DFT calculations, NMR and FTIR spectra. The crystals are monoclinic, space group P21/c. In the crystal, the Cl- anion is connected with protonated betaine through the O-H⋯Cl- hydrogen bond of 2.943(2) Å. The structures in the gas phase (2) and water solution (3) have been optimized by the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) approach and the geometrical results have been compared with the X-ray data of 1. The FTIR spectrum of the solid compound is consistent with the X-ray results. The probable assignments of the anharmonic experimental vibrational frequencies of the investigated chloride (1) based on the calculated harmonic frequencies in water solution (3) are proposed. The correlations between the experimental 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts (δexp) of 1 in D2O and the magnetic isotropic shielding constants (σcalc) calculated by the GIAO/B3LYP/6-311G++(d,p) approach, using the screening solvation model (COSMO), δexp = a + b σcalc, for optimized molecule 3 in water solution are linear and correctly reproduce the experimental chemical shifts.

Xenon NMR of liquid crystals confined to cylindrical nanocavities: a simulation study.

PubMed

Karjalainen, Jouni; Vaara, Juha; Straka, Michal; Lantto, Perttu

2015-03-21

Applications of liquid crystals (LCs), such as smart windows and the ubiquitous display devices, are based on controlling the orientational and translational order in a small volume of LC medium. Hence, understanding the effects of confinement to the liquid crystal phase behaviour is essential. The NMR shielding of (129)Xe atoms dissolved in LCs constitutes a very sensitive probe to the details of LC environment. Linking the experimental results to microscopic phenomena calls for molecular simulations. In this work, the NMR shielding of atomic (129)Xe dissolved in a uniaxial thermotropic LC confined to nanosized cylindrical cavities is computed from coarse-grained (CG) isobaric Monte Carlo (MC) simulations with a quantum-chemically (QC) pre-parameterised pairwise-additive model for the Xe nuclear shielding tensor. We report the results for the (129)Xe nuclear shielding and its connection to the structure and order of the LC appropriate to two different cavity sizes, as well as a comparison to the results of bulk (non-confined) simulations. We find that the confinement changes the LC phase structure dramatically and gives rise to the coexistence of varying degrees of LC order, which is reflected in the Xe shielding. Furthermore, we qualitatively reproduce the behaviour of the mean (129)Xe chemical shift with respect to temperature for atomic Xe dissolved in LC confined to controlled-pore glass materials. In the small-radius cavity the nematic - paranematic phase transition is revealed only by the anisotropic component of the (129)Xe nuclear shielding. In the larger cavity, the nematic - paranematic - isotropic transition is clearly seen in the Xe shielding. The simulated (129)Xe NMR shielding is insensitive to the smectic-A - nematic transition, since in the smectic-A phase, the Xe atoms largely occupy the imperfect layer structure near the cavity walls. The direct contribution of the cavity wall to (129)Xe nuclear shielding is dependent on the cavity size but independent of temperature. Our results show that the combination of CG simulations and a QC pre-parameterised (129)Xe NMR shielding allows efficient studies of the phase behaviour and structure of complex systems containing thousands of molecules, and brings us closer to the simulation of NMR experiments.

The Charge-Balancing Role of Calcium and Alkali Ions in Per-Alkaline Aluminosilicate Glasses.

PubMed

Thomsen, René M; Skibsted, Jørgen; Yue, Yuanzheng

2018-03-29

The structural arrangement of alkali-modified calcium aluminosilicate glasses has implications for important properties of these glasses in a wide range of industrial applications. The roles of sodium and potassium and their competition with calcium as network modifiers in peralkaline aluminosilicate glasses have been investigated by 27 Al and 29 Si MAS NMR spectroscopy. The 29 Si MAS NMR spectra are simulated using two models for distributing Al in the silicate glass network. One model assumes a hierarchical, quasi-heterogeneous aluminosilicate network, whereas the other is based on differences in relative lattice energies between Si-O-Si, Al-O-Al, and Si-O-Al linkages. A systematic divergence between these simulations and the experimental 29 Si NMR spectra is observed as a function of the sodium content exceeding that required for stoichiometric charge-balancing of the negatively charged AlO 4 tetrahedra. Similar correlations between simulations and experimental 29 Si NMR spectra cannot be made for the excess calcium content. Moreover, systematic variations in the 27 Al isotropic chemical shifts and the second-order quadrupole effect parameters, derived from the 27 Al MAS NMR spectra, are reported as a function of the SiO 2 content. These observations strongly suggest that alkali ions preferentially charge-balance AlO 4 3- as compared to alkaline earth (calcium) ions. In contrast, calcium dominates over the alkali ions in the formation of nonbridging oxygens associated with the SiO 4 tetrahedra.

Tannin structural elucidation and quantitative ³¹P NMR analysis. 1. Model compounds.

PubMed

Melone, Federica; Saladino, Raffaele; Lange, Heiko; Crestini, Claudia

2013-10-02

Tannins and flavonoids are secondary metabolites of plants that display a wide array of biological activities. This peculiarity is related to the inhibition of extracellular enzymes that occurs through the complexation of peptides by tannins. Not only the nature of these interactions, but more fundamentally also the structure of these heterogeneous polyphenolic molecules are not completely clear. This first paper describes the development of a new analytical method for the structural characterization of tannins on the basis of tannin model compounds employing an in situ labeling of all labile H groups (aliphatic OH, phenolic OH, and carboxylic acids) with a phosphorus reagent. The ³¹P NMR analysis of ³¹P-labeled samples allowed the unprecedented quantitative and qualitative structural characterization of hydrolyzable tannins, proanthocyanidins, and catechin tannin model compounds, forming the foundations for the quantitative structural elucidation of a variety of actual tannin samples described in part 2 of this series.

Contact replacement for NMR resonance assignment.

PubMed

Xiong, Fei; Pandurangan, Gopal; Bailey-Kellogg, Chris

2008-07-01

Complementing its traditional role in structural studies of proteins, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is playing an increasingly important role in functional studies. NMR dynamics experiments characterize motions involved in target recognition, ligand binding, etc., while NMR chemical shift perturbation experiments identify and localize protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions. The key bottleneck in these studies is to determine the backbone resonance assignment, which allows spectral peaks to be mapped to specific atoms. This article develops a novel approach to address that bottleneck, exploiting an available X-ray structure or homology model to assign the entire backbone from a set of relatively fast and cheap NMR experiments. We formulate contact replacement for resonance assignment as the problem of computing correspondences between a contact graph representing the structure and an NMR graph representing the data; the NMR graph is a significantly corrupted, ambiguous version of the contact graph. We first show that by combining connectivity and amino acid type information, and exploiting the random structure of the noise, one can provably determine unique correspondences in polynomial time with high probability, even in the presence of significant noise (a constant number of noisy edges per vertex). We then detail an efficient randomized algorithm and show that, over a variety of experimental and synthetic datasets, it is robust to typical levels of structural variation (1-2 AA), noise (250-600%) and missings (10-40%). Our algorithm achieves very good overall assignment accuracy, above 80% in alpha-helices, 70% in beta-sheets and 60% in loop regions. Our contact replacement algorithm is implemented in platform-independent Python code. The software can be freely obtained for academic use by request from the authors.

Using NMR and molecular dynamics to link structure and dynamics effects of the universal base 8-aza, 7-deaza, N8 linked adenosine analog

PubMed Central

Spring-Connell, Alexander M.; Evich, Marina G.; Debelak, Harald; Seela, Frank; Germann, Markus W.

2016-01-01

A truly universal nucleobase enables a host of novel applications such as simplified templates for PCR primers, randomized sequencing and DNA based devices. A universal base must pair indiscriminately to each of the canonical bases with little or preferably no destabilization of the overall duplex. In reality, many candidates either destabilize the duplex or do not base pair indiscriminatingly. The novel base 8-aza-7-deazaadenine (pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin- 4-amine) N8-(2′deoxyribonucleoside), a deoxyadenosine analog (UB), pairs with each of the natural DNA bases with little sequence preference. We have utilized NMR complemented with molecular dynamic calculations to characterize the structure and dynamics of a UB incorporated into a DNA duplex. The UB participates in base stacking with little to no perturbation of the local structure yet forms an unusual base pair that samples multiple conformations. These local dynamics result in the complete disappearance of a single UB proton resonance under native conditions. Accommodation of the UB is additionally stabilized via heightened backbone conformational sampling. NMR combined with various computational techniques has allowed for a comprehensive characterization of both structural and dynamic effects of the UB in a DNA duplex and underlines that the UB as a strong candidate for universal base applications. PMID:27566150

Application of ChemDraw NMR Tool: Correlation of Program-Generated 13C Chemical Shifts and pKa Values of para-Substituted Benzoic Acids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hongyi

2005-09-01

An application of ChemDraw NMR Tool was demonstrated by correlation of program-generated 13 C NMR chemical shifts and p K a values of para-substituted benzoic acids. Experimental 13 C NMR chemical shifts were analyzed in the same way for comparison. The project can be used as an assignment at the end of the first-year organic chemistry course to review topics or explore new techniques: Hammett equation, acid base equilibrium theory, electronic nature of functional groups, inductive and resonance effects, structure reactivity relationship, NMR spectroscopy, literature search, database search, and ChemDraw software.

Fractional order analysis of Sephadex gel structures: NMR measurements reflecting anomalous diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magin, Richard L.; Akpa, Belinda S.; Neuberger, Thomas; Webb, Andrew G.

2011-12-01

We report the appearance of anomalous water diffusion in hydrophilic Sephadex gels observed using pulse field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The NMR diffusion data was collected using a Varian 14.1 Tesla imaging system with a home-built RF saddle coil. A fractional order analysis of the data was used to characterize heterogeneity in the gels for the dynamics of water diffusion in this restricted environment. Several recent studies of anomalous diffusion have used the stretched exponential function to model the decay of the NMR signal, i.e., exp[-( bD) α], where D is the apparent diffusion constant, b is determined the experimental conditions (gradient pulse separation, durations and strength), and α is a measure of structural complexity. In this work, we consider a different case where the spatial Laplacian in the Bloch-Torrey equation is generalized to a fractional order model of diffusivity via a complexity parameter, β, a space constant, μ, and a diffusion coefficient, D. This treatment reverts to the classical result for the integer order case. The fractional order decay model was fit to the diffusion-weighted signal attenuation for a range of b-values (0 < b < 4000 s mm -2). Throughout this range of b values, the parameters β, μ and D, were found to correlate with the porosity and tortuosity of the gel structure.

Deuterium and lithium-6 MAS NMR studies of manganese oxide electrode materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paik, Younkee

Electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) is used world wide as the cathode materials in both lithium and alkaline primary (non-rechargeable) batteries. We have developed deuterium and lithium MAS NMR techniques to study EMD and related manganese oxides and hydroxides, where diffraction techniques are of limited value due to a highly defective nature of the structures. Deuterons in EMD, manganite, groutite, and deuterium-intercalated pyrolusite and ramsdellite were detected by NMR, for the first time, and their locations and motions in the structures were analyzed by applying variable temperature NMR techniques. Discharge mechanisms of EMD in alkaline (aqueous) electrolytes were studied, in conjunction with step potential electrochemical spectroscopic (SPECS) method, and five distinctive discharge processes were proposed. EMD is usually heat-treated at about 300--400°C to remove water to be used in lithium batteries. Details of the effects of heat-treatment, such as structural and compositional changes as a function of heat-treatment temperature, were studied by a combination of MAS NMR, XRD, and thermogravimetric analysis. Lithium local environments in heat-treated EMD (HEMD) that were discharged in lithium cells, were described in terms of related environments found in model compounds pyrolusite and ramsdellite where specific Li + sites were detected by MAS NMR and the hyperfine shift scale method of Grey et al. Acid-leaching of Li2MnO3 represents an approach for synthesizing new or modified manganese oxide electrode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries. Progressive removal of lithium from specific crystallographic sites, followed by a gradual change of the crystal structure, was monitored by a combination of NMR and XRD techniques.

Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations and GIPAW NMR Calculations of a Lithium Borate Glass Melt.

PubMed

Ohkubo, Takahiro; Tsuchida, Eiji; Takahashi, Takafumi; Iwadate, Yasuhiko

2016-04-14

The atomic structure of a molten 0.3Li2O-0.7B2O3 glass at 1250 K was investigated using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. The gauge including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) method was then employed for computing the chemical shift and quadrupolar coupling constant of (11)B, (17)O, and (7)Li from 764 AIMD derived structures. The chemical shift and quadrupolar coupling constant distributions were directly estimated from the dynamical structure of the molten glass. (11)B NMR parameters of well-known structural units such as the three-coordinated ring, nonring, and four-coordinated tetrahedron were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. In this study, more detailed classification of B units was presented based on the number of O species bonded to the B atoms. This highlights the limitations of (11)B NMR sensitivity for resolving (11)B local environment using the experimentally obtained spectra only. The (17)O NMR parameter distributions can theoretically resolve the bridging and nonbridging O atoms with different structural units such as nonring, single boroxol ring, and double boroxol ring. Slight but clear differences in the number of bridging O atoms surrounding Li that have not been reported experimentally were observed in the theoretically obtained (7)Li NMR parameters.

C terminal retroviral-type zinc finger domain from the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein is structurally similar to the N-terminal zinc finger domain

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

South, T.L.; Blake, P.R.; Hare, D.R.

Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic and computational methods were employed for the structure determination of an 18-residue peptide with the amino acid sequence of the C-terminal retriviral-type (r.t.) zinc finger domain from the nucleocapsid protein (NCP) of HIV-1 (Zn(HIV1-F2)). Unlike results obtained for the first retroviral-type zinc finger peptide, Zn (HIV1-F1) broad signals indicative of confomational lability were observed in the {sup 1}H NMR spectrum of An(HIV1-F2) at 25 C. The NMR signals narrowed upon cooling to {minus}2 C, enabling complete {sup 1}H NMR signal assignment via standard two-dimensional (2D) NMR methods. Distance restraints obtained from qualitative analysis of 2D nuclear Overhausermore » effect (NOESY) data were sued to generate 30 distance geometry (DG) structures with penalties in the range 0.02-0.03 {angstrom}{sup 2}. All structures were qualitatively consistent with the experimental NOESY spectrum based on comparisons with 2D NOESY back-calculated spectra. These results indicate that the r.t. zinc finger sequences observed in retroviral NCPs, simple plant virus coat proteins, and in a human single-stranded nucleic acid binding protein share a common structural motif.« less

Estimation of Uncertainties in the Global Distance Test (GDT_TS) for CASP Models.

PubMed

Li, Wenlin; Schaeffer, R Dustin; Otwinowski, Zbyszek; Grishin, Nick V

2016-01-01

The Critical Assessment of techniques for protein Structure Prediction (or CASP) is a community-wide blind test experiment to reveal the best accomplishments of structure modeling. Assessors have been using the Global Distance Test (GDT_TS) measure to quantify prediction performance since CASP3 in 1998. However, identifying significant score differences between close models is difficult because of the lack of uncertainty estimations for this measure. Here, we utilized the atomic fluctuations caused by structure flexibility to estimate the uncertainty of GDT_TS scores. Structures determined by nuclear magnetic resonance are deposited as ensembles of alternative conformers that reflect the structural flexibility, whereas standard X-ray refinement produces the static structure averaged over time and space for the dynamic ensembles. To recapitulate the structural heterogeneous ensemble in the crystal lattice, we performed time-averaged refinement for X-ray datasets to generate structural ensembles for our GDT_TS uncertainty analysis. Using those generated ensembles, our study demonstrates that the time-averaged refinements produced structure ensembles with better agreement with the experimental datasets than the averaged X-ray structures with B-factors. The uncertainty of the GDT_TS scores, quantified by their standard deviations (SDs), increases for scores lower than 50 and 70, with maximum SDs of 0.3 and 1.23 for X-ray and NMR structures, respectively. We also applied our procedure to the high accuracy version of GDT-based score and produced similar results with slightly higher SDs. To facilitate score comparisons by the community, we developed a user-friendly web server that produces structure ensembles for NMR and X-ray structures and is accessible at http://prodata.swmed.edu/SEnCS. Our work helps to identify the significance of GDT_TS score differences, as well as to provide structure ensembles for estimating SDs of any scores.

PICKY: a novel SVD-based NMR spectra peak picking method

PubMed Central

Alipanahi, Babak; Gao, Xin; Karakoc, Emre; Donaldson, Logan; Li, Ming

2009-01-01

Motivation: Picking peaks from experimental NMR spectra is a key unsolved problem for automated NMR protein structure determination. Such a process is a prerequisite for resonance assignment, nuclear overhauser enhancement (NOE) distance restraint assignment, and structure calculation tasks. Manual or semi-automatic peak picking, which is currently the prominent way used in NMR labs, is tedious, time consuming and costly. Results: We introduce new ideas, including noise-level estimation, component forming and sub-division, singular value decomposition (SVD)-based peak picking and peak pruning and refinement. PICKY is developed as an automated peak picking method. Different from the previous research on peak picking, we provide a systematic study of the proposed method. PICKY is tested on 32 real 2D and 3D spectra of eight target proteins, and achieves an average of 88% recall and 74% precision. PICKY is efficient. It takes PICKY on average 15.7 s to process an NMR spectrum. More important than these numbers, PICKY actually works in practice. We feed peak lists generated by PICKY to IPASS for resonance assignment, feed IPASS assignment to SPARTA for fragments generation, and feed SPARTA fragments to FALCON for structure calculation. This results in high-resolution structures of several proteins, for example, TM1112, at 1.25 Å. Availability: PICKY is available upon request. The peak lists of PICKY can be easily loaded by SPARKY to enable a better interactive strategy for rapid peak picking. Contact: mli@uwaterloo.ca PMID:19477998

Unconventional Tight Reservoirs Characterization with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santiago, C. J. S.; Solatpour, R.; Kantzas, A.

2017-12-01

The increase in tight reservoir exploitation projects causes producing many papers each year on new, modern, and modified methods and techniques on estimating characteristics of these reservoirs. The most ambiguous of all basic reservoir property estimations deals with permeability. One of the logging methods that is advertised to predict permeability but is always met by skepticism is Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). The ability of NMR to differentiate between bound and movable fluids and providing porosity increased the capability of NMR as a permeability prediction technique. This leads to a multitude of publications and the motivation of a review paper on this subject by Babadagli et al. (2002). The first part of this presentation is dedicated to an extensive review of the existing correlation models for NMR based estimates of tight reservoir permeability to update this topic. On the second part, the collected literature information is used to analyze new experimental data. The data are collected from tight reservoirs from Canada, the Middle East, and China. A case study is created to apply NMR measurement in the prediction of reservoir characterization parameters such as porosity, permeability, cut-offs, irreducible saturations etc. Moreover, permeability correlations are utilized to predict permeability. NMR experiments were conducted on water saturated cores. NMR T2 relaxation times were measured. NMR porosity, the geometric mean relaxation time (T2gm), Irreducible Bulk Volume (BVI), and Movable Bulk Volume (BVM) were calculated. The correlation coefficients were computed based on multiple regression analysis. Results are cross plots of NMR permeability versus the independently measured Klinkenberg corrected permeability. More complicated equations are discussed. Error analysis of models is presented and compared. This presentation is beneficial in understanding existing tight reservoir permeability models. The results can be used as a guide for choosing the best permeability estimation model for tight reservoirs data.

Segmental Isotopic Labeling of Proteins for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

PubMed Central

Dongsheng, Liu; Xu, Rong; Cowburn, David

2009-01-01

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has emerged as one of the principle techniques of structural biology. It is not only a powerful method for elucidating the 3D structures under near physiological conditions, but also a convenient method for studying protein-ligand interactions and protein dynamics. A major drawback of macromolecular NMR is its size limitation caused by slower tumbling rates and greater complexity of the spectra as size increases. Segmental isotopic labeling allows specific segment(s) within a protein to be selectively examined by NMR thus significantly reducing the spectral complexity for large proteins and allowing a variety of solution-based NMR strategies to be applied. Two related approaches are generally used in the segmental isotopic labeling of proteins: expressed protein ligation and protein trans-splicing. Here we describe the methodology and recent application of expressed protein ligation and protein trans-splicing for NMR structural studies of proteins and protein complexes. We also describe the protocol used in our lab for the segmental isotopic labeling of a 50 kDa protein Csk (C-terminal Src Kinase) using expressed protein ligation methods. PMID:19632474

nmrML: A Community Supported Open Data Standard for the Description, Storage, and Exchange of NMR Data.

PubMed

Schober, Daniel; Jacob, Daniel; Wilson, Michael; Cruz, Joseph A; Marcu, Ana; Grant, Jason R; Moing, Annick; Deborde, Catherine; de Figueiredo, Luis F; Haug, Kenneth; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Easton, John; Ebbels, Timothy M D; Hao, Jie; Ludwig, Christian; Günther, Ulrich L; Rosato, Antonio; Klein, Matthias S; Lewis, Ian A; Luchinat, Claudio; Jones, Andrew R; Grauslys, Arturas; Larralde, Martin; Yokochi, Masashi; Kobayashi, Naohiro; Porzel, Andrea; Griffin, Julian L; Viant, Mark R; Wishart, David S; Steinbeck, Christoph; Salek, Reza M; Neumann, Steffen

2018-01-02

NMR is a widely used analytical technique with a growing number of repositories available. As a result, demands for a vendor-agnostic, open data format for long-term archiving of NMR data have emerged with the aim to ease and encourage sharing, comparison, and reuse of NMR data. Here we present nmrML, an open XML-based exchange and storage format for NMR spectral data. The nmrML format is intended to be fully compatible with existing NMR data for chemical, biochemical, and metabolomics experiments. nmrML can capture raw NMR data, spectral data acquisition parameters, and where available spectral metadata, such as chemical structures associated with spectral assignments. The nmrML format is compatible with pure-compound NMR data for reference spectral libraries as well as NMR data from complex biomixtures, i.e., metabolomics experiments. To facilitate format conversions, we provide nmrML converters for Bruker, JEOL and Agilent/Varian vendor formats. In addition, easy-to-use Web-based spectral viewing, processing, and spectral assignment tools that read and write nmrML have been developed. Software libraries and Web services for data validation are available for tool developers and end-users. The nmrML format has already been adopted for capturing and disseminating NMR data for small molecules by several open source data processing tools and metabolomics reference spectral libraries, e.g., serving as storage format for the MetaboLights data repository. The nmrML open access data standard has been endorsed by the Metabolomics Standards Initiative (MSI), and we here encourage user participation and feedback to increase usability and make it a successful standard.

Solid-state NMR Study Reveals Collagen I Structural Modifications of Amino Acid Side Chains upon Fibrillogenesis*

PubMed Central

De Sa Peixoto, Paulo; Laurent, Guillaume; Azaïs, Thierry; Mosser, Gervaise

2013-01-01

In vivo, collagen I, the major structural protein in human body, is found assembled into fibrils. In the present work, we study a high concentrated collagen sample in its soluble, fibrillar, and denatured states using one and two dimensional {1H}-13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy. We interpret 13C chemical shift variations in terms of dihedral angle conformation changes. Our data show that fibrillogenesis increases the side chain and backbone structural complexity. Nevertheless, only three to five rotameric equilibria are found for each amino acid residue, indicating a relatively low structural heterogeneity of collagen upon fibrillogenesis. Using side chain statistical data, we calculate equilibrium constants for a great number of amino acid residues. Moreover, based on a 13C quantitative spectrum, we estimate the percentage of residues implicated in each equilibrium. Our data indicate that fibril formation greatly affects hydroxyproline and proline prolyl pucker ring conformation. Finally, we discuss the implication of these structural data and propose a model in which the attractive force of fibrillogenesis comes from a structural reorganization of 10 to 15% of the amino acids. These results allow us to further understand the self-assembling process and fibrillar structure of collagen. PMID:23341452

NMR-based investigations into target DNA search processes of proteins.

PubMed

Iwahara, Junji; Zandarashvili, Levani; Kemme, Catherine A; Esadze, Alexandre

2018-05-10

To perform their function, transcription factors and DNA-repair/modifying enzymes must first locate their targets in the vast presence of nonspecific, but structurally similar sites on genomic DNA. Before reaching their targets, these proteins stochastically scan DNA and dynamically move from one site to another on DNA. Solution NMR spectroscopy provides unique atomic-level insights into the dynamic DNA-scanning processes, which are difficult to gain by any other experimental means. In this review, we provide an introductory overview on the NMR methods for the structural, dynamic, and kinetic investigations of target DNA search by proteins. We also discuss advantages and disadvantages of these NMR methods over other methods such as single-molecule techniques and biochemical approaches. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A theoretical perspective on the accuracy of rotational resonance (R 2)-based distance measurements in solid-state NMR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, Manoj Kumar; Ramachandran, Ramesh

2010-03-01

The application of solid-state NMR methodology for bio-molecular structure determination requires the measurement of constraints in the form of 13C-13C and 13C-15N distances, torsion angles and, in some cases, correlation of the anisotropic interactions. Since the availability of structurally important constraints in the solid state is limited due to lack of sufficient spectral resolution, the accuracy of the measured constraints become vital in studies relating the three-dimensional structure of proteins to its biological functions. Consequently, the theoretical methods employed to quantify the experimental data become important. To accentuate this aspect, we re-examine analytical two-spin models currently employed in the estimation of 13C-13C distances based on the rotational resonance (R 2) phenomenon. Although the error bars for the estimated distances tend to be in the range 0.5-1.0 Å, R 2 experiments are routinely employed in a variety of systems ranging from simple peptides to more complex amyloidogenic proteins. In this article we address this aspect by highlighting the systematic errors introduced by analytical models employing phenomenological damping terms to describe multi-spin effects. Specifically, the spin dynamics in R 2 experiments is described using Floquet theory employing two different operator formalisms. The systematic errors introduced by the phenomenological damping terms and their limitations are elucidated in two analytical models and analysed by comparing the results with rigorous numerical simulations.

A more detailed picture of the interactions between virtual screening-derived hits and the DNA G-quadruplex: NMR, molecular modelling and ITC studies.

PubMed

Trotta, Roberta; De Tito, Stefano; Lauri, Ilaria; La Pietra, Valeria; Marinelli, Luciana; Cosconati, Sandro; Martino, Luigi; Conte, Maria R; Mayol, Luciano; Novellino, Ettore; Randazzo, Antonio

2011-08-01

The growing amount of literature about G-quadruplex DNA clearly demonstrates that such a structure is no longer viewed as just a biophysical strangeness but it is instead being considered as an important target for the treatment of various human disorders such as cancers or venous thrombosis. In this scenario, with the aim of finding brand new molecular scaffolds able to interact with the groove of the DNA quadruplex [d(TGGGGT)](4), we recently performed a successful structure-based virtual screening (VS) campaign. As a result, six molecules were found to be somehow groove binders. Herein, we report the results of novel NMR titration experiments of these VS-derived ligands with modified quadruplexes, namely [d(TGG(Br)GGT)](4) and [d(TGGGG(Br)T)](4). The novel NMR spectroscopy experiments combined with molecular modelling studies, allow for a more detailed picture of the interaction between each binder and the quadruplex DNA. Noteworthy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) measurements on the above-mentioned compounds revealed that 2, 4, and 6 besides their relatively small dimensions bind the DNA quadruplex [d(TGGGGT)](4) with higher affinity than distamycin A, to the best of our knowledge, the most potent groove binder identified thus far. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Fragment based drug discovery: practical implementation based on ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Jordan, John B; Poppe, Leszek; Xia, Xiaoyang; Cheng, Alan C; Sun, Yax; Michelsen, Klaus; Eastwood, Heather; Schnier, Paul D; Nixey, Thomas; Zhong, Wenge

2012-01-26

Fragment based drug discovery (FBDD) is a widely used tool for discovering novel therapeutics. NMR is a powerful means for implementing FBDD, and several approaches have been proposed utilizing (1)H-(15)N heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) as well as one-dimensional (1)H and (19)F NMR to screen compound mixtures against a target of interest. While proton-based NMR methods of fragment screening (FBS) have been well documented and are widely used, the use of (19)F detection in FBS has been only recently introduced (Vulpetti et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2009, 131 (36), 12949-12959) with the aim of targeting "fluorophilic" sites in proteins. Here, we demonstrate a more general use of (19)F NMR-based fragment screening in several areas: as a key tool for rapid and sensitive detection of fragment hits, as a method for the rapid development of structure-activity relationship (SAR) on the hit-to-lead path using in-house libraries and/or commercially available compounds, and as a quick and efficient means of assessing target druggability.

Mono-Schiff-base or di-Schiff-base? Synthesis, spectroscopic, X-ray structural and DFT study of a series of Schiff-bases derived from benzil dihydrazone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Xue-Jie; Hao, Xiu-Qi; Zhao, Qing-Zhe; Cheng, Shuang-Shuang; Xie, Wen-Long; Xing, Dian-Xiang; Liu, Yun; Song, Lai-Zhou

2015-11-01

A series of mono- and di-Schiff-bases based on Benzil Dihydrazone (BDH) were designed and synthesized to be set as the model compounds to explain which one should be the advanced product and which parameters will determine the end-product. As the first step of a series of investigations, this article presents the syntheses and characterization of five new Schiff-bases plus one preliminary reported Schiff-base, all derived from BDH. The compounds were characterized by single crystal (or conventional powder) X-ray diffractometry, elemental analysis, m.p., 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR and UV-Vis. Structural features of the five new Schiff-bases are similar. For instance, all molecules are nonsymmetrical/symmetrical double helix with the torsion angle of two "half-parts" about 72-97°. The Ph-Cdbnd N-Ndbnd C-Ph moiety all exists in planar and anti form, indicating significant conjugation. The crystal structures appear to be stabilized by π-stacking between the aromatic rings, as well as by intermolecular hydrogen bonds and C-H … π stacking interactions. DFT calculations have been performed to explain the trend of the experimentally measured reaction yields. In the case of the studied systems by us, the type of Schiff-bases exhibits a clear dependence on the molar ratio of reactants if the products have similar stabilities. Otherwise the importance of reaction conditions will be weakened and the most stable product will be favored.

Parsimony and goodness-of-fit in multi-dimensional NMR inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babak, Petro; Kryuchkov, Sergey; Kantzas, Apostolos

2017-01-01

Multi-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are often used for study of molecular structure and dynamics of matter in core analysis and reservoir evaluation. Industrial applications of multi-dimensional NMR involve a high-dimensional measurement dataset with complicated correlation structure and require rapid and stable inversion algorithms from the time domain to the relaxation rate and/or diffusion domains. In practice, applying existing inverse algorithms with a large number of parameter values leads to an infinite number of solutions with a reasonable fit to the NMR data. The interpretation of such variability of multiple solutions and selection of the most appropriate solution could be a very complex problem. In most cases the characteristics of materials have sparse signatures, and investigators would like to distinguish the most significant relaxation and diffusion values of the materials. To produce an easy to interpret and unique NMR distribution with the finite number of the principal parameter values, we introduce a new method for NMR inversion. The method is constructed based on the trade-off between the conventional goodness-of-fit approach to multivariate data and the principle of parsimony guaranteeing inversion with the least number of parameter values. We suggest performing the inversion of NMR data using the forward stepwise regression selection algorithm. To account for the trade-off between goodness-of-fit and parsimony, the objective function is selected based on Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The performance of the developed multi-dimensional NMR inversion method and its comparison with conventional methods are illustrated using real data for samples with bitumen, water and clay.

Toxin-induced conformational changes in a potassium channel revealed by solid-state NMR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, Adam; Giller, Karin; Hornig, Sönke; Martin-Eauclaire, Marie-France; Pongs, Olaf; Becker, Stefan; Baldus, Marc

2006-04-01

The active site of potassium (K+) channels catalyses the transport of K+ ions across the plasma membrane-similar to the catalytic function of the active site of an enzyme-and is inhibited by toxins from scorpion venom. On the basis of the conserved structures of K+ pore regions and scorpion toxins, detailed structures for the K+ channel-scorpion toxin binding interface have been proposed. In these models and in previous solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies using detergent-solubilized membrane proteins, scorpion toxins were docked to the extracellular entrance of the K+ channel pore assuming rigid, preformed binding sites. Using high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy, here we show that high-affinity binding of the scorpion toxin kaliotoxin to a chimaeric K+ channel (KcsA-Kv1.3) is associated with significant structural rearrangements in both molecules. Our approach involves a combined analysis of chemical shifts and proton-proton distances and demonstrates that solid-state NMR is a sensitive method for analysing the structure of a membrane protein-inhibitor complex. We propose that structural flexibility of the K+ channel and the toxin represents an important determinant for the high specificity of toxin-K+ channel interactions.

DNA nanotubes for NMR structure determination of membrane proteins.

PubMed

Bellot, Gaëtan; McClintock, Mark A; Chou, James J; Shih, William M

2013-04-01

Finding a way to determine the structures of integral membrane proteins using solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has proved to be challenging. A residual-dipolar-coupling-based refinement approach can be used to resolve the structure of membrane proteins up to 40 kDa in size, but to do this you need a weak-alignment medium that is detergent-resistant and it has thus far been difficult to obtain such a medium suitable for weak alignment of membrane proteins. We describe here a protocol for robust, large-scale synthesis of detergent-resistant DNA nanotubes that can be assembled into dilute liquid crystals for application as weak-alignment media in solution NMR structure determination of membrane proteins in detergent micelles. The DNA nanotubes are heterodimers of 400-nm-long six-helix bundles, each self-assembled from a M13-based p7308 scaffold strand and >170 short oligonucleotide staple strands. Compatibility with proteins bearing considerable positive charge as well as modulation of molecular alignment, toward collection of linearly independent restraints, can be introduced by reducing the negative charge of DNA nanotubes using counter ions and small DNA-binding molecules. This detergent-resistant liquid-crystal medium offers a number of properties conducive for membrane protein alignment, including high-yield production, thermal stability, buffer compatibility and structural programmability. Production of sufficient nanotubes for four or five NMR experiments can be completed in 1 week by a single individual.

High-resolution solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy of the paramagnetic metal-organic frameworks, STAM-1 and HKUST-1.

PubMed

Dawson, Daniel M; Jamieson, Lauren E; Mohideen, M Infas H; McKinlay, Alistair C; Smellie, Iain A; Cadou, Romain; Keddie, Neil S; Morris, Russell E; Ashbrook, Sharon E

2013-01-21

Solid-state (13)C magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy is used to investigate the structure of the Cu(II)-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), HKUST-1 and STAM-1, and the structural changes occurring within these MOFs upon activation (dehydration). NMR spectroscopy is an attractive technique for the investigation of these materials, owing to its high sensitivity to local structure, without any requirement for longer-range order. However, interactions between nuclei and unpaired electrons in paramagnetic systems (e.g., Cu(II)-based MOFs) pose a considerable challenge, not only for spectral acquisition, but also in the assignment and interpretation of the spectral resonances. Here, we exploit the rapid T(1) relaxation of these materials to obtain (13)C NMR spectra using a spin-echo pulse sequence at natural abundance levels, and employ frequency-stepped acquisition to ensure uniform excitation of resonances over a wide frequency range. We then utilise selective (13)C isotopic labelling of the organic linker molecules to enable an unambiguous assignment of NMR spectra of both MOFs for the first time. We show that the monomethylated linker can be recovered from STAM-1 intact, demonstrating not only the interesting use of this MOF as a protecting group, but also the ability (for both STAM-1 and HKUST-1) to recover isotopically-enriched linkers, thereby reducing significantly the overall cost of the approach.

Investigating the Surface Structure of γ-Al 2 O 3 Supported WO X Catalysts by High Field 27 Al MAS NMR and Electronic Structure Calculations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wan, Chuan; Hu, Mary Y.; Jaegers, Nicholas R.

The metal-support interaction in γ-Al2O3 supported WOX catalysts is investigated by a combination of high field quantitative single pulse (SP) 27Al MAS NMR spectroscopy, 2D MQMAS, 1H-27Al CP/MAS, and electronic structure calculations. NMR allows the observation of at least seven different Al sites, including a pentahedral Al site, three different tetrahedral Al sites, and three octahedral Al sites. It is found that the penta-coordinated Al (AlP) site density decreases monotonically with an increased WOX loading while the octahedral Al (AlO) site density increases concurrently. This suggests that the Alp sites are the preferred surface anchoring positions for the WOX species.more » Importantly, the AlP site isotropic chemical shift observed for the unsupported γ-Al2O3 at about 38 ppm migrates into the octahedral region with a new isotropic chemical shift value appearing near 7 ppm when the Alp site is anchored by WOX species. Density functional theory (DFT) computational modeling of the NMR parameters on proposed cluster models is carried out to accurately interpret the dramatic chemical shift changes from which the detailed anchoring mechanisms are obtained. It is found that tungsten dimers and monomers are the preferred supported surface species on γ-Al2O3, wherein one monomeric and several dimeric structures are identified as the most likely surface anchoring structures.« less

High-field 95 Mo and 183 W static and MAS NMR study of polyoxometalates.

PubMed

Haouas, Mohamed; Trébosc, Julien; Roch-Marchal, Catherine; Cadot, Emmanuel; Taulelle, Francis; Martineau-Corcos, Charlotte

2017-10-01

The potential of high-field NMR to measure solid-state 95 Mo and 183 W NMR in polyoxometalates (POMs) is explored using some archetypical structures like Lindqvist, Keggin and Dawson as model compounds that are well characterized in solution. NMR spectra in static and under magic angle spinning (MAS) were obtained, and their analysis allowed extraction of the NMR parameters, including chemical shift anisotropy and quadrupolar coupling parameters. Despite the inherent difficulties of measurement in solid state of these low-gamma NMR nuclei, due mainly to the low spectral resolution and poor signal-to-noise ratio, the observed global trends compare well with the solution-state NMR data. This would open an avenue for application of solid-state NMR to POMs, especially when liquid-state NMR is not possible, e.g., for poorly soluble or unstable compounds in solution, and for giant molecules with slow tumbling motion. This is the case of Keplerate where we provide here the first NMR characterization of this class of POMs in the solid state. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Structure and electronic properties of azadirachtin.

PubMed

de Castro, Elton A S; de Oliveira, Daniel A B; Farias, Sergio A S; Gargano, Ricardo; Martins, João B L

2014-02-01

We performed a combined DFT and Monte Carlo (13)C NMR chemical-shift study of azadirachtin A, a triterpenoid that acts as a natural insect antifeedant. A conformational search using a Monte Carlo technique based on the RM1 semiempirical method was carried out in order to establish its preferred structure. The B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p), wB97XD/6-311++G(d,p), M06/6-311++G(d,p), M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p), and CAM-B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) levels of theory were used to predict NMR chemical shifts. A Monte Carlo population-weighted average spectrum was produced based on the predicted Boltzmann contributions. In general, good agreement between experimental and theoretical data was obtained using both methods, and the (13)C NMR chemical shifts were predicted highly accurately. The geometry was optimized at the semiempirical level and used to calculate the NMR chemical shifts at the DFT level, and these shifts showed only minor deviations from those obtained following structural optimization at the DFT level, and incurred a much lower computational cost. The theoretical ultraviolet spectrum showed a maximum absorption peak that was mainly contributed by the tiglate group.

The structure of the L3 loop from the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme: a syn cytidine.

PubMed Central

Lynch, S R; Tinoco, I

1998-01-01

The structure of the L3 central hairpin loop isolated from the antigenomic sequence of the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme with the P2 and P3 stems from the ribozyme stacked on top of the loop has been determined by NMR spectroscopy. The 26 nt stem-loop structure contains nine base pairs and a 7 nt loop (5'-UCCUCGC-3'). This hairpin loop is critical for efficient catalysis in the intact ribozyme. The structure was determined using homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR techniques on non-labeled and15N-labeled RNA oligonucleotides. The overall root mean square deviation for the structure was 1.15 A (+/- 0.28 A) for the loop and the closing C.G base pair and 0.90 A (+/- 0.18 A) for the loop and the closing C.G base pair but without the lone purine in the loop, which is not well defined in the structure. The structure indicates a U.C base pair between the nucleotides on the 5'- and 3'-ends of the loop. This base pair is formed with a single hydrogen bond involving the cytosine exocyclic amino proton and the carbonyl O4 of the uracil. The most unexpected finding in the loop is a syn cytidine. While not unprecedented, syn pyrimidines are highly unusual. This one can be confidently established by intranucleotide distances between the ribose and the base determined by NMR spectroscopy. A similar study of the structure of this loop showed a somewhat different three-dimensional structure. A discussion of differences in the two structures, as well as possible sites of interaction with the cleavage site, will be presented. PMID:9461457

An NMR database for simulations of membrane dynamics.

PubMed

Leftin, Avigdor; Brown, Michael F

2011-03-01

Computational methods are powerful in capturing the results of experimental studies in terms of force fields that both explain and predict biological structures. Validation of molecular simulations requires comparison with experimental data to test and confirm computational predictions. Here we report a comprehensive database of NMR results for membrane phospholipids with interpretations intended to be accessible by non-NMR specialists. Experimental ¹³C-¹H and ²H NMR segmental order parameters (S(CH) or S(CD)) and spin-lattice (Zeeman) relaxation times (T(1Z)) are summarized in convenient tabular form for various saturated, unsaturated, and biological membrane phospholipids. Segmental order parameters give direct information about bilayer structural properties, including the area per lipid and volumetric hydrocarbon thickness. In addition, relaxation rates provide complementary information about molecular dynamics. Particular attention is paid to the magnetic field dependence (frequency dispersion) of the NMR relaxation rates in terms of various simplified power laws. Model-free reduction of the T(1Z) studies in terms of a power-law formalism shows that the relaxation rates for saturated phosphatidylcholines follow a single frequency-dispersive trend within the MHz regime. We show how analytical models can guide the continued development of atomistic and coarse-grained force fields. Our interpretation suggests that lipid diffusion and collective order fluctuations are implicitly governed by the viscoelastic nature of the liquid-crystalline ensemble. Collective bilayer excitations are emergent over mesoscopic length scales that fall between the molecular and bilayer dimensions, and are important for lipid organization and lipid-protein interactions. Future conceptual advances and theoretical reductions will foster understanding of biomembrane structural dynamics through a synergy of NMR measurements and molecular simulations. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Medium-Range Structural Organization of Phosphorus-Bearing Borosilicate Glasses Revealed by Advanced Solid-State NMR Experiments and MD Simulations: Consequences of B/Si Substitutions.

PubMed

Yu, Yang; Stevensson, Baltzar; Edén, Mattias

2017-10-19

The short and intermediate range structures of a large series of bioactive borophosphosilicate (BPS) glasses were probed by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Two BPS glass series were designed by gradually substituting SiO 2 by B 2 O 3 in the respective phosphosilicate base compositions 24.1Na 2 O-23.3CaO-48.6SiO 2 -4.0P 2 O 5 ("S49") and 24.6Na 2 O-26.7CaO-46.1SiO 2 -2.6P 2 O 5 ("S46"), the latter constituting the "45S5 Bioglass" utilized for bone grafting applications. The BPS glass networks are built by interconnected SiO 4 , BO 4 , and BO 3 moieties, whereas P exists mainly as orthophosphate anions, except for a minor network-associated portion involving P-O-Si and P-O-B [4] motifs, whose populations were estimated by heteronuclear 31 P{ 11 B} NMR experimentation. The high Na + /Ca 2+ contents give fragmented glass networks with large amounts of nonbridging oxygen (NBO) anions. The MD-generated glass models reveal an increasing propensity for NBO accommodation among the network units according to BO 4 < SiO 4 < BO 3 ≪ PO 4 . The BO 4 /BO 3 intermixing was examined by double-quantum-single-quantum correlation 11 B NMR experiments, which evidenced the presence of all three BO 3 -BO 3 , BO 3 -BO 4 , and BO 4 -BO 4 connectivities, with B [3] -O-B [4] bridges dominating. Notwithstanding that B [4] -O-B [4] linkages are disfavored, both NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations established their presence in these modifier-rich BPS glasses, along with non-negligible B [4] -NBO contacts, at odds with the conventional structural view of borosilicate glasses. We discuss the relative propensities for intermixing of the Si/B/P network formers. Despite the absence of pronounced preferences for Si-O-Si bond formation, the glass models manifest subtle subnanometer-sized structural inhomogeneities, where SiO 4 tetrahedra tend to self-associate into small chain/ring motifs embedded in BO 3 /BO 4 -dominated domains.

Structure determination of a peptide model of the repeated helical domain in Samia cynthia ricini silk fibroin before spinning by a combination of advanced solid-state NMR methods.

PubMed

Nakazawa, Yasumoto; Asakura, Tetsuo

2003-06-18

Fibrous proteins unlike globular proteins, contain repetitive amino acid sequences, giving rise to very regular secondary protein structures. Silk fibroin from a wild silkworm, Samia cynthia ricini, consists of about 100 repeats of alternating polyalanine (poly-Ala) regions of 12-13 residues in length and Gly-rich regions. In this paper, the precise structure of the model peptide, GGAGGGYGGDGG(A)(12)GGAGDGYGAG, which is a typical repeated sequence of the silk fibroin, was determined using a combination of three kinds of solid-state NMR studies; a quantitative use of (13)C CP/MAS NMR chemical shift with conformation-dependent (13)C chemical shift contour plots, 2D spin diffusion (13)C solid-state NMR under off magic angle spinning and rotational echo double resonance. The structure of the model peptide corresponding to the silk fibroin structure before spinning was determined. The torsion angles of the central Ala residue, Ala(19), in the poly-Ala region were determined to be (phi, psi) = (-59 degrees, -48 degrees ) which are values typically associated with alpha-helical structures. However, the torsion angles of the Gly(25) residue adjacent to the C-terminal side of the poly-Ala chain were determined to be (phi, psi) = (-66 degrees, -22 degrees ) and those of Gly(12) and Ala(13) residues at the N-terminal of the poly-Ala chain to be (phi, psi) = (-70 degrees, -30 degrees ). In addition, REDOR experiments indicate that the torsion angles of the two C-terminal Ala residues, Ala(23) and Ala(24), are (phi, psi) = (-66 degrees, -22 degrees ) and those of N-terminal two Ala residues, Ala(13) and Ala(14) are (phi, psi) = (-70 degrees, -30 degrees ). Thus, the local structure of N-terminal and C-terminal residues, and also the neighboring residues of alpha-helical poly-Ala chain in the model peptide is a more strongly wound structure than found in typical alpha-helix structures.

The structure investigations of dehydroacetic acid and 1,8-diaminonaphthalene condensation product by NMR, MS, and X-ray measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kołodziej, B.; Morawiak, M.; Kamieński, B.; Schilf, W.

2016-05-01

A new unexpected product of condensation reaction of 1,8-diaminonaphthalene (DAN) and carbonyl compound (here: dehydroacetic acid (dha)) was synthesized. Discussion about the molecular structure of possible products of this reaction was done on the base of NMR studies. The structure of the titled product in both DMSO solution and in the solid state was resolved by analysis of its spectral data (X-ray structure analysis, multinuclear NMR in solution and solid state spectra) and MS measurements. The presented studies provided clear evidence that the titled product exists in diluted DMSO solution as the mixture of two kinetic free ionic species whereas in concentrated DMSO solution as well as in the solid state this system forms associated ionic pairs bonded together by hydrogen bonds.

Relationship between pore geometric characteristics and SIP/NMR parameters observed for mudstones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, J.; Slater, L. D.; Keating, K.; Parker, B. L.; Robinson, T.

2017-12-01

The reliable estimation of permeability remains one of the most challenging problems in hydrogeological characterization. Cost effective, non-invasive geophysical methods such as spectral induced polarization (SIP) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) offer an alternative to traditional sampling methods as they are sensitive to the mineral surfaces and pore spaces that control permeability. We performed extensive physical characterization, SIP and NMR geophysical measurements on fractured rock cores extracted from a mudstone site in an effort to compare 1) the pore size characterization determined from traditional and geophysical methods and 2) the performance of permeability models based on these methods. We focus on two physical characterizations that are well-correlated with hydraulic properties: the pore volume normalized surface area (Spor) and an interconnected pore diameter (Λ). We find the SIP polarization magnitude and relaxation time are better correlated with Spor than Λ, the best correlation of these SIP measures for our sample dataset was found with Spor divided by the electrical formation factor (F). NMR parameters are, similarly, better correlated with Spor than Λ. We implement previously proposed mechanistic and empirical permeability models using SIP and NMR parameters. A sandstone-calibrated SIP model using a polarization magnitude does not perform well while a SIP model using a mean relaxation time performs better in part by more sufficiently accounting for the effects of fluid chemistry. A sandstone-calibrated NMR permeability model using an average measure of the relaxation time does not perform well, presumably due to small pore sizes which are either not connected or contain water of limited mobility. An NMR model based on the laboratory determined portions of the bound versus mobile portions of the relaxation distribution performed reasonably well. While limitations exist, there are many opportunities to use geophysical data to predict permeability in mudstone formations.

Reassessment of MxiH subunit orientation and fold within native Shigella T3SS needles using surface labelling and solid-state NMR.

PubMed

Verasdonck, Joeri; Shen, Da-Kang; Treadgold, Alexander; Arthur, Christopher; Böckmann, Anja; Meier, Beat H; Blocker, Ariel J

2015-12-01

T3SSs are essential virulence determinants of many Gram-negative bacteria, used to inject bacterial effectors of virulence into eukaryotic host cells. Their major extracellular portion, a ∼50 nm hollow, needle-like structure, is essential to host cell sensing and the conduit for effector secretion. It is formed of a small, conserved subunit arranged as a helical polymer. The structure of the subunit has been studied by electron cryomicroscopy within native polymers and by solid-state NMR in recombinant polymers, yielding two incompatible atomic models. To resolve this controversy, we re-examined the native polymer used for electron cryomicroscopy via surface labelling and solid-state NMR. Our data show the orientation and overall fold of the subunit within this polymer is as established by solid-state NMR for recombinant polymers. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NMR evidence for static local nematicity and its cooperative interplay with low-energy magnetic fluctuations in FeSe under pressure

DOE PAGES

Wiecki, P.; Nandi, M.; Bohmer, Anna; ...

2017-11-13

Here, we present 77Se -NMR measurements on single-crystalline FeSe under pressures up to 2 GPa. Based on the observation of the splitting and broadening of the NMR spectrum due to structural twin domains, we discovered that static, local nematic ordering exists well above the bulk nematic ordering temperature, T s. The static, local nematic order and the low-energy stripe-type antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, as revealed by NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate measurements, are both insensitive to pressure application. Our NMR results provide clear evidence for the microscopic cooperation between magnetism and local nematicity in FeSe.

NMR evidence for static local nematicity and its cooperative interplay with low-energy magnetic fluctuations in FeSe under pressure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiecki, P.; Nandi, M.; Bohmer, Anna

Here, we present 77Se -NMR measurements on single-crystalline FeSe under pressures up to 2 GPa. Based on the observation of the splitting and broadening of the NMR spectrum due to structural twin domains, we discovered that static, local nematic ordering exists well above the bulk nematic ordering temperature, T s. The static, local nematic order and the low-energy stripe-type antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, as revealed by NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate measurements, are both insensitive to pressure application. Our NMR results provide clear evidence for the microscopic cooperation between magnetism and local nematicity in FeSe.

Quantitative 13C NMR characterization of fast pyrolysis oils

DOE PAGES

Happs, Renee M.; Lisa, Kristina; Ferrell, III, Jack R.

2016-10-20

Quantitative 13C NMR analysis of model catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) oils following literature procedures showed poor agreement for aromatic hydrocarbons between NMR measured concentrations and actual composition. Furthermore, modifying integration regions based on DEPT analysis for aromatic carbons resulted in better agreement. Solvent effects were also investigated for hydrotreated CFP oil.

Quantitative 13C NMR characterization of fast pyrolysis oils

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Happs, Renee M.; Lisa, Kristina; Ferrell, III, Jack R.

Quantitative 13C NMR analysis of model catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) oils following literature procedures showed poor agreement for aromatic hydrocarbons between NMR measured concentrations and actual composition. Furthermore, modifying integration regions based on DEPT analysis for aromatic carbons resulted in better agreement. Solvent effects were also investigated for hydrotreated CFP oil.

Theoretical and experimental NMR studies on muscimol from fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kupka, Teobald; Wieczorek, Piotr P.

2016-01-01

In this article we report results of combined theoretical and experimental NMR studies on muscimol, the bioactive alkaloid from fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). The assignment of 1H and 13C NMR spectra of muscimol in DMSO-d6 was supported by additional two-dimensional heteronuclear correlated spectra (2D NMR) and gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) NMR calculations using density functional theory (DFT). The effect of solvent in theoretical calculations was included via polarized continuum model (PCM) and the hybrid three-parameter B3LYP density functional in combination with 6-311++G(3df,2pd) basis set enabled calculation of reliable structures of non-ionized (neutral) molecule and its NH and zwitterionic forms in the gas phase, chloroform, DMSO and water. GIAO NMR calculations, using equilibrium and rovibrationally averaged geometry, at B3LYP/6-31G* and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ-J levels of theory provided muscimol nuclear magnetic shieldings. The theoretical proton and carbon chemical shifts were critically compared with experimental NMR spectra measured in DMSO. Our results provide useful information on its structure in solution. We believe that such data could improve the understanding of basic features of muscimol at atomistic level and provide another tool in studies related to GABA analogs.

Geophysical Parameter Estimation of Near Surface Materials Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keating, K.

2017-12-01

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a mature geophysical technology used in petroleum applications, has recently emerged as a promising tool for hydrogeophysicists. The NMR measurement, which can be made in the laboratory, in boreholes, and using a surface based instrument, are unique in that it is directly sensitive to water, via the initial signal magnitude, and thus provides a robust estimate of water content. In the petroleum industry rock physics models have been established that relate NMR relaxation times to pore size distributions and permeability. These models are often applied directly for hydrogeophysical applications, despite differences in the material in these two environments (e.g., unconsolidated versus consolidated, and mineral content). Furthermore, the rock physics models linking NMR relaxation times to pore size distributions do not account for partially saturated systems that are important for understanding flow in the vadose zone. In our research, we are developing and refining quantitative rock physics models that relate NMR parameters to hydrogeological parameters. Here we highlight the limitations of directly applying established rock physics models to estimate hydrogeological parameters from NMR measurements, and show some of the successes we have had in model improvement. Using examples drawn from both laboratory and field measurements, we focus on the use of NMR in partial saturated systems to estimate water content, pore-size distributions, and the water retention curve. Despite the challenges in interpreting the measurements, valuable information about hydrogeological parameters can be obtained from NMR relaxation data, and we conclude by outlining pathways for improving the interpretation of NMR data for hydrogeophysical investigations.

A combined computational and structural model of the full-length human prolactin receptor

PubMed Central

Bugge, Katrine; Papaleo, Elena; Haxholm, Gitte W.; Hopper, Jonathan T. S.; Robinson, Carol V.; Olsen, Johan G.; Lindorff-Larsen, Kresten; Kragelund, Birthe B.

2016-01-01

The prolactin receptor is an archetype member of the class I cytokine receptor family, comprising receptors with fundamental functions in biology as well as key drug targets. Structurally, each of these receptors represent an intriguing diversity, providing an exceptionally challenging target for structural biology. Here, we access the molecular architecture of the monomeric human prolactin receptor by combining experimental and computational efforts. We solve the NMR structure of its transmembrane domain in micelles and collect structural data on overlapping fragments of the receptor with small-angle X-ray scattering, native mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Along with previously published data, these are integrated by molecular modelling to generate a full receptor structure. The result provides the first full view of a class I cytokine receptor, exemplifying the architecture of more than 40 different receptor chains, and reveals that the extracellular domain is merely the tip of a molecular iceberg. PMID:27174498

Zinc ascorbate: a combined experimental and computational study for structure elucidation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ünaleroǧlu, C.; Zümreoǧlu-Karan, B.; Mert, Y.

2002-03-01

The structure of Zn(HA)2·4H2O (HA=ascorbate) has been examined by a number of techniques (13C NMR, 1H NMR, IR, EI/MS and TGA) and also modeled by the semi-empirical PM3 method. The experimental and computational results agreed on a five-fold coordination around Zn(II) where one ascorbate binds monodentately, the other bidentately and two water molecules occupy the remaining sites of a distorted square pyramid.

Building blocks for automated elucidation of metabolites: machine learning methods for NMR prediction.

PubMed

Kuhn, Stefan; Egert, Björn; Neumann, Steffen; Steinbeck, Christoph

2008-09-25

Current efforts in Metabolomics, such as the Human Metabolome Project, collect structures of biological metabolites as well as data for their characterisation, such as spectra for identification of substances and measurements of their concentration. Still, only a fraction of existing metabolites and their spectral fingerprints are known. Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) of biological metabolites will be an important tool to leverage this lack of knowledge. Indispensable for CASE are modules to predict spectra for hypothetical structures. This paper evaluates different statistical and machine learning methods to perform predictions of proton NMR spectra based on data from our open database NMRShiftDB. A mean absolute error of 0.18 ppm was achieved for the prediction of proton NMR shifts ranging from 0 to 11 ppm. Random forest, J48 decision tree and support vector machines achieved similar overall errors. HOSE codes being a notably simple method achieved a comparatively good result of 0.17 ppm mean absolute error. NMR prediction methods applied in the course of this work delivered precise predictions which can serve as a building block for Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation for biological metabolites.

Arginine Interactions with Anatase TiO2 (100) Surface and the Perturbation of 49Ti NMR Chemical Shifts - A DFT Investigation: Relevance to Renu-Seeram Bio Solar Cell

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koch, Rainer; Lipton, Andrew S.; Filipek, S.

2011-06-01

Density functional theoretical calculations have been utilized to investigate the interaction of the amino acid arginine with the (100) surface of anatase and the reproduction of experimentally measured 49Ti NMR chemical shifts of anatase. Significant binding of arginine through electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonds of the arginine guanidinium protons to the TiO2 surface oxygen atoms is observed, allowing attachment of proteins to titania surfaces in the construction of bio-sensitized solar cells. GIAO-B3LYP/6-31G(d) NMR calculation of a three-layer model based on the experimental structure of this TiO2 modification gives an excellent reproduction of the experimental value (-927 ppm) within +/- 7more » ppm, however, the change in relative chemical shifts, EFGs and CSA suggest that the effect of the electrostatic arginine binding might be too small for experimental detection.« less

Conformational analysis of a quinolonic ribonucleoside with anti-HSV-1 activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoneda, Julliane D.; Velloso, Marcia Helena R.; Leal, Kátia Z.; Azeredo, Rodrigo B. de V.; Sugiura, Makiko; Albuquerque, Magaly G.; Santos, Fernanda da C.; Souza, Maria Cecília B. V. de; Cunha, Anna Claudia; Seidl, Peter R.; Alencastro, Ricardo B. de; Ferreira, Vitor F.

2011-01-01

The infections caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus are one of the most common sources of diseases in adults and several natural nucleoside analogues are currently used in the treatment of these infections. In vitro tests of a series of quinolonic ribonucleosides derivatives synthesized by part of our group indicated that some of them have antiviral activity against HSV-1. The conformational analysis of bioactive compounds is extremely important in order to better understand their chemical structures and biological activity. In this work, we have carried out a nuclear relaxation NMR study of 6-Me ribonucleoside derivative in order to determine if the syn or anti conformation is preferential. The NMR analysis permits the determination of inter-atomic distances by using techniques which are based on nuclear relaxation and related phenomena. Those techniques are non-selective longitudinal or spin-lattice relaxation rates and NULL pulse sequence, which allow the determination of distances between pairs of hydrogen atoms. The results of NMR studies were compared with those obtained by molecular modeling.

NMR study of the transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha)-epidermal growth factor receptor complex. Visualization of human TGF-alpha binding determinants through nuclear Overhauser enhancement analysis.

PubMed

McInnes, C; Hoyt, D W; Harkins, R N; Pagila, R N; Debanne, M T; O'Connor-McCourt, M; Sykes, B D

1996-12-13

The study of human transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) in complex with the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor extracellular domain has been undertaken in order to generate information on the interactions of these molecules. Analysis of 1H NMR transferred nuclear Overhauser enhancement data for titration of the ligand with the receptor has yielded specific data on the residues of the growth factor involved in contact with the larger protein. Significant increases and decreases in nuclear Overhauser enhancement cross-peak intensity occur upon complexation, and interpretation of these changes indicates that residues of the A- and C-loops of TGF-alpha form the major binding interface, while the B-loop provides a structural scaffold for this site. These results corroborate the conclusions from NMR relaxation studies (Hoyt, D. W., Harkins, R. N., Debanne, M. T., O'Connor-McCourt, M., and Sykes, B. D. (1994) Biochemistry 33, 15283-15292), which suggest that the C-terminal residues of the polypeptide are immobilized upon receptor binding, while the N terminus of the molecule retains considerable flexibility, and are consistent with structure-function studies of the TGF-alpha/EGF system indicating a multidomain binding model. These results give a visualization, for the first time, of native TGF-alpha in complex with the EGF receptor and generate a picture of the ligand-binding site based upon the intact molecule. This will undoubtedly be of utility in the structure-based design of TGF-alpha/EGF agonists and/or antagonists.

In Situ Flow MAS NMR Spectroscopy and Synchrotron PDF Analyses of the Local Response of the Brønsted Acidic Site in SAPO-34 during Hydration at Elevated Temperatures.

PubMed

Kalantzopoulos, Georgios N; Lundvall, Fredrik; Checchia, Stefano; Lind, Anna; Wragg, David S; Fjellvåg, Helmer; Arstad, Bjørnar

2018-02-19

In situ flow magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) spectroscopy and synchrotron-based pair distribution function (PDF) analyses were applied to study water's interactions with the Brønsted acidic site and the surrounding framework in the SAPO-34 catalyst at temperatures up to 300 °C for NMR spectroscopy and 700 °C for PDF. 29 Si enrichment of the sample enabled detailed NMR spectroscopy investigations of the T-atom generating the Brønsted site. By NMR spectroscopy, we observed dehydration above 100 °C and a coalescence of Si peaks due to local framework adjustments. Towards 300 °C, the NMR spectroscopy data indicated highly mobile acidic protons. In situ total X-ray scattering measurements analyzed by PDF showed clear changes in the Al local environment in the 250-300 °C region, as the Al-O bond lengths showed a sudden change. This fell within the same temperature range as the increased Brønsted proton mobility. We suggest that the active site in this catalyst under industrial conditions comprises not only the Brønsted proton but also SiO 4 . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work proposing a structural model of a SAPO catalyst by atomic PDF analysis. The combination of synchrotron PDF analysis with in situ NMR spectroscopy is promising in revealing the dynamic features of a working catalyst. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ab initio/GIAO-CCSD(T) study of structures, energies, and 13C NMR chemical shifts of C4H7(+) and C5H9(+) ions: relative stability and dynamic aspects of the cyclopropylcarbinyl vs bicyclobutonium ions.

PubMed

Olah, George A; Surya Prakash, G K; Rasul, Golam

2008-07-16

The structures and energies of the carbocations C 4H 7 (+) and C 5H 9 (+) were calculated using the ab initio method. The (13)C NMR chemical shifts of the carbocations were calculated using the GIAO-CCSD(T) method. The pisigma-delocalized bisected cyclopropylcarbinyl cation, 1 and nonclassical bicyclobutonium ion, 2 were found to be the minima for C 4H 7 (+) at the MP2/cc-pVTZ level. At the MP4(SDTQ)/cc-pVTZ//MP2/cc-pVTZ + ZPE level the structure 2 is 0.4 kcal/mol more stable than the structure 1. The (13)C NMR chemical shifts of 1 and 2 were calculated by the GIAO-CCSD(T) method. Based on relative energies and (13)C NMR chemical shift calculations, an equilibrium involving the 1 and 2 in superacid solutions is most likely responsible for the experimentally observed (13)C NMR chemical shifts, with the latter as the predominant equilibrating species. The alpha-methylcyclopropylcarbinyl cation, 4, and nonclassical bicyclobutonium ion, 5, were found to be the minima for C 5H 9 (+) at the MP2/cc-pVTZ level. At the MP4(SDTQ)/cc-pVTZ//MP2/cc-pVTZ + ZPE level ion 5 is 5.9 kcal/mol more stable than the structure 4. The calculated (13)C NMR chemical shifts of 5 agree rather well with the experimental values of C 5H 9 (+).

Fragment-based hit discovery and structure-based optimization of aminotriazoloquinazolines as novel Hsp90 inhibitors.

PubMed

Casale, Elena; Amboldi, Nadia; Brasca, Maria Gabriella; Caronni, Dannica; Colombo, Nicoletta; Dalvit, Claudio; Felder, Eduard R; Fogliatto, Gianpaolo; Galvani, Arturo; Isacchi, Antonella; Polucci, Paolo; Riceputi, Laura; Sola, Francesco; Visco, Carlo; Zuccotto, Fabio; Casuscelli, Francesco

2014-08-01

In the last decade the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) has emerged as a major therapeutic target and many efforts have been dedicated to the discovery of Hsp90 inhibitors as new potent anticancer agents. Here we report the identification of a novel class of Hsp90 inhibitors by means of a biophysical FAXS-NMR based screening of a library of fragments. The use of X-ray structure information combined with modeling studies enabled the fragment evolution of the initial triazoloquinazoline hit to a class of compounds with nanomolar potency and drug-like properties suited for further lead optimization. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural characterization of anion-calcium-humate complexes in phosphate-based fertilizers.

PubMed

Baigorri, Roberto; Urrutia, Oscar; Erro, Javier; Mandado, Marcos; Pérez-Juste, Ignacio; Garcia-Mina, José María

2013-07-01

Fertilizers based on phosphate-metal-humate complexes are a new family of compounds that represents a more sustainable and bioavailable phosphorus source. The characterization of this type of complex by using solid (31)P NMR in several fertilizers, based on single superphosphate (SSP) and triple superphosphate (TSP) matrices, yielded surprising and unexpected trends in the intensity and fine structure of the (31)P NMR peaks. Computational chemistry methods allowed the characterization of phosphate-calcium-humate complexes in both SSP and TSP matrices, but also predicted the formation of a stable sulfate-calcium-humate complex in the SSP fertilizers, which has not been described previously. The stability of this complex has been confirmed by using ultrafiltration techniques. Preference towards the humic substance for the sulfate-metal phase in SSP allowed the explanation of the opposing trends that were observed in the experimental (31)P NMR spectra of SSP and TSP samples. Additionally, computational chemistry has provided an assignment of the (31)P NMR signals to different phosphate ligands as well as valuable information about the relative strength of the phosphate-calcium interactions within the crystals. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Solid-state acid-base interactions in complexes of heterocyclic bases with dicarboxylic acids: crystallography, hydrogen bond analysis, and 15N NMR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Li, Z Jane; Abramov, Yuriy; Bordner, Jon; Leonard, Jason; Medek, Ales; Trask, Andrew V

2006-06-28

A cancer candidate, compound 1, is a weak base with two heterocyclic basic nitrogens and five hydrogen-bonding functional groups, and is sparingly soluble in water rendering it unsuitable for pharmaceutical development. The crystalline acid-base pairs of 1, collectively termed solid acid-base complexes, provide significant increases in the solubility and bioavailability compared to the free base, 1. Three dicarboxylic acid-base complexes, sesquisuccinate 2, dimalonate 3, and dimaleate 4, show the most favorable physicochemical profiles and are studied in greater detail. The structural analyses of the three complexes using crystal structure and solid-state NMR reveal that the proton-transfer behavior in these organic acid-base complexes vary successively correlating with Delta pKa. As a result, 2 is a neutral complex, 3 is a mixed ionic and zwitterionic complex and 4 is an ionic salt. The addition of the acidic components leads to maximized hydrogen bond interactions forming extended three-dimensional networks. Although structurally similar, the packing arrangements of the three complexes are considerably different due to the presence of multiple functional groups and the flexible backbone of 1. The findings in this study provide insight into the structural characteristics of complexes involving heterocyclic bases and carboxylic acids, and demonstrate that X-ray crystallography and 15N solid-state NMR are truly complementary in elucidating hydrogen bonding interactions and the degree of proton transfer of these complexes.

Predicting Molecular Crystal Properties from First Principles: Finite-Temperature Thermochemistry to NMR Crystallography.

PubMed

Beran, Gregory J O; Hartman, Joshua D; Heit, Yonaton N

2016-11-15

Molecular crystals occur widely in pharmaceuticals, foods, explosives, organic semiconductors, and many other applications. Thanks to substantial progress in electronic structure modeling of molecular crystals, attention is now shifting from basic crystal structure prediction and lattice energy modeling toward the accurate prediction of experimentally observable properties at finite temperatures and pressures. This Account discusses how fragment-based electronic structure methods can be used to model a variety of experimentally relevant molecular crystal properties. First, it describes the coupling of fragment electronic structure models with quasi-harmonic techniques for modeling the thermal expansion of molecular crystals, and what effects this expansion has on thermochemical and mechanical properties. Excellent agreement with experiment is demonstrated for the molar volume, sublimation enthalpy, entropy, and free energy, and the bulk modulus of phase I carbon dioxide when large basis second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) or coupled cluster theories (CCSD(T)) are used. In addition, physical insight is offered into how neglect of thermal expansion affects these properties. Zero-point vibrational motion leads to an appreciable expansion in the molar volume; in carbon dioxide, it accounts for around 30% of the overall volume expansion between the electronic structure energy minimum and the molar volume at the sublimation point. In addition, because thermal expansion typically weakens the intermolecular interactions, neglecting thermal expansion artificially stabilizes the solid and causes the sublimation enthalpy to be too large at higher temperatures. Thermal expansion also frequently weakens the lower-frequency lattice phonon modes; neglecting thermal expansion causes the entropy of sublimation to be overestimated. Interestingly, the sublimation free energy is less significantly affected by neglecting thermal expansion because the systematic errors in the enthalpy and entropy cancel somewhat. Second, because solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) plays an increasingly important role in molecular crystal studies, this Account discusses how fragment methods can be used to achieve higher-accuracy chemical shifts in molecular crystals. Whereas widely used plane wave density functional theory models are largely restricted to generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functionals like PBE in practice, fragment methods allow the routine use of hybrid density functionals with only modest increases in computational cost. In extensive molecular crystal benchmarks, hybrid functionals like PBE0 predict chemical shifts with 20-30% higher accuracy than GGAs, particularly for 1 H, 13 C, and 15 N nuclei. Due to their higher sensitivity to polarization effects, 17 O chemical shifts prove slightly harder to predict with fragment methods. Nevertheless, the fragment model results are still competitive with those from GIPAW. The improved accuracy achievable with fragment approaches and hybrid density functionals increases discrimination between different potential assignments of individual shifts or crystal structures, which is critical in NMR crystallography applications. This higher accuracy and greater discrimination are highlighted in application to the solid state NMR of different acetaminophen and testosterone crystal forms.

NMR crystallography of zeolites: How far can we go without diffraction data?

PubMed

Brouwer, Darren H; Van Huizen, Jared

2018-05-10

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) crystallography-an approach to structure determination that seeks to integrate solid-state NMR spectroscopy, diffraction, and computation methods-has emerged as an effective strategy to determine structures of difficult-to-characterize materials, including zeolites and related network materials. This paper explores how far it is possible to go in determining the structure of a zeolite framework from a minimal amount of input information derived only from solid-state NMR spectroscopy. It is shown that the framework structure of the fluoride-containing and tetramethylammonium-templated octadecasil clathrasil material can be solved from the 1D 29 Si NMR spectrum and a single 2D 29 Si NMR correlation spectrum alone, without the space group and unit cell parameters normally obtained from diffraction data. The resulting NMR-solved structure is in excellent agreement with the structures determined previously by diffraction methods. It is anticipated that NMR crystallography strategies like this will be useful for structure determination of other materials, which cannot be solved from diffraction methods alone. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Structural investigations of Pu{sup III} phosphate by X-ray diffraction, MAS-NMR and XANES spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Popa, Karin; Raison, Philippe E., E-mail: philippe.raison@ec.europa.eu; Martel, Laura

2015-10-15

PuPO{sub 4} was prepared by a solid state reaction method and its crystal structure at room temperature was solved by powder X-ray diffraction combined with Rietveld refinement. High resolution XANES measurements confirm the +III valence state of plutonium, in agreement with valence bond derivation. The presence of the americium (as β{sup −} decay product of plutonium) in the +III oxidation state was determined based on XANES spectroscopy. High resolution solid state {sup 31}P NMR agrees with the XANES results and the presence of a solid-solution. - Graphical abstract: A full structural analysis of PuPO{sub 4} based on Rietveld analysis ofmore » room temperature X-ray diffraction data, XANES and MAS NMR measurements was performed. - Highlights: • The crystal structure of PuPO{sub 4} monazite is solved. • In PuPO{sub 4} plutonium is strictly trivalent. • The presence of a minute amount of Am{sup III} is highlighted. • We propose PuPO{sub 4} as a potential reference material for spectroscopic and microscopic studies.« less

A new carbamidemethyl-linked lanthanoid chelating tag for PCS NMR spectroscopy of proteins in living HeLa cells.

PubMed

Hikone, Yuya; Hirai, Go; Mishima, Masaki; Inomata, Kohsuke; Ikeya, Teppei; Arai, Souichiro; Shirakawa, Masahiro; Sodeoka, Mikiko; Ito, Yutaka

2016-10-01

Structural analyses of proteins under macromolecular crowding inside human cultured cells by in-cell NMR spectroscopy are crucial not only for explicit understanding of their cellular functions but also for applications in medical and pharmaceutical sciences. In-cell NMR experiments using human cultured cells however suffer from low sensitivity, thus pseudocontact shifts from protein-tagged paramagnetic lanthanoid ions, analysed using sensitive heteronuclear two-dimensional correlation NMR spectra, offer huge potential advantage in obtaining structural information over conventional NOE-based approaches. We synthesised a new lanthanoid-chelating tag (M8-CAM-I), in which the eight-fold, stereospecifically methylated DOTA (M8) scaffold was retained, while a stable carbamidemethyl (CAM) group was introduced as the functional group connecting to proteins. M8-CAM-I successfully fulfilled the requirements for in-cell NMR: high-affinity to lanthanoid, low cytotoxicity and the stability under reducing condition inside cells. Large PCSs for backbone N-H resonances observed for M8-CAM-tagged human ubiquitin mutant proteins, which were introduced into HeLa cells by electroporation, demonstrated that this approach readily provides the useful information enabling the determination of protein structures, relative orientations of domains and protein complexes within human cultured cells.

Paramagnetic 19F NMR and Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometric Studies of Substituted Pyridine Complexes of Chromium(III): Models for Potential Use of 19F NMR to Probe Cr(III)-Nucleotide Interaction1

PubMed Central

Rhodes, Nicholas R.; Belmore, Ken; Cassady, Carolyn J.; Vincent, John B.

2013-01-01

The synthesis and characterization of chromium basic carboxylate complexes, [Cr3(O2CR)6L3]+, containing trifluoroacetate, 3-fluoropyridine, 3-trifluoromethylpyridine, and 4-trifluoromethylpyridine are described. The substituted pyridine ligands are used as models of DNA bases to determine whether 19F NMR would be a potentially useful probe of the binding of Cr3+ to DNA. The 19F NMR resonances of the coordinated ligands, while broadened by delocalization of unpaired electron density from the S=3/2 chromic centers, are readily discernable, and the contact shifts are of sufficient magnitude that the signals from coordinated and free ligands can easily be differentiated. Thus, 19F NMR appears to be a potentially useful probe of the binding of Cr3+ to DNA containing F-labeled bases. Additionally, electrospray MS is shown to be a convenient method to establish the identity of chromium basic carboxylate assemblies. PMID:24222929

Revisiting the formation of cyclic clusters in liquid ethanol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Balanay, Mannix P.; Fan, Haiyan, E-mail: haiyan.fan@nu.edu.kz; Kim, Dong Hee

2016-04-21

The liquid phase of ethanol in pure and in non-polar solvents was studied at room temperature using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and {sup 1}H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies together with theoretical approach. The FT-IR spectra for pure ethanol and solution in cyclohexane at different dilution stages are consistent with {sup 1}H NMR results. The results from both methods were best explained by the results of the density functional theory based on a multimeric model. It is suggested that cyclic trimers and tetramers are dominated in the solution of cyclohexane/hexane with the concentration greater than 0.5M at room temperature. Inmore » liquid ethanol, while the primary components at room temperature are cyclic trimers and tetramers, there is a certain amount (∼14%) of open hydroxide group representing the existence of chain like structures in the equilibria. The cyclic cluster model in the liquid and concentrated solution phase (>0.5M) can be used to explain the anomalously lower freezing point of ethanol (159 K) than that of water (273 K) at ambient conditions. In addition, {sup 1}H NMR at various dilution stages reveals the dynamics for the formation of cyclic clusters.« less

Stereochemical analysis of (+)-limonene using theoretical and experimental NMR and chiroptical data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinscheid, F.; Reinscheid, U. M.

2016-02-01

Using limonene as test molecule, the success and the limitations of three chiroptical methods (optical rotatory dispersion (ORD), electronic and vibrational circular dichroism, ECD and VCD) could be demonstrated. At quite low levels of theory (mpw1pw91/cc-pvdz, IEFPCM (integral equation formalism polarizable continuum model)) the experimental ORD values differ by less than 10 units from the calculated values. The modelling in the condensed phase still represents a challenge so that experimental NMR data were used to test for aggregation and solvent-solute interactions. After establishing a reasonable structural model, only the ECD spectra prediction showed a decisive dependence on the basis set: only augmented (in the case of Dunning's basis sets) or diffuse (in the case of Pople's basis sets) basis sets predicted the position and shape of the ECD bands correctly. Based on these result we propose a procedure to assign the absolute configuration (AC) of an unknown compound using the comparison between experimental and calculated chiroptical data.

NMR in the SPINE Structural Proteomics project.

PubMed

Ab, E; Atkinson, A R; Banci, L; Bertini, I; Ciofi-Baffoni, S; Brunner, K; Diercks, T; Dötsch, V; Engelke, F; Folkers, G E; Griesinger, C; Gronwald, W; Günther, U; Habeck, M; de Jong, R N; Kalbitzer, H R; Kieffer, B; Leeflang, B R; Loss, S; Luchinat, C; Marquardsen, T; Moskau, D; Neidig, K P; Nilges, M; Piccioli, M; Pierattelli, R; Rieping, W; Schippmann, T; Schwalbe, H; Travé, G; Trenner, J; Wöhnert, J; Zweckstetter, M; Kaptein, R

2006-10-01

This paper describes the developments, role and contributions of the NMR spectroscopy groups in the Structural Proteomics In Europe (SPINE) consortium. Focusing on the development of high-throughput (HTP) pipelines for NMR structure determinations of proteins, all aspects from sample preparation, data acquisition, data processing, data analysis to structure determination have been improved with respect to sensitivity, automation, speed, robustness and validation. Specific highlights are protonless (13)C-direct detection methods and inferential structure determinations (ISD). In addition to technological improvements, these methods have been applied to deliver over 60 NMR structures of proteins, among which are five that failed to crystallize. The inclusion of NMR spectroscopy in structural proteomics pipelines improves the success rate for protein structure determinations.

A Discovery-Based Hydrochlorination of Carvone Utilizing a Guided-Inquiry Approach to Determine the Product Structure from [superscript 13]C NMR Spectra

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pelter, Michael W.; Walker, Natalie M.

2012-01-01

This experiment describes a discovery-based method for the regio- and stereoselective hydrochlorination of carvone, appropriate for a 3-h second-semester organic chemistry laboratory. The product is identified through interpretation of the [superscript 13]C NMR and DEPT spectra are obtained on an Anasazi EFT-60 at 15 MHz as neat samples. A…

DFT calculations in the assignment of solid-state NMR and crystal structure elucidation of a lanthanum(iii) complex with dithiocarbamate and phenanthroline.

PubMed

Gowda, Vasantha; Laitinen, Risto S; Telkki, Ville-Veikko; Larsson, Anna-Carin; Antzutkin, Oleg N; Lantto, Perttu

2016-12-06

The molecular, crystal, and electronic structures as well as spectroscopic properties of a mononuclear heteroleptic lanthanum(iii) complex with diethyldithiocarbamate and 1,10-phenanthroline ligands (3 : 1) were studied by solid-state 13 C and 15 N cross-polarisation (CP) magic-angle-spinning (MAS) NMR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and first principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A substantially different powder XRD pattern and 13 C and 15 N CP-MAS NMR spectra indicated that the title compound is not isostructural to the previously reported analogous rare earth complexes with the space group P2 1 /n. Both 13 C and 15 N CP-MAS NMR revealed the presence of six structurally different dithiocarbamate groups in the asymmetric unit cell, implying a non-centrosymmetric packing arrangement of molecules. This was supported by single-crystal X-ray crystallography showing that the title compound crystallised in the triclinic space group P1[combining macron]. In addition, the crystal structure also revealed that one of the dithiocarbamate ligands has a conformational disorder. NMR chemical shift calculations employing the periodic gauge including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) approach supported the assignment of the experimental 13 C and 15 N NMR spectra. However, the best correspondences were obtained with the structure where the atomic positions in the X-ray unit cell were optimised at the DFT level. The roles of the scalar and spin-orbit relativistic effects on NMR shielding were investigated using the zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) method with the outcome that already the scalar relativistic level qualitatively reproduces the experimental chemical shifts. The electronic properties of the complex were evaluated based on the results of the natural bond orbital (NBO) and topology of the electron density analyses. Overall, we apply a multidisciplinary approach acquiring comprehensive information about the solid-state structure and the metal-ligand bonding of the heteroleptic lanthanum complex.

A systematic study of 25Mg NMR in paramagnetic transition metal oxides: applications to Mg-ion battery materials.

PubMed

Lee, Jeongjae; Seymour, Ieuan D; Pell, Andrew J; Dutton, Siân E; Grey, Clare P

2016-12-21

Rechargeable battery systems based on Mg-ion chemistries are generating significant interest as potential alternatives to Li-ion batteries. Despite the wealth of local structural information that could potentially be gained from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) experiments of Mg-ion battery materials, systematic 25 Mg solid-state NMR studies have been scarce due to the low natural abundance, low gyromagnetic ratio, and significant quadrupole moment of 25 Mg (I = 5/2). This work reports a combined experimental 25 Mg NMR and first principles density functional theory (DFT) study of paramagnetic Mg transition metal oxide systems Mg 6 MnO 8 and MgCr 2 O 4 that serve as model systems for Mg-ion battery cathode materials. Magnetic parameters, hyperfine shifts and quadrupolar parameters were calculated ab initio using hybrid DFT and compared to the experimental values obtained from NMR and magnetic measurements. We show that the rotor assisted population transfer (RAPT) pulse sequence can be used to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in paramagnetic 25 Mg spectra without distortions in the spinning sideband manifold. In addition, the value of the predicted quadrupolar coupling constant of Mg 6 MnO 8 was confirmed using the RAPT pulse sequence. We further apply the same methodology to study the NMR spectra of spinel compounds MgV 2 O 4 and MgMn 2 O 4 , candidate cathode materials for Mg-ion batteries.

Can enzyme engineering benefit from the modulation of protein motions? Lessons learned from NMR relaxation dispersion experiments.

PubMed

Doucet, Nicolas

2011-04-01

Despite impressive progress in protein engineering and design, our ability to create new and efficient enzyme activities remains a laborious and time-consuming endeavor. In the past few years, intricate combinations of rational mutagenesis, directed evolution and computational methods have paved the way to exciting engineering examples and are now offering a new perspective on the structural requirements of enzyme activity. However, these structure-function analyses are usually guided by the time-averaged static models offered by enzyme crystal structures, which often fail to describe the functionally relevant 'invisible states' adopted by proteins in space and time. To alleviate such limitations, NMR relaxation dispersion experiments coupled to mutagenesis studies have recently been applied to the study of enzyme catalysis, effectively complementing 'structure-function' analyses with 'flexibility-function' investigations. In addition to offering quantitative, site-specific information to help characterize residue motion, these NMR methods are now being applied to enzyme engineering purposes, providing a powerful tool to help characterize the effects of controlling long-range networks of flexible residues affecting enzyme function. Recent advancements in this emerging field are presented here, with particular attention to mutagenesis reports highlighting the relevance of NMR relaxation dispersion tools in enzyme engineering.

Protein Structural Information Derived from NMR Chemical Shift with the Neural Network Program TALOS-N

PubMed Central

Shen, Yang; Bax, Ad

2015-01-01

Summary Chemical shifts are obtained at the first stage of any protein structural study by NMR spectroscopy. Chemical shifts are known to be impacted by a wide range of structural factors and the artificial neural network based TALOS-N program has been trained to extract backbone and sidechain torsion angles from 1H, 15N and 13C shifts. The program is quite robust, and typically yields backbone torsion angles for more than 90% of the residues, and sidechain χ1 rotamer information for about half of these, in addition to reliably predicting secondary structure. The use of TALOS-N is illustrated for the protein DinI, and torsion angles obtained by TALOS-N analysis from the measured chemical shifts of its backbone and 13Cβ nuclei are compared to those seen in a prior, experimentally determined structure. The program is also particularly useful for generating torsion angle restraints, which then can be used during standard NMR protein structure calculations. PMID:25502373

Structure of shock compressed model basaltic glass: Insights from O K-edge X-ray Raman scattering and high-resolution 27Al NMR spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Sung Keun; Park, Sun Young; Kim, Hyo-Im; Tschauner, Oliver; Asimow, Paul; Bai, Ligang; Xiao, Yuming; Chow, Paul

2012-03-01

The detailed atomic structures of shock compressed basaltic glasses are not well understood. Here, we explore the structures of shock compressed silicate glass with a diopside-anorthite eutectic composition (Di64An36), a common Fe-free model basaltic composition, using oxygen K-edge X-ray Raman scattering and high- resolution 27Al solid-state NMR spectroscopy and report previously unknown details of shock-induced changes in the atomic configurations. A topologically driven densification of the Di64An36 glass is indicated by the increase in oxygen K-edge energy for the glass upon shock compression. The first experimental evidence of the increase in the fraction of highly coordinated Al in shock compressed glass is found in the 27Al NMR spectra. This unambiguous evidence of shock-induced changes in Al coordination environments provides atomistic insights into shock compression in basaltic glasses and allows us to microscopically constrain the magnitude of impact events or relevant processes involving natural basalts on Earth and planetary surfaces.

Recent advances in the structure elucidation of small organic molecules by the LSD software.

PubMed

Plainchont, Bertrand; de Paulo Emerenciano, Vicente; Nuzillard, Jean-Marc

2013-08-01

The LSD software proposes the structures of small organic molecules that fit with structural constraints from 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. Its initial design introduced limits that needed to be eliminated to extend its scope and help its users choose the most likely structure among those proposed. The LSD software code has been improved, so that it recognizes a wider set of atom types to build molecules. More flexibility has been given in the interpretation of 2D NMR data, including the automatic detection of very long-range correlations. A program named pyLSD was written to deal with problems in which atom types are ambiguously defined. It also provides a (13)C NMR chemical shift-based solution ranking algorithm. PyLSD was able to propose the correct structure of hexacyclinol, a natural product whose structure determination has been highly controversal. The solution was ranked first within a list of ten structures that were produced by pyLSD from the literature NMR data. The structure of an aporphin natural product was determined by pyLSD, taking advantage of the possibility of handling electrically charged atoms. The structure generation of the insect antifeedant azadirachtin by LSD was reinvestigated by pyLSD, considering that three (13)C resonances did not lead to univocal hybridization states. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thermal behavior of epoxidized cardanol diethyl phosphate as novel renewable plasticizer for poly(vinyl chloride)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A novel plasticizer, epoxidized cardanol diethyl phosphate (ECEP), based on cardanol was synthesized. Chemical structure of ECEP was characterized by fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance(1H NMR) and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance(13C NMR) spectroscopy. Effects of ECEP sub...

Protein dielectric constants determined from NMR chemical shift perturbations.

PubMed

Kukic, Predrag; Farrell, Damien; McIntosh, Lawrence P; García-Moreno E, Bertrand; Jensen, Kristine Steen; Toleikis, Zigmantas; Teilum, Kaare; Nielsen, Jens Erik

2013-11-13

Understanding the connection between protein structure and function requires a quantitative understanding of electrostatic effects. Structure-based electrostatic calculations are essential for this purpose, but their use has been limited by a long-standing discussion on which value to use for the dielectric constants (ε(eff) and ε(p)) required in Coulombic and Poisson-Boltzmann models. The currently used values for ε(eff) and ε(p) are essentially empirical parameters calibrated against thermodynamic properties that are indirect measurements of protein electric fields. We determine optimal values for ε(eff) and ε(p) by measuring protein electric fields in solution using direct detection of NMR chemical shift perturbations (CSPs). We measured CSPs in 14 proteins to get a broad and general characterization of electric fields. Coulomb's law reproduces the measured CSPs optimally with a protein dielectric constant (ε(eff)) from 3 to 13, with an optimal value across all proteins of 6.5. However, when the water-protein interface is treated with finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann calculations, the optimal protein dielectric constant (ε(p)) ranged from 2 to 5 with an optimum of 3. It is striking how similar this value is to the dielectric constant of 2-4 measured for protein powders and how different it is from the ε(p) of 6-20 used in models based on the Poisson-Boltzmann equation when calculating thermodynamic parameters. Because the value of ε(p) = 3 is obtained by analysis of NMR chemical shift perturbations instead of thermodynamic parameters such as pK(a) values, it is likely to describe only the electric field and thus represent a more general, intrinsic, and transferable ε(p) common to most folded proteins.

Exploiting periodic first-principles calculations in NMR spectroscopy of disordered solids.

PubMed

Ashbrook, Sharon E; Dawson, Daniel M

2013-09-17

Much of the information contained within solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra remains unexploited because of the challenges in obtaining high-resolution spectra and the difficulty in assigning those spectra. Recent advances that enable researchers to accurately and efficiently determine NMR parameters in periodic systems have revolutionized the application of density functional theory (DFT) calculations in solid-state NMR spectroscopy. These advances are particularly useful for experimentalists. The use of first-principles calculations aids in both the interpretation and assignment of the complex spectral line shapes observed for solids. Furthermore, calculations provide a method for evaluating potential structural models against experimental data for materials with poorly characterized structures. Determining the structure of well-ordered, periodic crystalline solids can be straightforward using methods that exploit Bragg diffraction. However, the deviations from periodicity, such as compositional, positional, or temporal disorder, often produce the physical properties (such as ferroelectricity or ionic conductivity) that may be of commercial interest. With its sensitivity to the atomic-scale environment, NMR provides a potentially useful tool for studying disordered materials, and the combination of experiment with first-principles calculations offers a particularly attractive approach. In this Account, we discuss some of the issues associated with the practical implementation of first-principles calculations of NMR parameters in solids. We then use two key examples to illustrate the structural insights that researchers can obtain when applying such calculations to disordered inorganic materials. First, we describe an investigation of cation disorder in Y2Ti(2-x)Sn(x)O7 pyrochlore ceramics using (89)Y and (119)Sn NMR. Researchers have proposed that these materials could serve as host phases for the encapsulation of lanthanide- and actinide-bearing radioactive waste. In a second example, we discuss how (17)O NMR can be used to probe the dynamic disorder of H in hydroxyl-humite minerals (nMg2SiO4·Mg(OH)2), and how (19)F NMR can be used to understand F substitution in these systems. The combination of first-principles calculations and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy facilitates the investigation of local structure, disorder, and dynamics in solids. We expect that applications will undoubtedly become more widespread with further advances in computational and experimental methods. Insight into the atomic-scale environment is a crucial first step in understanding the structure-property relationships in solids, and it enables the efficient design of future materials for a range of end uses.

Untangle soil-water-mucilage interactions: 1H NMR Relaxometry is lifting the veil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brax, Mathilde; Buchmann, Christian; Schaumann, Gabriele Ellen

2017-04-01

Mucilage is mainly produced at the root tips and has a high water holding capacity derived from highly hydrophilic gel-forming substances. The objective of the MUCILAGE project is to understand the mechanistic role of mucilage for the regulation of water supply for plants. Our subproject investigates the chemical and physical properties of mucilage as pure gel and mixed with soil. 1H-NMR Relaxometry and PFG NMR represent non-intrusive powerful methods for soil scientific research by allowing quantification of the water distribution as well as monitoring of the water mobility in soil pores and gel phases.Relaxation of gel water differs from the one of pure water due to additional interactions with the gel matrix. Mucilage in soil leads to a hierarchical pore structure, consisting of the polymeric biohydrogel network surrounded by the surface of soil particles. The two types of relaxation rates 1/T1 and 1/T2 measured with 1H-NMR relaxometry refer to different relaxation mechanisms of water, while PFG-NMR measures the water self-diffusion coefficient. The objective of our study is to distinguish in situ water in gel from pore water in a simplified soil system, and to determine how the "gel effect" affects both relaxation rates and the water self-diffusion coefficient in porous systems. We demonstrate how the mucilage concentration and the soil solution alter the properties of water in the respective gel phases and pore systems in model soils. To distinguish gel-inherent processes from classical processes, we investigated the variations of the water mobility in pure chia mucilage under different conditions by using 1H-NMR relaxometry and PFG NMR. Using model soils, the signals coming from pore water and gel water were differentiated. We combined the equations describing 1H-NMR relaxation in porous systems and our experimental results, to explain how the presence of gel in soil affects 1H-NMR relaxation. Out of this knowledge we propose a method, which determines in situ the presence of mucilage in soil and characterizes several gel-specific parameters of the mucilage. Based on these findings, we discussed the potential and limitations of 1H-NMR relaxometry for following natural swelling and shrinking processes of a natural biopolymer in soil.

Energetically Unfavorable Amide Conformations for N6-Acetyllysine Side Chains in Refined Protein Structures

PubMed Central

Genshaft, Alexander; Moser, Joe-Ann S.; D'Antonio, Edward L.; Bowman, Christine M.; Christianson, David W.

2013-01-01

The reversible acetylation of lysine to form N6-acetyllysine in the regulation of protein function is a hallmark of epigenetics. Acetylation of the positively charged amino group of the lysine side chain generates a neutral N-alkylacetamide moiety that serves as a molecular “switch” for the modulation of protein function and protein-protein interactions. We now report the analysis of 381 N6-acetyllysine side chain amide conformations as found in 79 protein crystal structures and 11 protein NMR structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) of the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics. We find that only 74.3% of N6-acetyllysine residues in protein crystal structures and 46.5% in protein NMR structures contain amide groups with energetically preferred trans or generously trans conformations. Surprisingly, 17.6% of N6-acetyllysine residues in protein crystal structures and 5.3% in protein NMR structures contain amide groups with energetically unfavorable cis or generously cis conformations. Even more surprisingly, 8.1% of N6-acetyllysine residues in protein crystal structures and 48.2% in NMR structures contain amide groups with energetically prohibitive twisted conformations that approach the transition state structure for cis-trans isomerization. In contrast, 109 unique N-alkylacetamide groups contained in 84 highly-accurate small molecule crystal structures retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database exclusively adopt energetically preferred trans conformations. Therefore, we conclude that cis and twisted N6-acetyllysine amides in protein structures deposited in the PDB are erroneously modeled due to their energetically unfavorable or prohibitive conformations. PMID:23401043

DSSPcont: continuous secondary structure assignments for proteins

PubMed Central

Carter, Phil; Andersen, Claus A. F.; Rost, Burkhard

2003-01-01

The DSSP program automatically assigns the secondary structure for each residue from the three-dimensional co-ordinates of a protein structure to one of eight states. However, discrete assignments are incomplete in that they cannot capture the continuum of thermal fluctuations. Therefore, DSSPcont (http://cubic.bioc.columbia.edu/services/DSSPcont) introduces a continuous assignment of secondary structure that replaces ‘static’ by ‘dynamic’ states. Technically, the continuum results from calculating weighted averages over 10 discrete DSSP assignments with different hydrogen bond thresholds. A DSSPcont assignment for a particular residue is a percentage likelihood of eight secondary structure states, derived from a weighted average of the ten DSSP assignments. The continuous assignments have two important features: (i) they reflect the structural variations due to thermal fluctuations as detected by NMR spectroscopy; and (ii) they reproduce the structural variation between many NMR models from one single model. Therefore, functionally important variation can be extracted from a single X-ray structure using the continuous assignment procedure. PMID:12824310

Online low-field NMR spectroscopy for process control of an industrial lithiation reaction-automated data analysis.

PubMed

Kern, Simon; Meyer, Klas; Guhl, Svetlana; Gräßer, Patrick; Paul, Andrea; King, Rudibert; Maiwald, Michael

2018-05-01

Monitoring specific chemical properties is the key to chemical process control. Today, mainly optical online methods are applied, which require time- and cost-intensive calibration effort. NMR spectroscopy, with its advantage being a direct comparison method without need for calibration, has a high potential for enabling closed-loop process control while exhibiting short set-up times. Compact NMR instruments make NMR spectroscopy accessible in industrial and rough environments for process monitoring and advanced process control strategies. We present a fully automated data analysis approach which is completely based on physically motivated spectral models as first principles information (indirect hard modeling-IHM) and applied it to a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction in the framework of the European Union's Horizon 2020 project CONSENS. Online low-field NMR (LF NMR) data was analyzed by IHM with low calibration effort, compared to a multivariate PLS-R (partial least squares regression) approach, and both validated using online high-field NMR (HF NMR) spectroscopy. Graphical abstract NMR sensor module for monitoring of the aromatic coupling of 1-fluoro-2-nitrobenzene (FNB) with aniline to 2-nitrodiphenylamine (NDPA) using lithium-bis(trimethylsilyl) amide (Li-HMDS) in continuous operation. Online 43.5 MHz low-field NMR (LF) was compared to 500 MHz high-field NMR spectroscopy (HF) as reference method.

Crankshaft motion in a highly congested bis(triarylmethyl)peroxide.

PubMed

Khuong, Tinh-Alfredo V; Zepeda, Gerardo; Sanrame, Carlos N; Dang, Hung; Bartberger, Michael D; Houk, K N; Garcia-Garibay, Miguel A

2004-11-17

Crankshaft motion has been proposed in the solid state for molecular fragments consisting of three or more rotors linked by single bonds, whereby the two terminal rotors are static and the internal rotors experience circular motion. Bis-[tri-(3,5-di-tert-butyl)phenylmethyl]-peroxide 2 was tested as a model in search of crankshaft motion at the molecular level. In the case of peroxide 2, the bulky trityl groups may be viewed as the external static rotors, while the two peroxide oxygens can undergo the sought after internal rotation. Evidence for this process in the case of peroxide 2 was obtained from conformational dynamics determined by variable-temperature (13)C and (1)H NMR between 190 and 375 K in toluene-d(8). Detailed spectral assignments for the interpretation of two coalescence processes were based on a correlation between NMR spectra obtained in solution at low temperature, in the solid state by (13)C CPMAS NMR, and by GIAO calculations based on a B3LYP/6-31G structure of 2 obtained from its X-ray coordinates as the input. Evidence supporting crankshaft rotation rather than slippage of the trityl groups was obtained from molecular mechanics calculations.

Combined NMR and molecular dynamics modeling study of transport properties in sulfonamide based deep eutectic lithium electrolytes: LiTFSI based binary systems.

PubMed

Pauric, Allen D; Halalay, Ion C; Goward, Gillian R

2016-03-07

The trend toward Li-ion batteries operating at increased (>4.3 V vs. Li/Li(+)) voltages requires the development of novel classes of lithium electrolytes with electrochemical stability windows exceeding those of LiPF6/carbonate electrolyte solutions. Several new classes of electrolytes have been synthesized and investigated over the past decade, in the search for LIB electrolytes with improved properties (increased hydrolytic stability, improved thermal abuse tolerance, higher oxidation voltages, etc.) compared with the present state-of-the-art LiPF6 and organic carbonates-based formulations. Among these are deep eutectic electrolytes (DEEs), which share many beneficial characteristics with ionic liquids, such as low vapor pressure and large electrochemical stability windows, with the added advantage of a significantly higher lithium transference number. The present work presents the pulsed field gradient NMR characterization of the transport properties (diffusion coefficients and cation transport numbers) of binary DEEs consisting of a sulfonamide solvent and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide salt. Insights into the structural and dynamical properties, which enable one to rationalize the observed ionic conductivity behavior were obtained from a combination of NMR data and MD simulations. The insights thus gained should assist the formulation of novel DEEs with improved properties for LIB applications.

Monitoring Metabolite Profiles of Cannabis sativa L. Trichomes during Flowering Period Using 1H NMR-Based Metabolomics and Real-Time PCR.

PubMed

Happyana, Nizar; Kayser, Oliver

2016-08-01

Cannabis sativa trichomes are glandular structures predominantly responsible for the biosynthesis of cannabinoids, the biologically active compounds unique to this plant. To the best of our knowledge, most metabolomic works on C. sativa that have been reported previously focused their investigations on the flowers and leaves of this plant. In this study, (1)H NMR-based metabolomics and real-time PCR analysis were applied for monitoring the metabolite profiles of C. sativa trichomes, variety Bediol, during the last 4 weeks of the flowering period. Partial least squares discriminant analysis models successfully classified metabolites of the trichomes based on the harvest time. Δ (9)-Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (1) and cannabidiolic acid (2) constituted the vital differential components of the organic preparations, while asparagine, glutamine, fructose, and glucose proved to be their water-extracted counterparts. According to RT-PCR analysis, gene expression levels of olivetol synthase and olivetolic acid cyclase influenced the accumulation of cannabinoids in the Cannabis trichomes during the monitoring time. Moreover, quantitative (1)H NMR and RT-PCR analysis of the Cannabis trichomes suggested that the gene regulation of cannabinoid biosynthesis in the C. sativa variety Bediol is unique when compared with other C. sativa varieties. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

On the use of atomistic simulations to aid bulk metallic glasses structural elucidation with solid-state NMR.

PubMed

Ferreira, Ary R; Rino, José P

2017-08-24

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) experimental 27 Al metallic shifts reported in the literature for bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) were revisited in the light of state-of-the-art atomistic simulations. In a consistent way, the Gauge-Including Projector Augmented-Wave (GIPAW) method was applied in conjunction with classical molecular dynamics (CMD). A series of Zr-Cu-Al alloys with low Al concentrations were selected as case study systems, for which realistic CMD derived structural models were used for a short- and medium-range order mining. That initial procedure allowed the detection of trends describing changes on the microstructure of the material upon Al alloying, which in turn were used to guide GIPAW calculations with a set of abstract systems in the context of ssNMR. With essential precision and accuracy, the ab initio simulations also yielded valuable trends from the electronic structure point of view, which enabled an overview of the bonding nature of Al-centered clusters as well as its influence on the experimental ssNMR outcomes. The approach described in this work might promote the use of ssNMR spectroscopy in research on glassy metals. Moreover, the results presented demonstrate the possibility to expand the applications of this technique, with deeper insight into nuclear interactions and less speculative assignments.

PONDEROSA-C/S: client-server based software package for automated protein 3D structure determination.

PubMed

Lee, Woonghee; Stark, Jaime L; Markley, John L

2014-11-01

Peak-picking Of Noe Data Enabled by Restriction Of Shift Assignments-Client Server (PONDEROSA-C/S) builds on the original PONDEROSA software (Lee et al. in Bioinformatics 27:1727-1728. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btr200, 2011) and includes improved features for structure calculation and refinement. PONDEROSA-C/S consists of three programs: Ponderosa Server, Ponderosa Client, and Ponderosa Analyzer. PONDEROSA-C/S takes as input the protein sequence, a list of assigned chemical shifts, and nuclear Overhauser data sets ((13)C- and/or (15)N-NOESY). The output is a set of assigned NOEs and 3D structural models for the protein. Ponderosa Analyzer supports the visualization, validation, and refinement of the results from Ponderosa Server. These tools enable semi-automated NMR-based structure determination of proteins in a rapid and robust fashion. We present examples showing the use of PONDEROSA-C/S in solving structures of four proteins: two that enable comparison with the original PONDEROSA package, and two from the Critical Assessment of automated Structure Determination by NMR (Rosato et al. in Nat Methods 6:625-626. doi: 10.1038/nmeth0909-625 , 2009) competition. The software package can be downloaded freely in binary format from http://pine.nmrfam.wisc.edu/download_packages.html. Registered users of the National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison can submit jobs to the PONDEROSA-C/S server at http://ponderosa.nmrfam.wisc.edu, where instructions, tutorials, and instructions can be found. Structures are normally returned within 1-2 days.

Citrate bridges between mineral platelets in bone

PubMed Central

Davies, Erika; Müller, Karin H.; Wong, Wai Ching; Pickard, Chris J.; Reid, David G.; Skepper, Jeremy N.; Duer, Melinda J.

2014-01-01

We provide evidence that citrate anions bridge between mineral platelets in bone and hypothesize that their presence acts to maintain separate platelets with disordered regions between them rather than gradual transformations into larger, more ordered blocks of mineral. To assess this hypothesis, we take as a model for a citrate bridging between layers of calcium phosphate mineral a double salt octacalcium phosphate citrate (OCP-citrate). We use a combination of multinuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and first principles electronic structure calculations to propose a quantitative structure for this material, in which citrate anions reside in a hydrated layer, bridging between apatitic layers. To assess the relevance of such a structure in native bone mineral, we present for the first time, to our knowledge, 17O NMR data on bone and compare them with 17O NMR data for OCP-citrate and other calcium phosphate minerals relevant to bone. The proposed structural model that we deduce from this work for bone mineral is a layered structure with thin apatitic platelets sandwiched between OCP-citrate–like hydrated layers. Such a structure can explain a number of known structural features of bone mineral: the thin, plate-like morphology of mature bone mineral crystals, the presence of significant quantities of strongly bound water molecules, and the relatively high concentration of hydrogen phosphate as well as the maintenance of a disordered region between mineral platelets. PMID:24706850

Dynamics of biomolecules, ligand binding & biological functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Myunggi

Proteins are flexible and dynamic. One static structure alone does not often completely explain biological functions of the protein, and some proteins do not even have high resolution structures. In order to provide better understanding to the biological functions of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, Diphtheria toxin repressor and M2 proton channel, the dynamics of these proteins are investigated using molecular modeling and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. With absence of high resolution structure of alpha7 receptor, the homology models of apo and cobra toxin bound forms have been built. From the MD simulations of these model structures, we observed one subunit of apo simulation moved away from other four subunits. With local movement of flexible loop regions, the whole subunit tilted clockwise. These conformational changes occurred spontaneously, and were strongly correlated with the conformational change when the channel is activated by agonists. Unlike other computational studies, we directly compared our model of open conformation with the experimental data. However, the subunits of toxin bound form were stable, and conformational change is restricted by the bound cobra toxin. These results provide activation and inhibition mechanisms of alpha7 receptors and a possible explanation for intermediate conductance of the channel. Intramolecular complex of SH3-like domain with a proline-rich (Pr) peptide segment in Diphtheria toxin repressor (DtxR) is stabilized in inactive state. Upon activation of DtxR by transition metal binding, this intramolecular complex should be dissociated. The dynamics of this intramolecular complex is investigated using MD simulations and NMR spectroscopy. We observed spontaneous opening and closing motions of the Pr segment binding pockets in both Pr-SH3 and SH3 simulations. The MD simulation results and NMR relaxation data suggest that the Pr segment exhibits a binding ↔ unbinding equilibrium. Despite a wealth of experimental validation of Gouy-Chapman (GC) theory to charged lipid membranes, a test of GC theory by MD simulations has been elusive. Here we demonstrate that the ion distributions at different salt concentrations in anionic lipid bilayer systems agree well with GC predictions using MD simulations. Na+ ions are adsorbed to the bilayer through favorable interactions with carbonyls and hydroxyls, reducing the surface charge density by 72.5%. The interactions of amantadine, an antiinfluenza A drug, with DMPC bilayers are investigated by an MD simulation and by solid-state NMR. The MD simulation results and NMR data demonstrate that amantadine is located within the interfacial region with upward orientation and interacts with the lipid headgroup and glycerol backbone, while the adamantane group of amantadine interacts with the glycerol backbone and much of fatty acyl chain, as it wraps underneath of the drug. The lipid headgroup orientation is influenced by the drug as well. The recent prevalence of amantadine-resistant mutants makes a development of new drug urgent. The mechanism of inhibition of M2 proton channel in influenza virus A by amantadine is investigated. In the absence of high resolution structure, we model the apo and drug bound forms based on NMR structures. MD simulations demonstrate that channel pore is blocked by a primary gate formed by Trp41 helped by His37 and a secondary gate formed by Val27. The blockage by the secondary gate is extended by the drug bound just below the gate, resulting in a broken water wire throughout the simulation, suggesting a novel role of Val27 in the inhibition by amantadine. Recent X-ray structure validates the simulation results.

1H NMR study of the effect of variable ligand on heme oxygenase electronic and molecular structure

PubMed Central

Ma, Li-Hua; Liu, Yangzhong; Zhang, Xuhong; Yoshida, Tadashi; La Mar, Gerd N.

2009-01-01

Heme oxygenase carries out stereospecific catabolism of protohemin to yield iron, CO and biliverdin. Instability of the physiological oxy complex has necessitated the use of model ligands, of which cyanide and azide are amenable to solution NMR characterization. Since cyanide and azide are contrasting models for bound oxygen, it is of interest to characterize differences in their molecular and/or electronic structures. We report on detailed 2D NMR comparison of the azide and cyanide substrate complexes of heme oxygenase from Neisseria meningitidis, which reveals significant and widespread differences in chemical shifts between the two complexes. To differentiate molecular from electronic structural changes between the two complexes, the anisotropy and orientation of the paramagnetic susceptibility tensor were determined for the azide complex for comparison with those for the cyanide complex. Comparison of the predicted and observed dipolar shifts reveals that shift differences are strongly dominated by differences in electronic structure and do not provide any evidence for detectable differences in molecular structure or hydrogen bonding except in the immediate vicinity of the distal ligand. The readily cleaved C-terminus interacts with the active site and saturation-transfer allows difficult heme assignments in the high-spin aquo complex. PMID:18976815

Identification of natural metabolites in mixture: a pattern recognition strategy based on (13)C NMR.

PubMed

Hubert, Jane; Nuzillard, Jean-Marc; Purson, Sylvain; Hamzaoui, Mahmoud; Borie, Nicolas; Reynaud, Romain; Renault, Jean-Hugues

2014-03-18

Because of their highly complex metabolite profile, the chemical characterization of bioactive natural extracts usually requires time-consuming multistep purification procedures to achieve the structural elucidation of pure individual metabolites. The aim of the present work was to develop a dereplication strategy for the identification of natural metabolites directly within mixtures. Exploiting the polarity range of metabolites, the principle was to rapidly fractionate a multigram quantity of a crude extract by centrifugal partition extraction (CPE). The obtained fractions of simplified chemical composition were subsequently analyzed by (13)C NMR. After automatic collection and alignment of (13)C signals across spectra, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) was performed for pattern recognition. As a result, strong correlations between (13)C signals of a single structure within the mixtures of the fraction series were visualized as chemical shift clusters. Each cluster was finally assigned to a molecular structure with the help of a locally built (13)C NMR chemical shift database. The proof of principle of this strategy was achieved on a simple model mixture of commercially available plant secondary metabolites and then applied to a bark extract of the African tree Anogeissus leiocarpus Guill. & Perr. (Combretaceae). Starting from 5 g of this genuine extract, the fraction series was generated by CPE in only 95 min. (13)C NMR analyses of all fractions followed by pattern recognition of (13)C chemical shifts resulted in the unambiguous identification of seven major compounds, namely, sericoside, trachelosperogenin E, ellagic acid, an epimer mixture of (+)-gallocatechin and (-)-epigallocatechin, 3,3'-di-O-methylellagic acid 4'-O-xylopyranoside, and 3,4,3'-tri-O-methylflavellagic acid 4'-O-glucopyranoside.

Hyperpolarized 13C NMR lifetimes in the liquid-state: relating structures and T1 relaxation times

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parish, Christopher; Niedbalski, Peter; Hashami, Zohreh; Fidelino, Leila; Kovacs, Zoltan; Lumata, Lloyd

Among the various attempts to solve the insensitivity problem in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the physics-based technique dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is probably the most successful method of hyperpolarization or amplifying NMR signals. Using this technique, liquid-state NMR signal enhancements of several thousand-fold are expected for low-gamma nuclei such as carbon-13. The lifetimes of these hyperpolarized 13C NMR signals are directly related to their 13C spin-lattice relaxation times T1. Depending upon the 13C isotopic location, the lifetimes of hyperpolarized 13C compounds can range from a few seconds to minutes. In this study, we have investigated the hyperpolarized 13C NMR lifetimes of several 13C compounds with various chemical structures from glucose, acetate, citric acid, naphthalene to tetramethylallene and their deuterated analogs at 9.4 T and 25 deg C. Our results show that the 13C T1s of these compounds can range from a few seconds to more than 60 s at this field. Correlations between the chemical structures and T1 relaxation times will be discussed and corresponding implications of these results on 13C DNP experiments will be revealed. US Dept of Defense Award No. W81XWH-14-1-0048 and Robert A. Welch Foundation Grant No. AT-1877.

High quality NMR structures: a new force field with implicit water and membrane solvation for Xplor-NIH.

PubMed

Tian, Ye; Schwieters, Charles D; Opella, Stanley J; Marassi, Francesca M

2017-01-01

Structure determination of proteins by NMR is unique in its ability to measure restraints, very accurately, in environments and under conditions that closely mimic those encountered in vivo. For example, advances in solid-state NMR methods enable structure determination of membrane proteins in detergent-free lipid bilayers, and of large soluble proteins prepared by sedimentation, while parallel advances in solution NMR methods and optimization of detergent-free lipid nanodiscs are rapidly pushing the envelope of the size limit for both soluble and membrane proteins. These experimental advantages, however, are partially squandered during structure calculation, because the commonly used force fields are purely repulsive and neglect solvation, Van der Waals forces and electrostatic energy. Here we describe a new force field, and updated energy functions, for protein structure calculations with EEFx implicit solvation, electrostatics, and Van der Waals Lennard-Jones forces, in the widely used program Xplor-NIH. The new force field is based primarily on CHARMM22, facilitating calculations with a wider range of biomolecules. The new EEFx energy function has been rewritten to enable OpenMP parallelism, and optimized to enhance computation efficiency. It implements solvation, electrostatics, and Van der Waals energy terms together, thus ensuring more consistent and efficient computation of the complete nonbonded energy lists. Updates in the related python module allow detailed analysis of the interaction energies and associated parameters. The new force field and energy function work with both soluble proteins and membrane proteins, including those with cofactors or engineered tags, and are very effective in situations where there are sparse experimental restraints. Results obtained for NMR-restrained calculations with a set of five soluble proteins and five membrane proteins show that structures calculated with EEFx have significant improvements in accuracy, precision, and conformation, and that structure refinement can be obtained by short relaxation with EEFx to obtain improvements in these key metrics. These developments broaden the range of biomolecular structures that can be calculated with high fidelity from NMR restraints.

Design, synthesis, structural characterization by IR, (1) H, (13) C, (15) N, 2D-NMR, X-ray diffraction and evaluation of a new class of phenylaminoacetic acid benzylidene hydrazines as pfENR inhibitors.

PubMed

Samal, Ramanuj P; Khedkar, Vijay M; Pissurlenkar, Raghuvir R S; Bwalya, Angela Gono; Tasdemir, Deniz; Joshi, Ramesh A; Rajamohanan, P R; Puranik, Vedavati G; Coutinho, Evans C

2013-06-01

Recent studies have revealed that plasmodial enoyl-ACP reductase (pfENR, FabI), one of the crucial enzymes in the plasmodial type II fatty acid synthesis II (FAS II) pathway, is a promising target for liver stage malaria infections. Hence, pfENR inhibitors have the potential to be used as causal malarial prophylactic agents. In this study, we report the design, synthesis, structural characterization and evaluation of a new class of pfENR inhibitors. The search for inhibitors began with a virtual screen of the iResearch database by molecular docking. Hits obtained from the virtual screen were ranked according to their Glide score. One hit was selected as a lead and modified to improve its binding to pfENR; from this, a series of phenylamino acetic acid benzylidene hydrazides were designed and synthesized. These molecules were thoroughly characterized by IR, (1) H, (13) C, (15) N, 2D-NMR (COSY, NOESY, (1) H-(13) C, (1) H-(15) N HSQC and HMBC), and X-ray diffraction. NMR studies revealed the existence of conformational/configurational isomers around the amide and imine functionalities. The major species in DMSO solution is the E, E form, which is in dynamic equilibrium with the Z, E isomer. In the solid state, the molecule has a completely extended conformation and forms helical structures that are stabilized by strong hydrogen bond interactions, forming a helical structure stabilized by N-H…O interactions, a feature unique to this class of compounds. Furthermore, detailed investigation of the NMR spectra indicated the presence of a minor impurity in most compounds. The structure of this impurity was deduced as an imidazoline-4-one derivative based on (1) H-(13) C and (1) H-(15) H HMBC spectra and was confirmed from the NOESY spectra. The molecules were screened for in vitro activity against recombinant pfENR enzyme by a spectrophotometric assay. Four molecules, viz. 17, 7, 10, and 12 were found to be active at 7, 8, 10, and 12 μm concentration, respectively, showing promising pfENR inhibitory potential. A classification model was derived based on a binary QSAR approach termed recursive partitioning (RP) to highlight structural characteristics that could be tuned to improve activity. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

A semi-supervised learning approach for RNA secondary structure prediction.

PubMed

Yonemoto, Haruka; Asai, Kiyoshi; Hamada, Michiaki

2015-08-01

RNA secondary structure prediction is a key technology in RNA bioinformatics. Most algorithms for RNA secondary structure prediction use probabilistic models, in which the model parameters are trained with reliable RNA secondary structures. Because of the difficulty of determining RNA secondary structures by experimental procedures, such as NMR or X-ray crystal structural analyses, there are still many RNA sequences that could be useful for training whose secondary structures have not been experimentally determined. In this paper, we introduce a novel semi-supervised learning approach for training parameters in a probabilistic model of RNA secondary structures in which we employ not only RNA sequences with annotated secondary structures but also ones with unknown secondary structures. Our model is based on a hybrid of generative (stochastic context-free grammars) and discriminative models (conditional random fields) that has been successfully applied to natural language processing. Computational experiments indicate that the accuracy of secondary structure prediction is improved by incorporating RNA sequences with unknown secondary structures into training. To our knowledge, this is the first study of a semi-supervised learning approach for RNA secondary structure prediction. This technique will be useful when the number of reliable structures is limited. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A systematic search method for the identification of tightly packed transmembrane parallel alpha-helices.

PubMed

Akula, Nagaraju; Pattabiraman, Nagarajan

2005-06-01

Membrane proteins play a major role in number of biological processes such as signaling pathways. The determination of the three-dimensional structure of these proteins is increasingly important for our understanding of their structure-function relationships. Due to the difficulty in isolating membrane proteins for X-ray diffraction studies, computational techniques are being developed to generate the 3D structures of TM domains. Here, we present a systematic search method for the identification of energetically favorable and tightly packed transmembrane parallel alpha-helices. The first step in our systematic search method is the generation of 3D models for pairs of parallel helix bundles with all possible orientations followed by an energy-based filter to eliminate structures with severe non-bonded contacts. Then, a RMS-based filter was used to cluster these structures into families. Furthermore, these dimers were energy minimized using molecular mechanics force field. Finally, we identified the tightly packed parallel alpha-helices by using an interface surface area. To validate our search method, we compared our predicted GlycophorinA dimer structures with the reported NMR structures. With our search method, we are able to reproduce NMR structures of GPA with 0.9A RMSD. In addition, by considering the reported mutational data on GxxxG motif interactions, twenty percent of our predicted dimers are within in the 2.0A RMSD. The dimers obtained from our method were used to generate parallel trimeric and tetramer TM structures of GPA and found that the structure of GPA might exist only in a dimer form as reported earlier.

The effects of rigid motions on elastic network model force constants.

PubMed

Lezon, Timothy R

2012-04-01

Elastic network models provide an efficient way to quickly calculate protein global dynamics from experimentally determined structures. The model's single parameter, its force constant, determines the physical extent of equilibrium fluctuations. The values of force constants can be calculated by fitting to experimental data, but the results depend on the type of experimental data used. Here, we investigate the differences between calculated values of force constants and data from NMR and X-ray structures. We find that X-ray B factors carry the signature of rigid-body motions, to the extent that B factors can be almost entirely accounted for by rigid motions alone. When fitting to more refined anisotropic temperature factors, the contributions of rigid motions are significantly reduced, indicating that the large contribution of rigid motions to B factors is a result of over-fitting. No correlation is found between force constants fit to NMR data and those fit to X-ray data, possibly due to the inability of NMR data to accurately capture protein dynamics. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reduced native state stability in crowded cellular environment due to protein-protein interactions.

PubMed

Harada, Ryuhei; Tochio, Naoya; Kigawa, Takanori; Sugita, Yuji; Feig, Michael

2013-03-06

The effect of cellular crowding environments on protein structure and stability is a key issue in molecular and cellular biology. The classical view of crowding emphasizes the volume exclusion effect that generally favors compact, native states. Here, results from molecular dynamics simulations and NMR experiments show that protein crowders may destabilize native states via protein-protein interactions. In the model system considered here, mixtures of villin head piece and protein G at high concentrations, villin structures become increasingly destabilized upon increasing crowder concentrations. The denatured states observed in the simulation involve partial unfolding as well as more subtle conformational shifts. The unfolded states remain overall compact and only partially overlap with unfolded ensembles at high temperature and in the presence of urea. NMR measurements on the same systems confirm structural changes upon crowding based on changes of chemical shifts relative to dilute conditions. An analysis of protein-protein interactions and energetic aspects suggests the importance of enthalpic and solvation contributions to the crowding free energies that challenge an entropic-centered view of crowding effects.

Study on structural and spectral properties of isobavachalcone and 4-hydroxyderricin by computational method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rong, Yuzhi; Wu, Jinhong; Liu, Xing; Zhao, Bo; Wang, Zhengwu

Isobavachalcone and 4-hydroxyderricin, two major chalcone constituents isolated from the roots of Angelica keiskei KOIDZUMI, exhibit numerous biological activities. Quantum chemical methods have been employed to investigate their structural and spectral properties. The ground state structures were optimized using density functional B3LYP method with 6-311G (d, p) basis set in both gas and solvent phases. Based on the optimized geometries, the harmonic vibrational frequency, the 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift using the GIAO method were calculated at the same level of theory, with the aim of verifying the experimental values. Results reveal that B3LYP has been a good method to study their vibrational spectroscopic and NMR spectral properties of the two chalcones. The electronic absorption spectra were calculated using the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. The solvent polarity effects were considered and calculated using the polarizable continuum model (PCM). Results also show that substitutions of different electron donating groups can alter the absorption properties and shift the spectra to a higher wavelength region.

Solution structure of the c-terminal dimerization domain of SARS coronavirus nucleocapsid protein solved by the SAIL-NMR method.

PubMed

Takeda, Mitsuhiro; Chang, Chung-ke; Ikeya, Teppei; Güntert, Peter; Chang, Yuan-hsiang; Hsu, Yen-lan; Huang, Tai-huang; Kainosho, Masatsune

2008-07-18

The C-terminal domain (CTD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) nucleocapsid protein (NP) contains a potential RNA-binding region in its N-terminal portion and also serves as a dimerization domain by forming a homodimer with a molecular mass of 28 kDa. So far, the structure determination of the SARS-CoV NP CTD in solution has been impeded by the poor quality of NMR spectra, especially for aromatic resonances. We have recently developed the stereo-array isotope labeling (SAIL) method to overcome the size problem of NMR structure determination by utilizing a protein exclusively composed of stereo- and regio-specifically isotope-labeled amino acids. Here, we employed the SAIL method to determine the high-quality solution structure of the SARS-CoV NP CTD by NMR. The SAIL protein yielded less crowded and better resolved spectra than uniform (13)C and (15)N labeling, and enabled the homodimeric solution structure of this protein to be determined. The NMR structure is almost identical with the previously solved crystal structure, except for a disordered putative RNA-binding domain at the N-terminus. Studies of the chemical shift perturbations caused by the binding of single-stranded DNA and mutational analyses have identified the disordered region at the N-termini as the prime site for nucleic acid binding. In addition, residues in the beta-sheet region also showed significant perturbations. Mapping of the locations of these residues onto the helical model observed in the crystal revealed that these two regions are parts of the interior lining of the positively charged helical groove, supporting the hypothesis that the helical oligomer may form in solution.

Time-reversal-based SU(2) x Sn scalar invariants as (Lie Algebraic) group measures: a structured overview of generalised democratic-recoupled, uniform non-Abelian [AX]n NMR spin systems, as abstract [Formula: see text] chain networks.

PubMed

Temme, F P

2004-03-01

The physics of dual group scalar invariants (SIs) as (Lie algebraic) group measures (L-GMs) and its significance to non-Abelian NMR spin systems motivates this overview of uniform general-2n [AX](2n) spin evolution, which represents an extensive addendum to Corio's earlier (essentially restricted) view of Abelian spin system SU(2)-based SI-cardinalities. The [Formula: see text] values in [J. Magn. Reson., 134 (1998) 131] arise from strictly linear recoupled time-reversal invariance (TRI) models. In contrast, here we discuss the physical significance of an alternative polyhedral combinatorics approach to democratic recoupling (DR), a property inherent in both the TRI and statistical sampling. Recognition of spin ensemble SIs as being L-GMs over isomorphic algebras is invaluable in many DR-based NMR problems. Various [AX]n model spin systems, including the [AX]3 bis odd-odd parity spin system, are examined as direct applications of these L-GM- and combinatorial-based SI ideas. Hence in place of /SI/=15 (implied by Corio's [Formula: see text] approach), the bis 3-fold spin system cardinality is seen now as constrained to a single invariant on an isomorphic product algebra under L-GMs, in accord with the subspectral analysis of Jones et al. [Canad. J. Chem., 43 (1965) 683]. The group projective ideas cited here for DR (as cf. to graph theoretic views) apply to highly degenerate non-Abelian problems. Over dual tensorial bases, they define models of spin dynamical evolution whose (SR) quasiparticle superboson carrier (sub)spaces are characterised by SIs acting as explicit auxiliary labels [Physica, A198 (1993) 245; J. Math. Chem., 31 (2002) 281]. A deeper [Formula: see text] network-based view of spin-alone space developed in Balasubramanian's work [J. Chem. Phys., 78 (1983) 6358] is especially important, (e.g.) in the study of spin waves [J. Math. Chem., 31 (2002) 363]. Beyond the specific NMR SIs derived here, there are DR applications where a sporadic, still higher, 2n-fold regular uniform spin ensemble exhibits a topological FG duality to some known modest /SI/(2i<2n) cardinality--in principle providing for the (sparce) existence of other /SI/(2n) DR-based values.

Distinguishing tautomerism in the crystal structure of (Z)-N-(5-ethyl-2,3-di-hydro-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-ylidene) -4-methylbenzenesulfonamide using DFT-D calculations and {sup 13}C solid-state NMR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Xiaozhou; Bond, Andrew D.; Johansson, Kristoffer E.

2014-08-01

The crystal structure of (Z)-N-(5-ethyl-2,3-di-hydro-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-ylidene) -4-methylbenzenesulfonamide contains an imine tautomer, rather than the previously reported amine tautomer. The tautomers can be distinguished using dispersion-corrected density functional theory calculations and by comparison of calculated and measured {sup 13}C solid-state NMR spectra. The crystal structure of the title compound, C{sub 11}H{sub 13}N{sub 3}O{sub 2}S{sub 2}, has been determined previously on the basis of refinement against laboratory powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data, supported by comparison of measured and calculated {sup 13}C solid-state NMR spectra [Hangan et al. (2010 ▶). Acta Cryst. B66, 615–621]. The mol@@ecule is tautomeric, and was reported as an aminemore » tautomer [systematic name: N-(5-ethyl-1,3,4-thia@@diazol-2-yl)-p-toluene@@sulfonamide], rather than the correct imine tautomer. The protonation site on the mol@@ecule’s 1,3,4-thia@@diazole ring is indicated by the inter@@molecular contacts in the crystal structure: N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are established at the correct site, while the alternative protonation site does not establish any notable inter molecular inter@@actions. The two tautomers provide essentially identical Rietveld fits to laboratory PXRD data, and therefore they cannot be directly distinguished in this way. However, the correct tautomer can be distinguished from the incorrect one by previously reported qu@@anti@@tative criteria based on the extent of structural distortion on optimization of the crystal structure using dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D) calculations. Calculation of the {sup 13}C SS-NMR spectrum based on the correct imine tautomer also provides considerably better agreement with the measured {sup 13}C SS-NMR spectrum.« less

A simple and highly selective 2,2-diferrocenylpropane-based multi-channel ion pair receptor for Pb(2+) and HSO4(-).

PubMed

Wan, Qian; Zhuo, Ji-Bin; Wang, Xiao-Xue; Lin, Cai-Xia; Yuan, Yao-Feng

2015-03-28

A structurally simple, 2,2-diferrocenylpropane-based ion pair receptor 1 was synthesized and characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, HRMS, elemental analyses, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The ion pair receptor 1 showed excellent selectivity and sensitivity towards Pb(2+) with multi-channel responses: a fluorescence enhancement (more than 42-fold), a notable color change from yellow to red, redox anodic shift (ΔE1/2 = 151 mV), while HSO4(-) promoted fluorescence enhancement when Pb(2+) or Zn(2+) was bonded to the cation binding-site. (1)H NMR titration and density functional theory were performed to reveal the sensing mechanism based on photo-induced electron transfer (PET).

Integrated description of protein dynamics from room-temperature X-ray crystallography and NMR

PubMed Central

Fenwick, R. Bryn; van den Bedem, Henry; Fraser, James S.; Wright, Peter E.

2014-01-01

Detailed descriptions of atomic coordinates and motions are required for an understanding of protein dynamics and their relation to molecular recognition, catalytic function, and allostery. Historically, NMR relaxation measurements have played a dominant role in the determination of the amplitudes and timescales (picosecond–nanosecond) of bond vector fluctuations, whereas high-resolution X-ray diffraction experiments can reveal the presence of and provide atomic coordinates for multiple, weakly populated substates in the protein conformational ensemble. Here we report a hybrid NMR and X-ray crystallography analysis that provides a more complete dynamic picture and a more quantitative description of the timescale and amplitude of fluctuations in atomic coordinates than is obtainable from the individual methods alone. Order parameters (S2) were calculated from single-conformer and multiconformer models fitted to room temperature and cryogenic X-ray diffraction data for dihydrofolate reductase. Backbone and side-chain order parameters derived from NMR relaxation experiments are in excellent agreement with those calculated from the room-temperature single-conformer and multiconformer models, showing that the picosecond timescale motions observed in solution occur also in the crystalline state. These motions are quenched in the crystal at cryogenic temperatures. The combination of NMR and X-ray crystallography in iterative refinement promises to provide an atomic resolution description of the alternate conformational substates that are sampled through picosecond to nanosecond timescale fluctuations of the protein structure. The method also provides insights into the structural heterogeneity of nonmethyl side chains, aromatic residues, and ligands, which are less commonly analyzed by NMR relaxation measurements. PMID:24474795

Parser Combinators: a Practical Application for Generating Parsers for NMR Data

PubMed Central

Fenwick, Matthew; Weatherby, Gerard; Ellis, Heidi JC; Gryk, Michael R.

2013-01-01

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a technique for acquiring protein data at atomic resolution and determining the three-dimensional structure of large protein molecules. A typical structure determination process results in the deposition of a large data sets to the BMRB (Bio-Magnetic Resonance Data Bank). This data is stored and shared in a file format called NMR-Star. This format is syntactically and semantically complex making it challenging to parse. Nevertheless, parsing these files is crucial to applying the vast amounts of biological information stored in NMR-Star files, allowing researchers to harness the results of previous studies to direct and validate future work. One powerful approach for parsing files is to apply a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) grammar, which is a high-level model of a file format. Translation of the grammatical model to an executable parser may be automatically accomplished. This paper will show how we applied a model BNF grammar of the NMR-Star format to create a free, open-source parser, using a method that originated in the functional programming world known as “parser combinators”. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of a principled approach to file specification and parsing. This paper also builds upon our previous work [1], in that 1) it applies concepts from Functional Programming (which is relevant even though the implementation language, Java, is more mainstream than Functional Programming), and 2) all work and accomplishments from this project will be made available under standard open source licenses to provide the community with the opportunity to learn from our techniques and methods. PMID:24352525

Investigation into adamantane-based M2 inhibitors with FB-QSAR.

PubMed

Wei, Hang; Wang, Cheng-Hua; Du, Qi-Shi; Meng, Jianzong; Chou, Kuo-Chen

2009-07-01

Because of their high resistance rate to the existing drugs, influenza A viruses have become a threat to human beings. It is known that the replication of influenza A viruses needs a pH-gated proton channel, the so-called M2 channel. Therefore, to develop effective drugs against influenza A, the most logic strategy is to inhibit the M2 channel. Recently, the atomic structure of the M2 channel was determined by NMR spectroscopy (Schnell, J.R. and Chou, J.J., Nature, 2008, 451, 591-595). The high-resolution NMR structure has provided a solid basis for structure-based drug design approaches. In this study, a benchmark dataset has been constructed that contains 34 newly-developed adamantane-based M2 inhibitors and covers considerable structural diversities and wide range of bioactivities. Based on these compounds, an in-depth analysis was performed with the newly developed fragment-based quantitative structure-activity relationship (FB-QSAR) algorithm. The results thus obtained provide useful insights for dealing with the drug-resistant problem and designing effective adamantane-based antiflu drugs.

A fast and efficient python library for interfacing with the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank.

PubMed

Smelter, Andrey; Astra, Morgan; Moseley, Hunter N B

2017-03-17

The Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BMRB) is a public repository of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopic data of biological macromolecules. It is an important resource for many researchers using NMR to study structural, biophysical, and biochemical properties of biological macromolecules. It is primarily maintained and accessed in a flat file ASCII format known as NMR-STAR. While the format is human readable, the size of most BMRB entries makes computer readability and explicit representation a practical requirement for almost any rigorous systematic analysis. To aid in the use of this public resource, we have developed a package called nmrstarlib in the popular open-source programming language Python. The nmrstarlib's implementation is very efficient, both in design and execution. The library has facilities for reading and writing both NMR-STAR version 2.1 and 3.1 formatted files, parsing them into usable Python dictionary- and list-based data structures, making access and manipulation of the experimental data very natural within Python programs (i.e. "saveframe" and "loop" records represented as individual Python dictionary data structures). Another major advantage of this design is that data stored in original NMR-STAR can be easily converted into its equivalent JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, a lightweight data interchange format, facilitating data access and manipulation using Python and any other programming language that implements a JSON parser/generator (i.e., all popular programming languages). We have also developed tools to visualize assigned chemical shift values and to convert between NMR-STAR and JSONized NMR-STAR formatted files. Full API Reference Documentation, User Guide and Tutorial with code examples are also available. We have tested this new library on all current BMRB entries: 100% of all entries are parsed without any errors for both NMR-STAR version 2.1 and version 3.1 formatted files. We also compared our software to three currently available Python libraries for parsing NMR-STAR formatted files: PyStarLib, NMRPyStar, and PyNMRSTAR. The nmrstarlib package is a simple, fast, and efficient library for accessing data from the BMRB. The library provides an intuitive dictionary-based interface with which Python programs can read, edit, and write NMR-STAR formatted files and their equivalent JSONized NMR-STAR files. The nmrstarlib package can be used as a library for accessing and manipulating data stored in NMR-STAR files and as a command-line tool to convert from NMR-STAR file format into its equivalent JSON file format and vice versa, and to visualize chemical shift values. Furthermore, the nmrstarlib implementation provides a guide for effectively JSONizing other older scientific formats, improving the FAIRness of data in these formats.

Spectral studies of 2-pyrazoline derivatives: structural elucidation through single crystal XRD and DFT calculations.

PubMed

Chinnaraja, D; Rajalakshmi, R; Srinivasan, T; Velmurugan, D; Jayabharathi, J

2014-04-24

A series of biologically active N-thiocarbamoyl pyrazoline derivatives have been synthesized using anhydrous potassium carbonate as the catalyst. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by FT-IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR spectral studies, LCMS, CHN Analysis and X-ray diffraction analysis (compound 7). In order to supplement the XRD parameters, molecular modelling was carried out by Gaussian 03W. From the optimized structure, the energy, dipolemoment and HOMO-LUMO energies of all the systems were calculated. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Does aluminium bind to histidine? An NMR investigation of amyloid β12 and amyloid β16 fragments.

PubMed

Narayan, Priya; Krishnarjuna, Bankala; Vishwanathan, Vinaya; Jagadeesh Kumar, Dasappa; Babu, Sudhir; Ramanathan, Krishna Venkatachala; Easwaran, Kalpathy Ramaier Katchap; Nagendra, Holenarasipur Gundurao; Raghothama, Srinivasarao

2013-07-01

Aluminium and zinc are known to be the major triggering agents for aggregation of amyloid peptides leading to plaque formation in Alzheimer's disease. While zinc binding to histidine in Aβ (amyloid β) fragments has been implicated as responsible for aggregation, not much information is available on the interaction of aluminium with histidine. In the NMR study of the N-terminal Aβ fragments, DAEFRHDSGYEV (Aβ12) and DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQK (Aβ16) presented here, the interactions of the fragments with aluminium have been investigated. Significant chemical shifts were observed for few residues near the C-terminus when aluminium chloride was titrated with Aβ12 and Aβ16 peptides. Surprisingly, it is nonhistidine residues which seem to be involved in aluminium binding. Based on NMR constrained structure obtained by molecular modelling, aluminium-binding pockets in Aβ12 were around charged residues such as Asp, Glu. The results are discussed in terms of native structure propagation, and the relevance of histidine residues in the sequences for metal-binding interactions. We expect that the study of such short amyloid peptide fragments will not only provide clues for plaque formation in aggregated conditions but also facilitate design of potential drugs for these targets. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

NMR studies of a channel protein without membranes: structure and dynamics of water-solubilized KcsA.

PubMed

Ma, Dejian; Tillman, Tommy S; Tang, Pei; Meirovitch, Eva; Eckenhoff, Roderic; Carnini, Anna; Xu, Yan

2008-10-28

Structural studies of polytopic membrane proteins are often hampered by the vagaries of these proteins in membrane mimetic environments and by the difficulties in handling them with conventional techniques. Designing and creating water-soluble analogues with preserved native structures offer an attractive alternative. We report here solution NMR studies of WSK3, a water-soluble analogue of the potassium channel KcsA. The WSK3 NMR structure (PDB ID code 2K1E) resembles the KcsA crystal structures, validating the approach. By more stringent comparison criteria, however, the introduction of several charged residues aimed at improving water solubility seems to have led to the possible formations of a few salt bridges and hydrogen bonds not present in the native structure, resulting in slight differences in the structure of WSK3 relative to KcsA. NMR dynamics measurements show that WSK3 is highly flexible in the absence of a lipid environment. Reduced spectral density mapping and model-free analyses reveal dynamic characteristics consistent with an isotropically tumbling tetramer experiencing slow (nanosecond) motions with unusually low local ordering. An altered hydrogen-bond network near the selectivity filter and the pore helix, and the intrinsically dynamic nature of the selectivity filter, support the notion that this region is crucial for slow inactivation. Our results have implications not only for the design of water-soluble analogues of membrane proteins but also for our understanding of the basic determinants of intrinsic protein structure and dynamics.

Characterizing the Secondary Protein Structure of Black Widow Dragline Silk Using Solid-State NMR & X-ray Diffraction

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Janelle E.; Sampath, Sujatha; Butler, Emily; Kim, Jihyun; Henning, Robert W.; Holland, Gregory P.; Yarger, Jeffery L.

2013-01-01

This study provides a detailed secondary structural characterization of major ampullate dragline silk from Latrodectus hesperus (black widow) spiders. X-ray diffraction results show that the structure of black widow major ampullate silk fibers is comprised of stacked β-sheet nanocrystallites oriented parallel to the fiber axis and an amorphous region with oriented (anisotropic) and isotropic components. The combination of two-dimensional (2D) 13C-13C through-space and through-bond solid-state NMR experiments provide chemical shifts that are used to determine detailed information about amino acid motif secondary structure in black widow spider dragline silk. Individual amino acids are incorporated into different repetitive motifs that make up the majority of this protein-based biopolymer. From the solid-state NMR measurements, we assign distinct secondary conformations to each repetitive amino acid motif and hence to the amino acids that make up the motifs. Specifically, alanine is incorporated in β-sheet (poly(Alan) and poly(Gly-Ala)), 31-helix (poly(Gly-Gly-Xaa), and α-helix (poly(Gln-Gln-Ala-Tyr)) components. Glycine is determined to be in β-sheet (poly(Gly-Ala)) and 31-helical (poly(Gly-Gly-Xaa)) regions, while serine is present in β-sheet (poly(Gly-Ala-Ser)), 31-helix (poly(Gly-Gly-Ser)), and β-turn (poly(Gly-Pro-Ser)) structures. These various motif-specific secondary structural elements are quantitatively correlated to the primary amino acid sequence of major ampullate spidroin 1 and 2 (MaSp1 and MaSp2) and are shown to form a self-consistent model for black widow dragline silk. PMID:24024617

Solution NMR characterization of chemokine CXCL8/IL-8 monomer and dimer binding to glycosaminoglycans: structural plasticity mediates differential binding interactions

PubMed Central

Joseph, Prem Raj B.; Mosier, Philip D.; Desai, Umesh R.; Rajarathnam, Krishna

2015-01-01

Chemokine CXCL8/interleukin-8 (IL-8) plays a crucial role in directing neutrophils and oligodendrocytes to combat infection/injury and tumour cells in metastasis development. CXCL8 exists as monomers and dimers and interaction of both forms with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) mediate these diverse cellular processes. However, very little is known regarding the structural basis underlying CXCL8–GAG interactions. There are conflicting reports on the affinities, geometry and whether the monomer or dimer is the high-affinity GAG ligand. To resolve these issues, we characterized the binding of a series of heparin-derived oligosaccharides [heparin disaccharide (dp2), heparin tetrasaccharide (dp4), heparin octasaccharide (dp8) and heparin 14-mer (dp14)] to the wild-type (WT) dimer and a designed monomer using solution NMR spectroscopy. The pattern and extent of binding-induced chemical shift perturbation (CSP) varied between dimer and monomer and between longer and shorter oligosaccharides. NMR-based structural models show that different interaction modes coexist and that the nature of interactions varied between monomer and dimer and oligosaccharide length. MD simulations indicate that the binding interface is structurally plastic and provided residue-specific details of the dynamic nature of the binding interface. Binding studies carried out under conditions at which WT CXCL8 exists as monomers and dimers provide unambiguous evidence that the dimer is the high-affinity GAG ligand. Together, our data indicate that a set of core residues function as the major recognition/binding site, a set of peripheral residues define the various binding geometries and that the structural plasticity of the binding interface allows multiplicity of binding interactions. We conclude that structural plasticity most probably regulates in vivo CXCL8 monomer/dimer–GAG interactions and function. PMID:26371375

The effects of rigid motions on elastic network model force constants

PubMed Central

Lezon, Timothy R.

2012-01-01

Elastic network models provide an efficient way to quickly calculate protein global dynamics from experimentally determined structures. The model’s single parameter, its force constant, determines the physical extent of equilibrium fluctuations. The values of force constants can be calculated by fitting to experimental data, but the results depend on the type of experimental data used. Here we investigate the differences between calculated values of force constants _t to data from NMR and X-ray structures. We find that X-ray B factors carry the signature of rigid-body motions, to the extent that B factors can be almost entirely accounted for by rigid motions alone. When fitting to more refined anisotropic temperature factors, the contributions of rigid motions are significantly reduced, indicating that the large contribution of rigid motions to B factors is a result of over-fitting. No correlation is found between force constants fit to NMR data and those fit to X-ray data, possibly due to the inability of NMR data to accurately capture protein dynamics. PMID:22228562

Tung oil-based unsaturated co-ester macromonomer for thermosetting polymers: Synergetic synthesis and copolymerization with styrene

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A novel unsaturated co-ester (co-UE) macromonomer containing both maleates and acrylates was synthesized from tung oil (TO) and its chemical structure was characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The monomer was synthesized via a new synergetic modification o...

Collaborative development for setup, execution, sharing and analytics of complex NMR experiments.

PubMed

Irvine, Alistair G; Slynko, Vadim; Nikolaev, Yaroslav; Senthamarai, Russell R P; Pervushin, Konstantin

2014-02-01

Factory settings of NMR pulse sequences are rarely ideal for every scenario in which they are utilised. The optimisation of NMR experiments has for many years been performed locally, with implementations often specific to an individual spectrometer. Furthermore, these optimised experiments are normally retained solely for the use of an individual laboratory, spectrometer or even single user. Here we introduce a web-based service that provides a database for the deposition, annotation and optimisation of NMR experiments. The application uses a Wiki environment to enable the collaborative development of pulse sequences. It also provides a flexible mechanism to automatically generate NMR experiments from deposited sequences. Multidimensional NMR experiments of proteins and other macromolecules consume significant resources, in terms of both spectrometer time and effort required to analyse the results. Systematic analysis of simulated experiments can enable optimal allocation of NMR resources for structural analysis of proteins. Our web-based application (http://nmrplus.org) provides all the necessary information, includes the auxiliaries (waveforms, decoupling sequences etc.), for analysis of experiments by accurate numerical simulation of multidimensional NMR experiments. The online database of the NMR experiments, together with a systematic evaluation of their sensitivity, provides a framework for selection of the most efficient pulse sequences. The development of such a framework provides a basis for the collaborative optimisation of pulse sequences by the NMR community, with the benefits of this collective effort being available to the whole community. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A 1H NMR-based metabolomics approach to evaluate the geographical authenticity of herbal medicine and its application in building a model effectively assessing the mixing proportion of intentional admixtures: A case study of Panax ginseng: Metabolomics for the authenticity of herbal medicine.

PubMed

Nguyen, Huy Truong; Lee, Dong-Kyu; Choi, Young-Geun; Min, Jung-Eun; Yoon, Sang Jun; Yu, Yun-Hyun; Lim, Johan; Lee, Jeongmi; Kwon, Sung Won; Park, Jeong Hill

2016-05-30

Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng has long been the subject of adulteration, especially regarding its origins. Here, 60 ginseng samples from Korea and China initially displayed similar genetic makeup when investigated by DNA-based technique with 23 chloroplast intergenic space regions. Hence, (1)H NMR-based metabolomics with orthogonal projections on the latent structure-discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) were applied and successfully distinguished between samples from two countries using seven primary metabolites as discrimination markers. Furthermore, to recreate adulteration in reality, 21 mixed samples of numerous Korea/China ratios were tested with the newly built OPLS-DA model. The results showed satisfactory separation according to the proportion of mixing. Finally, a procedure for assessing mixing proportion of intentionally blended samples that achieved good predictability (adjusted R(2)=0.8343) was constructed, thus verifying its promising application to quality control of herbal foods by pointing out the possible mixing ratio of falsified samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Functional Curli Amyloid Is Not Based on In-register Parallel β-Sheet Structure*

PubMed Central

Shewmaker, Frank; McGlinchey, Ryan P.; Thurber, Kent R.; McPhie, Peter; Dyda, Fred; Tycko, Robert; Wickner, Reed B.

2009-01-01

The extracellular curli proteins of Enterobacteriaceae form fibrous structures that are involved in biofilm formation and adhesion to host cells. These curli fibrils are considered a functional amyloid because they are not a consequence of misfolding, but they have many of the properties of protein amyloid. We confirm that fibrils formed by CsgA and CsgB, the primary curli proteins of Escherichia coli, possess many of the hallmarks typical of amyloid. Moreover we demonstrate that curli fibrils possess the cross-β structure that distinguishes protein amyloid. However, solid state NMR experiments indicate that curli structure is not based on an in-register parallel β-sheet architecture, which is common to many human disease-associated amyloids and the yeast prion amyloids. Solid state NMR and electron microscopy data are consistent with a β-helix-like structure but are not sufficient to establish such a structure definitively. PMID:19574225

Water Dynamics in Egg White Peptide, Asp-His-Thr-Lys-Glu, Powder Monitored by Dynamic Vapor Sorption and LF-NMR.

PubMed

Yang, Shuailing; Liu, Xuye; Jin, Yan; Li, Xingfang; Chen, Feng; Zhang, Mingdi; Lin, Songyi

2016-03-16

Water absorbed into the bulk amorphous structure of peptides can have profound effects on their properties. Here, we elucidated water dynamics in Asp-His-Thr-Lys-Glu (DHTKE), an antioxidant peptide derived from egg white ovalbumin, using water dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The DVS results indicated that parallel exponential kinetics model fitted well to the data of sorption kinetics behavior of DHTKE. Four different proton fractions with different mobilities were identified based on the degree of interaction between peptide and water. The water could significantly change the proton distribution and structure of the sample. The different phases of moisture absorption were reflected in the T2 parameters. In addition, the combined water content was dominant in the hygroscopicity of DHTKE. This study provides an effective real-time monitoring method for water mobility and distribution in synthetic peptides, and this method may have applications in promoting peptide quality assurance.

Multinuclear NMR studies of relaxor ferroelectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Donghua

Multinuclear NMR of 93Nb, 45Sc, and 207Pb has been carried out to study the structure, disorder, and dynamics of a series of important solid solutions: perovskite relaxor ferroelectric materials (1-x) Pb(Mg1/3Nb 2/3)O3-x Pb(Sc1/2Nb1/2)O 3 (PMN-PSN). 93Nb NMR investigations of the local structure and cation order/disorder are presented as a function of PSN concentration, x. The superb fidelity and accuracy of 3QMAS allows us to make clear and consistent assignments of spectral intensities to the 28 possible nearest B-site neighbor (nBn) configurations, (NMg, NSc, NNb), where each number ranges from 0 to 6 and their sum is 6. For most of the 28 possible nBn configurations, isotropic chemical shifts and quadrupole product constants have been extracted from the data. The seven configurations with only larger cations, Mg 2+ and Sc3+ (and no Nb5+) are assigned to the seven observed narrow peaks, whose deconvoluted intensities facilitate quantitative evaluation of, and differentiation between, different models of B-site (chemical) disorder. The "completely random" model is ruled out and the "random site" model is shown to be in qualitative agreement with the NMR experiments. To obtain quantitative agreement with observed NMR intensities, the random site model is slightly modified by including unlike-pair interaction energies. To date, 45Sc studies have not been as fruitful as 93Nb NMR because the resolution is lower in the 45Sc spectra. The lower resolution of 45Sc spectra is due to a smaller span of isotropic chemical shift (40 ppm for 45Sc vs. 82 ppm for 93Nb) and to the lack of a fortuitous mechanism that simplifies the 93Nb spectra; for 93Nb the overlap of the isotropic chemical shifts of 6-Sc and 6-Nb configurations results in the alignment of all the 28 configurations along only seven quadrupole distribution axes. Finally we present variable temperature 207Pb static, MAS, and 2D-PASS NMR studies. Strong linear correlations between isotropic and anisotropic chemical shifts show that Pb-O bonds vary from more ionic to more covalent environments. Distributions of Pb-O bond lengthes are also quantitatively described. Such distributions are used to examine two competing models of Pb displacements; the shell model and the unique direction model. Only the latter model is able to reproduce the observed Pb-O distance distribution.

Ensemble characterization of an intrinsically disordered FG-Nup peptide and its F>A mutant in DMSO-d6.

PubMed

Reid, Korey M; Sunanda, Punnepalli; Raghothama, S; Krishnan, V V

2017-11-01

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) lack a well-defined 3D-structure under physiological conditions, yet, the inherent disorder represented by an ensemble of conformation plays a critical role in many cellular and regulatory processes. Nucleoporins, or Nups, are the proteins found in the nuclear pore complex (NPC). The central pore of the NPC is occupied by Nups, which have phenylalanine-glycine domain repeats and are intrinsically disordered, and therefore are termed FG-Nups. These FG-domain repeats exhibit differing cohesiveness character and differ from least (FG) to most (GLFG) cohesive. The designed FG-Nup is a 25 AA model peptide containing a noncohesive FG-motif flanked by two cohesive GLFG-motifs (WT peptide). Complete NMR-based ensemble characterization of this peptide along with a control peptide with an F>A substitution (MU peptide) are discussed. Ensemble characterization of the NMR-determined models suggests that both the peptides do not have consistent secondary structures and continue to be disordered. Nonetheless, the role of cohesive elements mediated by the GLFG motifs is evident in the WT ensemble of structures that are more compact than the MU peptide. The approach presented here allows an alternate way to investigate the specific roles of distinct amino acid motifs that translate into the long-range organization of the ensemble of structures and in general on the nature of IDPs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Welcoming natural isotopic abundance in solid-state NMR: probing π-stacking and supramolecular structure of organic nanoassemblies using DNP† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6sc02709a Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Märker, Katharina; Paul, Subhradip; Fernández-de-Alba, Carlos; Lee, Daniel; Mouesca, Jean-Marie; Hediger, Sabine

2017-01-01

The self-assembly of small organic molecules is an intriguing phenomenon, which provides nanoscale structures for applications in numerous fields from medicine to molecular electronics. Detailed knowledge of their structure, in particular on the supramolecular level, is a prerequisite for the rational design of improved self-assembled systems. In this work, we prove the feasibility of a novel concept of NMR-based 3D structure determination of such assemblies in the solid state. The key point of this concept is the deliberate use of samples that contain 13C at its natural isotopic abundance (NA, 1.1%), while exploiting magic-angle spinning dynamic nuclear polarization (MAS-DNP) to compensate for the reduced sensitivity. Since dipolar truncation effects are suppressed to a large extent in NA samples, unique and highly informative spectra can be recorded which are impossible to obtain on an isotopically labeled system. On the self-assembled cyclic diphenylalanine peptide, we demonstrate the detection of long-range internuclear distances up to ∼7 Å, allowing us to observe π-stacking through 13C–13C correlation spectra, providing a powerful tool for the analysis of one of the most important non-covalent interactions. Furthermore, experimental polarization transfer curves are in remarkable agreement with numerical simulations based on the crystallographic structure, and can be fully rationalized as the superposition of intra- and intermolecular contributions. This new approach to NMR crystallography provides access to rich and precise structural information, opening up a new avenue to de novo crystal structure determination by NMR. PMID:28451235

Structure of the 30 kDa HIV-1 RNA Dimerization Signal by a Hybrid Cryo-EM, NMR, and Molecular Dynamics Approach.

PubMed

Zhang, Kaiming; Keane, Sarah C; Su, Zhaoming; Irobalieva, Rossitza N; Chen, Muyuan; Van, Verna; Sciandra, Carly A; Marchant, Jan; Heng, Xiao; Schmid, Michael F; Case, David A; Ludtke, Steven J; Summers, Michael F; Chiu, Wah

2018-03-06

Cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy are routinely used to determine structures of macromolecules with molecular weights over 65 and under 25 kDa, respectively. We combined these techniques to study a 30 kDa HIV-1 dimer initiation site RNA ([DIS] 2 ; 47 nt/strand). A 9 Å cryo-EM map clearly shows major groove features of the double helix and a right-handed superhelical twist. Simulated cryo-EM maps generated from time-averaged molecular dynamics trajectories (10 ns) exhibited levels of detail similar to those in the experimental maps, suggesting internal structural flexibility limits the cryo-EM resolution. Simultaneous inclusion of the cryo-EM map and 2 H-edited NMR-derived distance restraints during structure refinement generates a structure consistent with both datasets and supporting a flipped-out base within a conserved purine-rich bulge. Our findings demonstrate the power of combining global and local structural information from these techniques for structure determination of modest-sized RNAs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nabeel, A.; Khan, M.A.; Husain, S.

Coal is the most abundant source of energy. However, there is a need to develop cleaner, and more efficient, economical, and convenient coal conversion technologies. It is important to understand the organic chemical structure of coal for achieving real breakthroughs in the development of such coal conversion technologies. A novel computer-assisted modeling technique based on the analysis of {sup 13}C NMR and gel permeation chromatography has been applied to predict the average molecular structure of the acetylated product of a depolymerized bituminous Indian coal. The proposed molecular structure may be of practical use in understanding the mechanism of coal conversionsmore » during the processes of liquefaction, gasification, combustion, and carbonization.« less

Using NMR to Determine Protein Structure in Solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavagnero, Silvia

2003-02-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a marvelous spectroscopic technique that chemists, physicists, and biochemists routinely employ for their research around the world. This year half of the Nobel Prize for chemistry went to Kurt Wüthrich, who was recognized for the development of NMR-based techniques that lead to the structure determination of biomolecules in solution. In addition to implementing novel pulse sequences and software packages, Wüthrich also applied his methods to several biological systems of key importance to human health. These include the prion protein, which is heavily involved in the spongiform encephalopathy (best known as 'mad cow disease'), which recently caused numerous human deaths, particularly in the UK, due to ingestion of contaminated meat. Transverse relaxation optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) is the most intriguing new NMR method recently developed by Wüthrich and coworkers. This and other closely related pulse sequences promise to play a pivotal role in the extension of NMR to the conformational analysis of very large (up to the megadalton range) macromolecules and macromolecular complexes. More exciting new developments are expected in the near future.

NMR solution structure study of one saturated sulphur-containing amides from Glycosmis lucida.

PubMed

Geng, Zhu-Feng; Yang, Kai; Li, Yin-Ping; Guo, Shan-Shan; You, Chun-Xue; Zhang, Wen-Juan; Zhang, Zhe; Du, Shu-Shan

2017-04-01

One sulphur-containing amide (N-[2-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)-ethyl]-3-methanesulfonyl-N-methyl-propionamide) which was isolated from Glycosmis lucida Wall ex Huang had a different NMR profile with this kind of compounds' normal case. Based on the information obtained by nuclear magnetic resonance pectroscopy (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS), its configurations in solution were investigated. The results indicated that the compound would have two stable configurations in solution as the double bond switched between C-N and C-O in an appropriate rate. This phenomenon was clearly exposed by the one dimension selective NOE (1D-NOE) experiments. This conclusion would play an active role in the structure analysis work of this kind of compounds.

31P NMR Chemical Shifts of Solvents and Products Impurities in Biomass Pretreatments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Mi; Yoo, Chang Geun; Pu, Yunqiao

The identification of chemical impurities is crucial in elucidating the structures of biorefinery products using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analysis. In the current biorefinery platform, contaminants derived from pretreatment solvents and decomposition byproducts may lead to misassignment of the NMR spectra of biorefinery products (e.g, lignin and bio-oils). Therefore, we investigated in this paper 54 commonly reported compounds including alcohols, carbohydrates, organic acids, aromatics, aldehydes, and ionic liquids associated with biomass pretreatment using 31P NMR. The chemical shifts of these chemicals after derivatizing with 2-chloro-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (TMDP) were provided. Finally, the 31P NMR signals of these derivatives could serve asmore » valuable and informative spectral data in characterizing lignocellulose-based compounds.« less

31P NMR Chemical Shifts of Solvents and Products Impurities in Biomass Pretreatments

DOE PAGES

Li, Mi; Yoo, Chang Geun; Pu, Yunqiao; ...

2017-12-05

The identification of chemical impurities is crucial in elucidating the structures of biorefinery products using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analysis. In the current biorefinery platform, contaminants derived from pretreatment solvents and decomposition byproducts may lead to misassignment of the NMR spectra of biorefinery products (e.g, lignin and bio-oils). Therefore, we investigated in this paper 54 commonly reported compounds including alcohols, carbohydrates, organic acids, aromatics, aldehydes, and ionic liquids associated with biomass pretreatment using 31P NMR. The chemical shifts of these chemicals after derivatizing with 2-chloro-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (TMDP) were provided. Finally, the 31P NMR signals of these derivatives could serve asmore » valuable and informative spectral data in characterizing lignocellulose-based compounds.« less

Why do proton conducting polybenzimidazole phosphoric acid membranes perform well in high-temperature PEM fuel cells?

PubMed

Melchior, Jan-Patrick; Majer, Günter; Kreuer, Klaus-Dieter

2016-12-21

Transport properties and hydration behavior of phosphoric acid/(benz)imidazole mixtures are investigated by diverse NMR techniques, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and conductivity measurements. The monomeric systems can serve as models for phosphoric acid/poly-benzimidazole membranes which are known for their exceptional performance in high temperature PEM fuel cells. 1 H- and 31 P-NMR data show benzimidazole acting as a strong Brønsted base with respect to neat phosphoric acid. Since benzimidazole's nitrogens are fully protonated with a low rate for proton exchange with phosphate species, proton diffusion and conduction processes must take place within the hydrogen bond network of phosphoric acid only. The proton exchange dynamics between phosphate and benzimidazole species pass through the intermediate exchange regime (with respect to NMR line separations) with exchange times being close to typical diffusion times chosen in PFG-NMR diffusion measurements (ms regime). The resulting effects, as described by the Kärger equation, are included into the evaluation of PFG-NMR data for obtaining precise proton diffusion coefficients. The highly reduced proton diffusion coefficient within the phosphoric acid part of the model systems compared to neat phosphoric acid is suggested to be the immediate consequence of proton subtraction from phosphoric acid. This reduces hydrogen bond network frustration (imbalance of the number of proton donors and acceptors) and therefore also the rate of structural proton diffusion, phosphoric acid's acidity and hygroscopicity. Reduced water uptake, shown by TGA, goes along with reduced electroosmotic water drag which is suggested to be the reason for PBI-phosphoric acid membranes performing better in fuel cells than other phosphoric-acid-containing electrolytes with higher protonic conductivity.

Ab initio random structure searching of organic molecular solids: assessment and validation against experimental data† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Results of similarity analysis between the 11 structures of lowest energy obtained in the AIRSS calculations and the reported structures of form III and form IV of m-ABA; unit cell parameters and volumes for all structures considered; comparison of 2θ values derived from the unit cell parameters of different structural models representing form III of m-ABA; Le Bail fitting of the experimental powder XRD pattern of form IV of m-ABA recorded at 70 K using, as the initial structural model, the reported crystal structure following geometry optimization; table of calculated (GIPAW) absolute isotropic NMR shieldings; simulated powder XRD data for the considered structures after precise geometry optimization; experimental 1H MAS NMR spectra of forms III and IV. (pdf) The calculated and experimental data for this study are provided as a supporting dataset from WRAP, the Warwick Research Archive Portal at http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/91884. See DOI: 10.1039/c7cp04186a

PubMed Central

Zilka, Miri; Dudenko, Dmytro V.; Hughes, Colan E.; Williams, P. Andrew; Sturniolo, Simone; Franks, W. Trent; Pickard, Chris J.

2017-01-01

This paper explores the capability of using the DFT-D ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) method to generate crystal structures of organic molecular materials, focusing on a system (m-aminobenzoic acid; m-ABA) that is known from experimental studies to exhibit abundant polymorphism. Within the structural constraints selected for the AIRSS calculations (specifically, centrosymmetric structures with Z = 4 for zwitterionic m-ABA molecules), the method is shown to successfully generate the two known polymorphs of m-ABA (form III and form IV) that have these structural features. We highlight various issues that are encountered in comparing crystal structures generated by AIRSS to experimental powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data and solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR data, demonstrating successful fitting for some of the lowest energy structures from the AIRSS calculations against experimental low-temperature powder XRD data for known polymorphs of m-ABA, and showing that comparison of computed and experimental solid-state NMR parameters allows different hydrogen-bonding motifs to be discriminated. PMID:28944393

NMR and mass spectrometric characterization of vinblastine, vincristine and some new related impurities - part I.

PubMed

Dubrovay, Zsófia; Háda, Viktor; Béni, Zoltán; Szántay, Csaba

2013-10-01

In the course of exploring the possibilities of developing a new, improved process at Gedeon Richter for the production of the "bisindole" alkaloids vinblastine (VLB) and vincristine (VCR), some novel VLB/VCR-related trace impurities were detected by analytical HPLC. Following isolation by preparative HPLC, a combination of 1D and 2D ultra high-field NMR and high-resolution (HR) (LC-)MS/MS studies allowed the structural identification and complete spectral characterization of several hitherto unpublished VLB/VCR-analogue impurities. Since the impurities could not be isolated in entirely pure forms and were available only in minute, mass-limited quantities, accessing the spectral information needed for their ab initio structure determination was met with various practical difficulties. Successful structure determination therefore relied heavily on the availability and use of detailed and definitive spectral data for both VLB and VCR. In particular, the utilization of detailed (1)H, (13)C, and (15)N NMR assignments as well as (1)H-(1)H, (1)H-(13)C and (1)H-(15)N spin-spin connectivities pertaining to different solvents for VLB/VCR base and sulphate salt was required. Although NMR studies on VLB base and other bisindoles were reported earlier in the literature, an NMR characterization of VLB and VCR under the above-mentioned circumstances and using ultra-high field instrumentation is either scarcely available or entirely lacking, therefore the necessary data had to be obtained in-house. Likewise, a modern tandem HR-ESI-MS/MS(n) fragmentation study of VLB and VCR has not been published yet. In the present paper we therefore give a thorough NMR and MS characterization of VLB and VCR specifically with a view to filling this void and to provide sufficiently extensive and solid reference data for the structural investigation of the aforementioned VLB/VCR impurities. Besides being scientifically relevant in its own right, the disclosed data should be useful for anyone interested in VLB/VCR-related molecules at a structural level. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Critical Assessment of the Performance of Protein-ligand Scoring Functions Based on NMR Chemical Shift Perturbations

PubMed Central

Wang, Bing; Westerhoff, Lance M.; Merz, Kenneth M.

2008-01-01

We have generated docking poses for the FKBP-GPI complex using eight docking programs, and compared their scoring functions with scoring based on NMR chemical shift perturbations (NMRScore). Because the chemical shift perturbation (CSP) is exquisitely sensitive on the orientation of ligand inside the binding pocket, NMRScore offers an accurate and straightforward approach to score different poses. All scoring functions were inspected by their abilities to highly rank the native-like structures and separate them from decoy poses generated for a protein-ligand complex. The overall performance of NMRScore is much better than that of energy-based scoring functions associated with docking programs in both aspects. In summary, we find that the combination of docking programs with NMRScore results in an approach that can robustly determine the binding site structure for a protein-ligand complex, thereby, providing a new tool facilitating the structure-based drug discovery process. PMID:17867664

NMR insight into myosin-binding subunit coiled-coil structure reveals binding interface with protein kinase G-Iα leucine zipper in vascular function.

PubMed

Sharma, Alok K; Birrane, Gabriel; Anklin, Clemens; Rigby, Alan C; Alper, Seth L

2017-04-28

Nitrovasodilators relax vascular smooth-muscle cells in part by modulating the interaction of the C-terminal coiled-coil domain (CC) and/or the leucine zipper (LZ) domain of the myosin light-chain phosphatase component, myosin-binding subunit (MBS), with the N-terminal LZ domain of protein kinase G (PKG)-Iα. Despite the importance of vasodilation in cardiovascular homeostasis and therapy, our structural understanding of the MBS CC interaction with LZ PKG-1α has remained limited. Here, we report the 3D NMR solution structure of homodimeric CC MBS in which amino acids 932-967 form a coiled-coil of two monomeric α-helices in parallel orientation. We found that the structure is stabilized by non-covalent interactions, with dominant contributions from hydrophobic residues at a and d heptad positions. Using NMR chemical-shift perturbation (CSP) analysis, we identified a subset of hydrophobic and charged residues of CC MBS (localized within and adjacent to the C-terminal region) contributing to the dimer-dimer interaction interface between homodimeric CC MBS and homodimeric LZ PKG-Iα. 15 N backbone relaxation NMR revealed the dynamic features of the CC MBS interface residues identified by NMR CSP. Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement- and CSP-NMR-guided HADDOCK modeling of the dimer-dimer interface of the heterotetrameric complex exhibits the involvement of non-covalent intermolecular interactions that are localized within and adjacent to the C-terminal regions of each homodimer. These results deepen our understanding of the binding restraints of this CC MBS·LZ PKG-Iα low-affinity heterotetrameric complex and allow reevaluation of the role(s) of myosin light-chain phosphatase partner polypeptides in regulation of vascular smooth-muscle cell contractility. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Assessing the Chemical Accuracy of Protein Structures via Peptide Acidity

PubMed Central

Anderson, Janet S.; Hernández, Griselda; LeMaster, David M.

2012-01-01

Although the protein native state is a Boltzmann conformational ensemble, practical applications often require a representative model from the most populated region of that distribution. The acidity of the backbone amides, as reflected in hydrogen exchange rates, is exquisitely sensitive to the surrounding charge and dielectric volume distribution. For each of four proteins, three independently determined X-ray structures of differing crystallographic resolution were used to predict exchange for the static solvent-exposed amide hydrogens. The average correlation coefficients range from 0.74 for ubiquitin to 0.93 for Pyrococcus furiosus rubredoxin, reflecting the larger range of experimental exchange rates exhibited by the latter protein. The exchange prediction errors modestly correlate with the crystallographic resolution. MODELLER 9v6-derived homology models at ~60% sequence identity (36% identity for chymotrypsin inhibitor CI2) yielded correlation coefficients that are ~0.1 smaller than for the cognate X-ray structures. The most recently deposited NOE-based ubiquitin structure and the original NMR structure of CI2 fail to provide statistically significant predictions of hydrogen exchange. However, the more recent RECOORD refinement study of CI2 yielded predictions comparable to the X-ray and homology model-based analyses. PMID:23182463

87Sr solid-state NMR as a structurally sensitive tool for the investigation of materials: antiosteoporotic pharmaceuticals and bioactive glasses.

PubMed

Bonhomme, Christian; Gervais, Christel; Folliet, Nicolas; Pourpoint, Frédérique; Diogo, Cristina Coelho; Lao, Jonathan; Jallot, Edouard; Lacroix, Joséphine; Nedelec, Jean-Marie; Iuga, Dinu; Hanna, John V; Smith, Mark E; Xiang, Ye; Du, Jincheng; Laurencin, Danielle

2012-08-01

Strontium is an element of fundamental importance in biomedical science. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that Sr(2+) ions can promote bone growth and inhibit bone resorption. Thus, the oral administration of Sr-containing medications has been used clinically to prevent osteoporosis, and Sr-containing biomaterials have been developed for implant and tissue engineering applications. The bioavailability of strontium metal cations in the body and their kinetics of release from materials will depend on their local environment. It is thus crucial to be able to characterize, in detail, strontium environments in disordered phases such as bioactive glasses, to understand their structure and rationalize their properties. In this paper, we demonstrate that (87)Sr NMR spectroscopy can serve as a valuable tool of investigation. First, the implementation of high-sensitivity (87)Sr solid-state NMR experiments is presented using (87)Sr-labeled strontium malonate (with DFS (double field sweep), QCPMG (quadrupolar Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill), and WURST (wideband, uniform rate, and smooth truncation) excitation). Then, it is shown that GIPAW DFT (gauge including projector augmented wave density functional theory) calculations can accurately compute (87)Sr NMR parameters. Last and most importantly, (87)Sr NMR is used for the study of a (Ca,Sr)-silicate bioactive glass of limited Sr content (only ~9 wt %). The spectrum is interpreted using structural models of the glass, which are generated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and relaxed by DFT, before performing GIPAW calculations of (87)Sr NMR parameters. Finally, changes in the (87)Sr NMR spectrum after immersion of the glass in simulated body fluid (SBF) are reported and discussed.

An Introduction to Biological NMR Spectroscopy*

PubMed Central

Marion, Dominique

2013-01-01

NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for biologists interested in the structure, dynamics, and interactions of biological macromolecules. This review aims at presenting in an accessible manner the requirements and limitations of this technique. As an introduction, the history of NMR will highlight how the method evolved from physics to chemistry and finally to biology over several decades. We then introduce the NMR spectral parameters used in structural biology, namely the chemical shift, the J-coupling, nuclear Overhauser effects, and residual dipolar couplings. Resonance assignment, the required step for any further NMR study, bears a resemblance to jigsaw puzzle strategy. The NMR spectral parameters are then converted into angle and distances and used as input using restrained molecular dynamics to compute a bundle of structures. When interpreting a NMR-derived structure, the biologist has to judge its quality on the basis of the statistics provided. When the 3D structure is a priori known by other means, the molecular interaction with a partner can be mapped by NMR: information on the binding interface as well as on kinetic and thermodynamic constants can be gathered. NMR is suitable to monitor, over a wide range of frequencies, protein fluctuations that play a crucial role in their biological function. In the last section of this review, intrinsically disordered proteins, which have escaped the attention of classical structural biology, are discussed in the perspective of NMR, one of the rare available techniques able to describe structural ensembles. This Tutorial is part of the International Proteomics Tutorial Programme (IPTP 16 MCP). PMID:23831612

Persistence of urban organic aerosols composition: Decoding their structural complexity and seasonal variability.

PubMed

Matos, João T V; Duarte, Regina M B O; Lopes, Sónia P; Silva, Artur M S; Duarte, Armando C

2017-12-01

Organic Aerosols (OAs) are typically defined as highly complex matrices whose composition changes in time and space. Focusing on time vector, this work uses two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D NMR) techniques to examine the structural features of water-soluble (WSOM) and alkaline-soluble organic matter (ASOM) sequentially extracted from fine atmospheric aerosols collected in an urban setting during cold and warm seasons. This study reveals molecular signatures not previously decoded in NMR-related studies of OAs as meaningful source markers. Although the ASOM is less hydrophilic and structurally diverse than its WSOM counterpart, both fractions feature a core with heteroatom-rich branched aliphatics from both primary (natural and anthropogenic) and secondary origin, aromatic secondary organics originated from anthropogenic aromatic precursors, as well as primary saccharides and amino sugar derivatives from biogenic emissions. These common structures represent those 2D NMR spectral signatures that are present in both seasons and can thus be seen as an "annual background" profile of the structural composition of OAs at the urban location. Lignin-derived structures, nitroaromatics, disaccharides, and anhydrosaccharides signatures were also identified in the WSOM samples only from periods identified as smoke impacted, which reflects the influence of biomass-burning sources. The NMR dataset on the H-C molecules backbone was also used to propose a semi-quantitative structural model of urban WSOM, which will aid efforts for more realistic studies relating the chemical properties of OAs with their atmospheric behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structure elucidation of the designer drug N-(1-amino-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-pyrazole-5-carboxamide and the relevance of predicted (13) C NMR shifts - a case study.

PubMed

Girreser, Ulrich; Rösner, Peter; Vasilev, Andrej

2016-07-01

The detailed structure elucidation process of the new cannabimimetic designer drug, N-(1-amino-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-pyrazole-5-carboxamide, with a highly substituted pyrazole skeleton, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic and mass spectrometric (MS) techniques is described. After a first analysis of the NMR spectra and comparison with 48 possible pyrazole and imidazole structures, a subset of six positional isomeric pyrazoles and six imidazoles remained conceivable. Four substituents of the heterocyclic skeleton were identified: a proton bound to a pyrazole ring carbon atom; a 5-fluoropentyl group; a 4-fluorophenyl substituent; and a carbamoyl group, which is N-substituted with a methyl residue carrying a tert.-butyl and a carbamoyl substituent. The 5-fluoropentyl residue is situated at the nitrogen ring atom. Additional NMR experiments like the (1) H,(13) C HMBC were performed, but due to the small number of signals based on long-range couplings, the comparison of predicted and observed (13) C chemical shifts became necessary. The open access Internet shift prediction programs NMRDB, NMRSHIFTDB2, and CSEARCH were employed for the prediction of (13) C shift values which allowed an efficient and unambiguous structure determination. For the identified N-(1-amino-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-pyrazole-5-carboxamide, the best agreement between predicted (13) C shifts and the observed chemical shifts and long-range couplings for the pyrazole ring carbon atoms, with a standard error of about 2 ppm, was found with each of the predictions. For the comparison of measured and predicted chemical shifts model compounds with simple substituents proved helpful. The identified compound is a homologue of AZ-037 which is offered by Internet suppliers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Theoretical study of NMR, infrared and Raman spectra on triple-decker phthalocyanines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Atsushi; Oku, Takeo

2016-02-01

Electronic structures and magnetic properties of multi-decker phthalocyanines were studied by theoretical calculation. Electronic structures, excited processes at multi-states, isotropic chemical shifts of 13C, 14N and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), principle V-tensor in electronic field gradient (EFG) tensor and asymmetry parameters (η), vibration mode in infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of triple-decker phthalocyanines were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT using B3LYP as basis function. Electron density distribution was delocalized on the phthalocyanine rings with electron static potential. Considerable separation of chemical shifts in 13C, 14N and 1H-NMR was originated from nuclear spin interaction between nitrogen and carbon atoms, nuclear quadrupole interaction based on EFG and η of central metal under crystal field. Calculated optical absorption at multi-excited process was derived from overlapping π-orbital on the phthalocyanine rings. The vibration modes in IR and Raman spectra were based on in-plane deformation and stretching vibrations of metal-ligand coordination bond on the deformed structure.

A closer look at the nitrogen next door: 1H-15N NMR methods for glycosaminoglycan structural characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langeslay, Derek J.; Beni, Szabolcs; Larive, Cynthia K.

2012-03-01

Recently, experimental conditions were presented for the detection of the N-sulfoglucosamine (GlcNS) NHSO3- or sulfamate 1H and 15N NMR resonances of the pharmaceutically and biologically important glycosaminoglycan (GAG) heparin in aqueous solution. In the present work, we explore further the applicability of nitrogen-bound proton detection to provide structural information for GAGs. Compared to the detection of 15N chemical shifts of aminosugars through long-range couplings using the IMPACT-HNMBC pulse sequence, the more sensitive two-dimensional 1H-15N HSQC-TOCSY experiments provided additional structural data. The IMPACT-HNMBC experiment remains a powerful tool as demonstrated by the spectrum measured for the unsubstituted amine of 3-O-sulfoglucosamine (GlcN(3S)), which cannot be observed with the 1H-15N HSQC-TOCSY experiment due to the fast exchange of the amino group protons with solvent. The 1H-15N HSQC-TOCSY NMR spectrum reported for the mixture of model compounds GlcNS and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) demonstrate the broad utility of this approach. Measurements for the synthetic pentasaccharide drug Arixtra® (Fondaparinux sodium) in aqueous solution illustrate the power of this NMR pulse sequence for structural characterization of highly similar N-sulfoglucosamine residues in GAG-derived oligosaccharides.

Unusual open chain quinolinyl peroxol and its alcohol counterpart obtained through a modified Skraup-Doebner-Von Miller quinoline synthesis: theoretical studies and complete (1) H- and (13) C-NMR assignments.

PubMed

Fotie, Jean; Kemami Wangun, Hilaire V; Dreux, Katelyn; Sommerfeld, Thomas; Pittman, Jacob

2012-01-01

Because of their extreme instability, it is generally difficult to synthesize and fully characterize open chain peroxides, also known as peroxols. In our attempt to investigate the mechanism of the Skraup-Doebner-Von Miller quinoline synthesis, we were able to obtain an unusual open chain peroxy-quinoline, namely, 4-(8-ethoxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-cyclopenta[c]quinolin-4-yl)butane-1-peroxol (1), and its alcohol counterpart, namely 4-(8-ethoxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-cyclopenta[c]quinolin-4-yl)butan-1-ol (2) obtained as a side product during the same reaction. Although structurally similar, these two compounds appeared to display some very distinct physical and spectroscopic characteristics. This work reports detailed NMR studies and full (1) H and (13)  C NMR assignments for these two compounds. These assignments are based upon the analysis of the NMR spectra of these compounds including (1) H, (13)  C, COSY, gHSQC and gHMBC. The effect of the peroxide functional group on the chemical shift of neighboring carbons and protons was also investigated by comparing the NMR data of these two compounds. Furthermore, the effects of potential hydrogen bondings in 1, 2, and possible 1-1 dimer, 2-2 dimer and in prototypical model systems, as well as the stability of these compounds, were investigated computationally. The computed dissociation energies and NMR data support the interpretation of the experimental data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Toward a structure determination method for biomineral-associated protein using combined solid- state NMR and computational structure prediction.

PubMed

Masica, David L; Ash, Jason T; Ndao, Moise; Drobny, Gary P; Gray, Jeffrey J

2010-12-08

Protein-biomineral interactions are paramount to materials production in biology, including the mineral phase of hard tissue. Unfortunately, the structure of biomineral-associated proteins cannot be determined by X-ray crystallography or solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Here we report a method for determining the structure of biomineral-associated proteins. The method combines solid-state NMR (ssNMR) and ssNMR-biased computational structure prediction. In addition, the algorithm is able to identify lattice geometries most compatible with ssNMR constraints, representing a quantitative, novel method for investigating crystal-face binding specificity. We use this method to determine most of the structure of human salivary statherin interacting with the mineral phase of tooth enamel. Computation and experiment converge on an ensemble of related structures and identify preferential binding at three crystal surfaces. The work represents a significant advance toward determining structure of biomineral-adsorbed protein using experimentally biased structure prediction. This method is generally applicable to proteins that can be chemically synthesized. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparative structural analysis of cytidine, ethenocytidine and their protonated salts III. 1H, 13C and 15N NMR studies at natural isotope abundance.

PubMed Central

Kozerski, L; Sierzputowska-Gracz, H; Krzyzosiak, W; Bratek-Wiewiórowska, M; Jaskólski, M; Wiewiórowski, M

1984-01-01

The 1H, 13C, 15N NMR spectra of cytidine /Cyd/, ethenocytidine /epsilon Cyd/ and their hydrochlorides /Cyd X HC1/ and /epsilon Cyd X HC1/ have been analysed to compare structural differences observed in solution with those existing in the crystalline state. The effects of ethenobridging and protonation of the hertero-aromatic base on the intramolecular stereochemistry, intermolecular interactions and electronic structure of the whole molecule are discussed on the basis of the NMR studies in DMSO solutions. Particular interest is devoted to the discussion of the conformation of the ribose ring, the presence of the intramolecular C-5'-0...H-6-C hydrogen bond, unambiguous assignment of the site of protonation, the mechanism of the 5C-H deuterium exchange in Cyd X HC1, and the intermolecular interactions in solution. PMID:6701098

25 Mg NMR and computational modeling studies of the solvation structures and molecular dynamics in magnesium based liquid electrolytes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hu, Jian Zhi; Rajput, Nav Nidhi; Wan, Chuan

There is increasing evidence that the solvation structure of the active components in a liquid electrolyte solution strongly impacts the performance in electrochemical applications. In this work, the nanoscale solvation structures and dynamics of Mg(BH4)2 and Mg(TFSI)2 dissolved in diglyme (DGM) at various concentrations and ratios of Mg(BH4)2/Mg(TFSI)2 were investigated using a combination of natural abundance 25Mg NMR, quantum chemistry calculations of 25Mg NMR chemical shifts, classical molecular dynamics (MD) calculations, and electrochemical performance tests. By mixing two competing Mg salts, we were able to reduce the strong covalent interactions between Mg2+ and BH4– anions. A small increase is observedmore » in the coordination number of Mg-TFSI and a significant increase in the interaction of Mg2+ ions with glymes. Through a combination of NMR, DFT and MD simulations, various stable species around 1 nm in size were detected in the mixed salt solution, which play key roles in the enhanced electrochemical performance of the mixed electrolyte. It is established that for the neat Mg(TFSI)2 in DGM electrolyte at dilute concentrations the TFSI- is fully dissociated from Mg2+. At higher concentrations, Mg2+ and TFSI- are only partially dissociated as contact ion pairs are formed. In contrast, at 0.01 M Mg(BH4)2 (saturated concentration) in DGM, the first solvation shell of a Mg2+ ion contains two BH4- anions and one DGM molecule, while the second solvation shell consists of five to six DGM molecules. An exchange mechanism between the solvation structures in the combined electrolyte containing both Mg(BH4)2 and Mg(TFSI)2 in DGM was found to result in the observation of a single 25Mg NMR peak. This exchange is responsible for an increase in uncoordinated anions, as well as improved stability and ionic conductivity as compared to single anion solution. Solvent molecule rearrangement and direct Mg-ion exchange between the basic solvation structures are hypothesized as likely reasons for the exchange. We elucidate that the solvent rearrangement is energetically much more favorable than direct Mg-ion hopping and is thus suggested as the dominant exchange mechanism.« less

25Mg NMR and Computational Modeling Studies of the Solvation Structures and Molecular Dynamics in Magnesium Based Liquid Electrolytes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hu, Jian Z.; Rajput, Nav Nidhi; Wan, Chuan

There is increasing evidence that the solvation structure of the active components in a liquid electrolyte solution strongly impacts the performance in electrochemical applications. In this work, the nanoscale solvation structures and dynamics of Mg(BH4)2 and Mg(TFSI)2 dissolved in diglyme (DGM) at various concentrations and ratios of Mg(BH4)2/Mg(TFSI)2 were investigated using a combination of natural abundance 25Mg NMR, quantum chemistry calculations of 25Mg NMR chemical shifts, classical molecular dynamics (MD) calculations, and electrochemical performance tests. By mixing two competing Mg salts, we were able to reduce the strong covalent interactions between Mg2+ and BH4– anions. A small increase is observedmore » in the coordination number of Mg-TFSI and a significant increase in the interaction of Mg2+ ions with glymes. Through a combination of NMR, DFT and MD simulations, various stable species around 1 nm in size were detected in the mixed salt solution, which play key roles in the enhanced electrochemical performance of the mixed electrolyte. It is established that for the neat Mg(TFSI)2 in DGM electrolyte at dilute concentrations the TFSI- is fully dissociated from Mg2+. At higher concentrations, Mg2+ and TFSI- are only partially dissociated as contact ion pairs are formed. In contrast, at 0.01 M Mg(BH4)2 (saturated concentration) in DGM, the first solvation shell of a Mg2+ ion contains two BH4- anions and one DGM molecule, while the second solvation shell consists of five to six DGM molecules. An exchange mechanism between the solvation structures in the combined electrolyte containing both Mg(BH4)2 and Mg(TFSI)2 in DGM was found to result in the observation of a single 25Mg NMR peak. This exchange is responsible for an increase in uncoordinated anions, as well as improved stability and ionic conductivity as compared to single anion solution. Solvent molecule rearrangement and direct Mg-ion exchange between the basic solvation structures are hypothesized as likely reasons for the exchange. We elucidate that the solvent rearrangement is energetically much more favorable than direct Mg-ion hopping and is thus suggested as the dominant exchange mechanism.« less

Computational and Spectroscopic Investigations of the Molecular Scale Structure and Dynamics of Geologically Important Fluids and Mineral-Fluid Interfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

R. James Kirkpatrick; Andrey G. Kalinichev

2008-11-25

Research supported by this grant focuses on molecular scale understanding of central issues related to the structure and dynamics of geochemically important fluids, fluid-mineral interfaces, and confined fluids using computational modeling and experimental methods. Molecular scale knowledge about fluid structure and dynamics, how these are affected by mineral surfaces and molecular-scale (nano-) confinement, and how water molecules and dissolved species interact with surfaces is essential to understanding the fundamental chemistry of a wide range of low-temperature geochemical processes, including sorption and geochemical transport. Our principal efforts are devoted to continued development of relevant computational approaches, application of these approaches tomore » important geochemical questions, relevant NMR and other experimental studies, and application of computational modeling methods to understanding the experimental results. The combination of computational modeling and experimental approaches is proving highly effective in addressing otherwise intractable problems. In 2006-2007 we have significantly advanced in new, highly promising research directions along with completion of on-going projects and final publication of work completed in previous years. New computational directions are focusing on modeling proton exchange reactions in aqueous solutions using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD), metadynamics (MTD), and empirical valence bond (EVB) approaches. Proton exchange is critical to understanding the structure, dynamics, and reactivity at mineral-water interfaces and for oxy-ions in solution, but has traditionally been difficult to model with molecular dynamics (MD). Our ultimate objective is to develop this capability, because MD is much less computationally demanding than quantum-chemical approaches. We have also extended our previous MD simulations of metal binding to natural organic matter (NOM) to a much longer time scale (up to 10 ns) for significantly larger systems. These calculations have allowed us, for the first time, to study the effects of metal cations with different charges and charge density on the NOM aggregation in aqueous solutions. Other computational work has looked at the longer-time-scale dynamical behavior of aqueous species at mineral-water interfaces investigated simultaneously by NMR spectroscopy. Our experimental NMR studies have focused on understanding the structure and dynamics of water and dissolved species at mineral-water interfaces and in two-dimensional nano-confinement within clay interlayers. Combined NMR and MD study of H2O, Na+, and Cl- interactions with the surface of quartz has direct implications regarding interpretation of sum frequency vibrational spectroscopic experiments for this phase and will be an important reference for future studies. We also used NMR to examine the behavior of K+ and H2O in the interlayer and at the surfaces of the clay minerals hectorite and illite-rich illite-smectite. This the first time K+ dynamics has been characterized spectroscopically in geochemical systems. Preliminary experiments were also performed to evaluate the potential of 75As NMR as a probe of arsenic geochemical behavior. The 75As NMR study used advanced signal enhancement methods, introduced a new data acquisition approach to minimize the time investment in ultra-wide-line NMR experiments, and provides the first evidence of a strong relationship between the chemical shift and structural parameters for this experimentally challenging nucleus. We have also initiated a series of inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements of water dynamics in the interlayers of clays and layered double hydroxides. The objective of these experiments is to probe the correlations of water molecular motions in confined spaces over the scale of times and distances most directly comparable to our MD simulations and on a time scale different than that probed by NMR. This work is being done in collaboration with Drs. C.-K. Loong, N. de Souza, and A.I. Kolesnikov at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source facility of the Argonne National Lab, and Dr. A. Faraone at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. A manuscript reporting the first results of these experiments, which are highly complimentary to our previous NMR, X-ray, and infra-red results for these phases, is currently in preparation. In total, in 2006-2007 our work has resulted in the publication of 14 peer-reviewed research papers. We also devoted considerable effort to making our work known to a wide range of researchers, as indicated by the 24 contributed abstracts and 14 invited presentations.« less

Model to interpret pulsed-field-gradient NMR data including memory and superdispersion effects.

PubMed

Néel, Marie-Christine; Bauer, Daniela; Fleury, Marc

2014-06-01

We propose a versatile model specifically designed for the quantitative interpretation of NMR velocimetry data. We use the concept of mobile or immobile tracer particles applied in dispersion theory in its Lagrangian form, adding two mechanisms: (i) independent random arrests of finite average representing intermittent periods of very low velocity zones in the mean flow direction and (ii) the possibility of unexpectedly long (but rare) displacements simulating the occurrence of very high velocities in the porous medium. Based on mathematical properties related to subordinated Lévy processes, we give analytical expressions of the signals recorded in pulsed-field-gradient NMR experiments. We illustrate how to use the model for quantifying dispersion from NMR data recorded for water flowing through a homogeneous grain pack column in single- and two-phase flow conditions.

Enantiodiscrimination of flexible cyclic solutes using NMR spectroscopy in polypeptide chiral mesophases: investigation of cis-decalin and THF.

PubMed

Aroulanda, Christie; Lafon, Olivier; Lesot, Philippe

2009-08-06

The conformational dynamics and orientational behavior of two model cyclic molecules, cis-decalin (cis-dec) and tetrahydrofurane (THF), dissolved in weakly ordering, polypeptidic chiral liquid crystals (CLCs) are theoretically discussed and experimentally investigated using deuterium and carbon-13 NMR spectroscopies. The analysis of enantiomeric and enantiotopic discriminations in these compounds is shown to depend on the rate of conformational exchange regime, slow or fast. The slow exchange regime is illustrated through the case of cis-dec at low temperature (243 K). We show that the deuterium NMR spectra in this regime can be qualitatively and quantitatively interpreted by restricting the conformational pathway of cis-dec to two enantiomeric conformers of C(2)-symmetry. The orientational order parameters of these interconverting enantiomers are calculated by matching the (2)H quadrupolar splittings with calculated conformer structures. The fast exchange regime is investigated through the examples of cis-dec at high temperature (356 K) and THF at room temperature (300 K). The (2)H NMR spectra above the coalescence temperature are analyzed by introducing the concept of "average molecular structure". This fictitious structure allows easily identifying NMR equivalences of solutes dissolved in CLC. However, it cannot be applied to determine consistent orientational order parameters. This study emphasizes that enantiotopic discriminations observed for flexible molecules in the fast exchange regime can be quantitatively interpreted only by considering the orientational order of each conformer.

Complementary analyses of hollow cylindrical unioriented permanent magnet (HCM) with high permeability external layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lobo, Carlos M. S.; Tosin, Giancarlo; Baader, Johann E.; Colnago, Luiz A.

2017-10-01

In this article, several studies based on analytical expressions and computational simulations on Hollow Cylindrical Magnets with an external soft ferromagnetic material (HCM magnets) are presented. Electromagnetic configurations, as well as permanent-magnet-based structures, are studied in terms of magnetic field strength and homogeneity. Permanent-magnet-based structures are further analyzed in terms of the anisotropy of the magnetic permeability. It was found that the HCM magnets produce a highly homogeneous magnetic field as long as the magnetic material is isotropic. The dependency of the magnetic field strength and homogeneity in terms of the anisotropy of the magnetic permeability is also explored here. These magnets can potentially be used in medium-resolution NMR spectrometers and high-field NMR spectrometers.

Structure and assembly of the mouse ASC inflammasome by combined NMR spectroscopy and cryo-electron microscopy

PubMed Central

Sborgi, Lorenzo; Ravotti, Francesco; Dandey, Venkata P.; Dick, Mathias S.; Mazur, Adam; Reckel, Sina; Chami, Mohamed; Scherer, Sebastian; Huber, Matthias; Böckmann, Anja; Egelman, Edward H.; Stahlberg, Henning; Broz, Petr; Meier, Beat H.; Hiller, Sebastian

2015-01-01

Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes that control the innate immune response by activating caspase-1, thus promoting the secretion of cytokines in response to invading pathogens and endogenous triggers. Assembly of inflammasomes is induced by activation of a receptor protein. Many inflammasome receptors require the adapter protein ASC [apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-recruitment domain (CARD)], which consists of two domains, the N-terminal pyrin domain (PYD) and the C-terminal CARD. Upon activation, ASC forms large oligomeric filaments, which facilitate procaspase-1 recruitment. Here, we characterize the structure and filament formation of mouse ASC in vitro at atomic resolution. Information from cryo-electron microscopy and solid-state NMR spectroscopy is combined in a single structure calculation to obtain the atomic-resolution structure of the ASC filament. Perturbations of NMR resonances upon filament formation monitor the specific binding interfaces of ASC-PYD association. Importantly, NMR experiments show the rigidity of the PYD forming the core of the filament as well as the high mobility of the CARD relative to this core. The findings are validated by structure-based mutagenesis experiments in cultured macrophages. The 3D structure of the mouse ASC-PYD filament is highly similar to the recently determined human ASC-PYD filament, suggesting evolutionary conservation of ASC-dependent inflammasome mechanisms. PMID:26464513

Structures of glycans bound to receptors from saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy: quantitative analysis by using CORCEMA-ST.

PubMed

Enríquez-Navas, Pedro M; Guzzi, Cinzia; Muñoz-García, Juan C; Nieto, Pedro M; Angulo, Jesús

2015-01-01

Glycan-receptor interactions are of fundamental relevance for a large number of biological processes, and their kinetics properties (medium/weak binding affinities) make them appropriated to be studied by ligand observed NMR techniques, among which saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy has been shown to be a very robust and powerful approach. The quantitative analysis of the results from a STD NMR study of a glycan-receptor interaction is essential to be able to translate the resulting spectral intensities into a 3D molecular model of the complex. This chapter describes how to carry out such a quantitative analysis by means of the Complete Relaxation and Conformational Exchange Matrix Approach for STD NMR (CORCEMA-ST), in general terms, and an example of a previous work on an antibody-glycan interaction is also shown.

Structure and equilibria of Ca 2+-complexes of glucose and sorbitol from multinuclear ( 1H, 13C and 43Ca) NMR measurements supplemented with molecular modelling calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pallagi, A.; Dudás, Cs.; Csendes, Z.; Forgó, P.; Pálinkó, I.; Sipos, P.

2011-05-01

Ca 2+-complexation of D-glucose and D-sorbitol have been investigated with the aid of multinuclear ( 1H, 13C and 43Ca) NMR spectroscopy and ab initio quantum chemical calculations. Formation constants of the forming 1:1 complexes have been estimated from one-dimensional 13C NMR spectra obtained at constant ionic strength (1 M NaCl). Binding sites were identified from 2D 1H- 43Ca NMR spectra. 2D NMR measurements and ab initio calculations indicated that Ca 2+ ions were bound in a tridentate manner via the glycosidic OH, the ethereal oxygen in the ring and the OH on the terminal carbon for the α- and β-anomers of glucose and for sorbitol simultaneous binding of four hydroxide moieties (C1, C2, C4 and C6) was suggested.

Antiferromagnetic Ordering in Quasi-Triangular Localized Spin System, β'-Et2Me2P[Pd(dmit)2]2, Studied by 13C NMR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otsuka, Kei; Iikubo, Hideaki; Kogure, Takayuki; Takano, Yoshiki; Hiraki, Ko-ichi; Takahashi, Toshihiro; Cui, Hengbo; Kato, Reizo

2014-05-01

We performed 13C NMR measurements of a selectively 13C isotope-labeled single-crystal sample of a frustrated spin system, β'-Et2Me2P[Pd(dmit)2]2. A long-range antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering below 17 K was confirmed by the observation of NMR spectrum broadening and well split resonance lines at lower temperatures. NMR spectra in the AF state can be well explained by a two sublattice model. From the analysis of the angular dependence of the NMR spectrum, we clarified the magnetic structure in the AF state, where the easy and hard axes are the crystallographic c*- and b-axes, respectively, and the effective localized moments are quite small, ˜0.28 μB/dimer. This suggests a strong quantum fluctuation effect due to magnetic frustrations in a quasi-triangular spin-1/2 system.

Liquid-phase characterization of molecular interactions in polyunsaturated and n-fatty acid methyl esters by (1)H low-field nuclear magnetic resonance.

PubMed

Meiri, Nitzan; Berman, Paula; Colnago, Luiz Alberto; Moraes, Tiago Bueno; Linder, Charles; Wiesman, Zeev

2015-01-01

To identify and develop the best renewable and low carbon footprint biodiesel substitutes for petroleum diesel, the properties of different biodiesel candidates should be studied and characterized with respect to molecular structures versus biodiesel liquid property relationships. In our previous paper, (1)H low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) relaxometry was investigated as a tool for studying the liquid-phase molecular packing interactions and morphology of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). The technological potential was demonstrated with oleic acid and methyl oleate standards having similar alkyl chains but different head groups. In the present work, molecular organization versus segmental and translational movements of FAMEs in their pure liquid phase, with different alkyl chain lengths (10-20 carbons) and degrees of unsaturation (0-3 double bonds), were studied with (1)H LF-NMR relaxometry and X-ray, (1)H LF-NMR diffusiometry, and (13)C high-field NMR. Based on density values and X-ray measurements, it was proposed that FAMEs possess a liquid crystal-like order above their melting point, consisting of random liquid crystal aggregates with void spaces between them, whose morphological properties depend on chain length and degree of unsaturation. FAMEs were also found to exhibit different degrees of rotational and translational motions, which were rationalized by chain organization within the clusters, and the degree and type of molecular interactions and temperature effects. At equivalent fixed temperature differences from melting point, saturated FAME molecules were found to have similar translational motion regardless of chain length, expressed by viscosity, self-diffusion coefficients, and spin-spin (T 2) (1)H LF-NMR. T 2 distributions suggest increased alkyl chain rigidity, and reduced temperature response of the peaks' relative contribution with increasing unsaturation is a direct result of the alkyl chain's morphological packing and molecular interactions. Both the peaks' assignments for T 2 distributions of FAMEs and the model for their liquid crystal-like morphology in the liquid phase were confirmed. The study of morphological structures within liquids and their response to temperature changes by (1)H LF-NMR has a high value in the field of biodiesel and other research and applied disciplines in numerous physicochemical- and organizational-based properties, processes, and mechanisms of alkyl chains, molecular interactions, and morphologies.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pease, J.H.

The three dimensional structures of several small peptides were determined using a combination of {sup 1}H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and distance geometry calculations. These techniques were found to be particularly helpful for analyzing structural differences between related peptides since all of the peptides' {sup 1}H NMR spectra are very similar. The structures of peptides from two separate classes are presented. Peptides in the first class are related to apamin, an 18 amino acid peptide toxin from honey bee venom. The {sup 1}H NMR assignments and secondary structure determination of apamin were done previously. Quantitative NMR measurements and distance geometrymore » calculations were done to calculate apamin's three dimensional structure. Peptides in the second class are 48 amino acid toxins from the sea anemone Radianthus paumotensis. The {sup 1}H NMR assignments of toxin II were done previously. The {sup 1}H NMR assignments of toxin III and the distance geometry calculations for both peptides are presented.« less

NMR investigation of water diffusion in different biofilm structures.

PubMed

Herrling, Maria P; Weisbrodt, Jessica; Kirkland, Catherine M; Williamson, Nathan H; Lackner, Susanne; Codd, Sarah L; Seymour, Joseph D; Guthausen, Gisela; Horn, Harald

2017-12-01

Mass transfer in biofilms is determined by diffusion. Different mostly invasive approaches have been used to measure diffusion coefficients in biofilms, however, data on heterogeneous biomass under realistic conditions is still missing. To non-invasively elucidate fluid-structure interactions in complex multispecies biofilms pulsed field gradient-nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) was applied to measure the water diffusion in five different types of biomass aggregates: one type of sludge flocs, two types of biofilm, and two types of granules. Data analysis is an important issue when measuring heterogeneous systems and is shown to significantly influence the interpretation and understanding of water diffusion. With respect to numerical reproducibility and physico-chemical interpretation, different data processing methods were explored: (bi)-exponential data analysis and the Γ distribution model. Furthermore, the diffusion coefficient distribution in relation to relaxation was studied by D-T 2 maps obtained by 2D inverse Laplace transform (2D ILT). The results show that the effective diffusion coefficients for all biofilm samples ranged from 0.36 to 0.96 relative to that of water. NMR diffusion was linked to biofilm structure (e.g., biomass density, organic and inorganic matter) as observed by magnetic resonance imaging and to traditional biofilm parameters: diffusion was most restricted in granules with compact structures, and fast diffusion was found in heterotrophic biofilms with fluffy structures. The effective diffusion coefficients in the biomass were found to be broadly distributed because of internal biomass heterogeneities, such as gas bubbles, precipitates, and locally changing biofilm densities. Thus, estimations based on biofilm bulk properties in multispecies systems can be overestimated and mean diffusion coefficients might not be sufficiently informative to describe mass transport in biofilms and the near bulk. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Moisture-Absorption and Water Dynamics in the Powder of Egg Albumen Peptide, Met-Pro-Asp-Ala-His-Leu.

PubMed

Yang, Shuailing; Liu, Xuye; Zhang, Mingdi; Lin, Songyi; Chen, Feng

2017-01-01

Moisture absorbed into the powder of Met-Pro-Asp-Ala-His-Leu (MPDAHL)-a novel egg albumen antioxidant peptide-profoundly affects its properties. In this study, we elucidated water dynamics in MPDAHL using DVS, DSC, and low-field 1 H NMR. Based on the DVS data, we found that MPDAHL sorption kinetics obey a parallel exponential model. DSC results indicated that both water and heating could change the microstructure of MPDAHL. The T 2 parameters of NMR reflected the different phases of moisture absorption revealed that there were 4 categories of water with different states or mobility in the MPDAHL during the moisture absorption process. The fastest fraction T 2b mainly dominated the hygroscopicity of MPDAHL and the absorbed water significantly changed the proton distribution and structure of MPDAHL. Thus, this study shows that DVS, DSC, and low-field 1 H NMR are effective methods for monitoring water mobility and distribution in synthetic peptides. It can be used to improve the quality assurance of functional peptides. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Spectral analysis, vibrational assignments, NBO analysis, NMR, UV-Vis, hyperpolarizability analysis of 2-aminofluorene by density functional theory.

PubMed

Jone Pradeepa, S; Sundaraganesan, N

2014-05-05

In this present investigation, the collective experimental and theoretical study on molecular structure, vibrational analysis and NBO analysis has been reported for 2-aminofluorene. FT-IR spectrum was recorded in the range 4000-400 cm(-1). FT-Raman spectrum was recorded in the range 4000-50 cm(-1). The molecular geometry, vibrational spectra, and natural bond orbital analysis (NBO) were calculated for 2-aminofluorene using Density Functional Theory (DFT) based on B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) model chemistry. (13)C and (1)H NMR chemical shifts of 2-aminofluorene were calculated using GIAO method. The computed vibrational and NMR spectra were compared with the experimental results. The total energy distribution (TED) was derived to deepen the understanding of different modes of vibrations contributed by respective wavenumber. The experimental UV-Vis spectra was recorded in the region of 400-200 nm and correlated with simulated spectra by suitably solvated B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) model. The HOMO-LUMO energies were measured with time dependent DFT approach. The nonlinearity of the title compound was confirmed by hyperpolarizabilty examination. Using theoretical calculation Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) was investigated. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A test of AMBER force fields in predicting the secondary structure of α-helical and β-hairpin peptides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Ya; Zhang, Chaomin; Wang, Xianwei; Zhu, Tong

2017-07-01

We tested the ability of some current AMBER force fields, namely, AMBER03, AMBER99SB, AMBER99SB-ildn, AMBER99SB-nmr, AMBER12SB, AMBER14SB, and AMBER14ipq, with implicit solvent model in reproducing the folding behavior of two peptides by REMD simulations. AMBER99SB-nmr force field provides the most reliable performance. After a novel polarized hydrogen bond charge model is considered, the α-helix successfully folded to its native state, while the further folding of the β-hairpin is not observed. This study strongly suggests that polarization effect and correct torsional term are important to investigate dynamic and conformational properties of peptides with different secondary structures.

Reparameterization of RNA chi Torsion Parameters for the AMBER Force Field and Comparison to NMR Spectra for Cytidine and Uridine.

PubMed

Yildirim, Ilyas; Stern, Harry A; Kennedy, Scott D; Tubbs, Jason D; Turner, Douglas H

2010-05-11

A reparameterization of the torsional parameters for the glycosidic dihedral angle, chi, for the AMBER99 force field in RNA nucleosides is used to provide a modified force field, AMBER99chi. Molecular dynamics simulations of cytidine, uridine, adenosine, and guanosine in aqueous solution using the AMBER99 and AMBER99chi force fields are compared with NMR results. For each nucleoside and force field, 10 individual molecular dynamics simulations of 30 ns each were run. For cytidine with AMBER99chi force field, each molecular dynamics simulation time was extended to 120 ns for convergence purposes. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, including one-dimensional (1D) (1)H, steady-state 1D (1)H nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE), and transient 1D (1)H NOE, was used to determine the sugar puckering and preferred base orientation with respect to the ribose of cytidine and uridine. The AMBER99 force field overestimates the population of syn conformations of the base orientation and of C2'-endo sugar puckering of the pyrimidines, while the AMBER99chi force field's predictions are more consistent with NMR results. Moreover, the AMBER99 force field prefers high anti conformations with glycosidic dihedral angles around 310 degrees for the base orientation of purines. The AMBER99chi force field prefers anti conformations around 185 degrees , which is more consistent with the quantum mechanical calculations and known 3D structures of folded ribonucleic acids (RNAs). Evidently, the AMBER99chi force field predicts the structural characteristics of ribonucleosides better than the AMBER99 force field and should improve structural and thermodynamic predictions of RNA structures.

Equilibrium simulations of proteins using molecular fragment replacement and NMR chemical shifts.

PubMed

Boomsma, Wouter; Tian, Pengfei; Frellsen, Jes; Ferkinghoff-Borg, Jesper; Hamelryck, Thomas; Lindorff-Larsen, Kresten; Vendruscolo, Michele

2014-09-23

Methods of protein structure determination based on NMR chemical shifts are becoming increasingly common. The most widely used approaches adopt the molecular fragment replacement strategy, in which structural fragments are repeatedly reassembled into different complete conformations in molecular simulations. Although these approaches are effective in generating individual structures consistent with the chemical shift data, they do not enable the sampling of the conformational space of proteins with correct statistical weights. Here, we present a method of molecular fragment replacement that makes it possible to perform equilibrium simulations of proteins, and hence to determine their free energy landscapes. This strategy is based on the encoding of the chemical shift information in a probabilistic model in Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations. First, we demonstrate that with this approach it is possible to fold proteins to their native states starting from extended structures. Second, we show that the method satisfies the detailed balance condition and hence it can be used to carry out an equilibrium sampling from the Boltzmann distribution corresponding to the force field used in the simulations. Third, by comparing the results of simulations carried out with and without chemical shift restraints we describe quantitatively the effects that these restraints have on the free energy landscapes of proteins. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the molecular fragment replacement strategy can be used in combination with chemical shift information to characterize not only the native structures of proteins but also their conformational fluctuations.

Publication of nuclear magnetic resonance experimental data with semantic web technology and the application thereof to biomedical research of proteins.

PubMed

Yokochi, Masashi; Kobayashi, Naohiro; Ulrich, Eldon L; Kinjo, Akira R; Iwata, Takeshi; Ioannidis, Yannis E; Livny, Miron; Markley, John L; Nakamura, Haruki; Kojima, Chojiro; Fujiwara, Toshimichi

2016-05-05

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic data for biological macromolecules archived at the BioMagResBank (BMRB) provide a rich resource of biophysical information at atomic resolution. The NMR data archived in NMR-STAR ASCII format have been implemented in a relational database. However, it is still fairly difficult for users to retrieve data from the NMR-STAR files or the relational database in association with data from other biological databases. To enhance the interoperability of the BMRB database, we present a full conversion of BMRB entries to two standard structured data formats, XML and RDF, as common open representations of the NMR-STAR data. Moreover, a SPARQL endpoint has been deployed. The described case study demonstrates that a simple query of the SPARQL endpoints of the BMRB, UniProt, and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), can be used in NMR and structure-based analysis of proteins combined with information of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their phenotypes. We have developed BMRB/XML and BMRB/RDF and demonstrate their use in performing a federated SPARQL query linking the BMRB to other databases through standard semantic web technologies. This will facilitate data exchange across diverse information resources.

Junctions between i-motif tetramers in supramolecular structures

PubMed Central

Guittet, Eric; Renciuk, Daniel; Leroy, Jean-Louis

2012-01-01

The symmetry of i-motif tetramers gives to cytidine-rich oligonucleotides the capacity to associate into supramolecular structures (sms). In order to determine how the tetramers are linked together in such structures, we have measured by gel filtration chromatography and NMR the formation and dissociation kinetics of sms built by oligonucleotides containing two short C stretches separated by a non-cytidine-base. We show that a stretch of only two cytidines either at the 3′- or 5′-end is long enough to link the tetramers into sms. The analysis of the properties of sms formed by oligonucleotides differing by the length of the oligo-C stretches, the sequence orientation and the nature of the non-C base provides a model of the junction connecting the tetramers in sms. PMID:22362739

A laboratory study to estimate pore geometric parameters of sandstones using complex conductivity and nuclear magnetic resonance for permeability prediction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Osterman, Gordon; Keating, Kristina; Binley, Andrew

Here, we estimate parameters from the Katz and Thompson permeability model using laboratory complex electrical conductivity (CC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data to build permeability models parameterized with geophysical measurements. We use the Katz and Thompson model based on the characteristic hydraulic length scale, determined from mercury injection capillary pressure estimates of pore throat size, and the intrinsic formation factor, determined from multisalinity conductivity measurements, for this purpose. Two new permeability models are tested, one based on CC data and another that incorporates CC and NMR data. From measurements made on forty-five sandstone cores collected from fifteen different formations,more » we evaluate how well the CC relaxation time and the NMR transverse relaxation times compare to the characteristic hydraulic length scale and how well the formation factor estimated from CC parameters compares to the intrinsic formation factor. We find: (1) the NMR transverse relaxation time models the characteristic hydraulic length scale more accurately than the CC relaxation time (R 2 of 0.69 and 0.33 and normalized root mean square errors (NRMSE) of 0.16 and 0.21, respectively); (2) the CC estimated formation factor is well correlated with the intrinsic formation factor (NRMSE50.23). We demonstrate that that permeability estimates from the joint-NMR-CC model (NRMSE50.13) compare favorably to estimates from the Katz and Thompson model (NRMSE50.074). Lastly, this model advances the capability of the Katz and Thompson model by employing parameters measureable in the field giving it the potential to more accurately estimate permeability using geophysical measurements than are currently possible.« less

A laboratory study to estimate pore geometric parameters of sandstones using complex conductivity and nuclear magnetic resonance for permeability prediction

DOE PAGES

Osterman, Gordon; Keating, Kristina; Binley, Andrew; ...

2016-03-18

Here, we estimate parameters from the Katz and Thompson permeability model using laboratory complex electrical conductivity (CC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data to build permeability models parameterized with geophysical measurements. We use the Katz and Thompson model based on the characteristic hydraulic length scale, determined from mercury injection capillary pressure estimates of pore throat size, and the intrinsic formation factor, determined from multisalinity conductivity measurements, for this purpose. Two new permeability models are tested, one based on CC data and another that incorporates CC and NMR data. From measurements made on forty-five sandstone cores collected from fifteen different formations,more » we evaluate how well the CC relaxation time and the NMR transverse relaxation times compare to the characteristic hydraulic length scale and how well the formation factor estimated from CC parameters compares to the intrinsic formation factor. We find: (1) the NMR transverse relaxation time models the characteristic hydraulic length scale more accurately than the CC relaxation time (R 2 of 0.69 and 0.33 and normalized root mean square errors (NRMSE) of 0.16 and 0.21, respectively); (2) the CC estimated formation factor is well correlated with the intrinsic formation factor (NRMSE50.23). We demonstrate that that permeability estimates from the joint-NMR-CC model (NRMSE50.13) compare favorably to estimates from the Katz and Thompson model (NRMSE50.074). Lastly, this model advances the capability of the Katz and Thompson model by employing parameters measureable in the field giving it the potential to more accurately estimate permeability using geophysical measurements than are currently possible.« less

Solid-state NMR characterization of cross-linking in EPDM/PP blends from 1H-13C polarization transfer dynamics.

PubMed

Aluas, Mihaela; Filip, Claudiu

2005-05-01

A novel approach for solid-state NMR characterization of cross-linking in polymer blends from the analysis of (1)H-(13)C polarization transfer dynamics is introduced. It extends the model of residual dipolar couplings under permanent cross-linking, typically used to describe (1)H transverse relaxation techniques, by considering a more realistic distribution of the order parameter along a polymer chain in rubbers. Based on a systematic numerical analysis, the extended model was shown to accurately reproduce all the characteristic features of the cross-polarization curves measured on such materials. This is particularly important for investigating blends of great technological potential, like thermoplastic elastomers, where (13)C high-resolution techniques, such as CP-MAS, are indispensable to selectively investigate structural and dynamical properties of the desired component. The validity of the new approach was demonstrated using the example of the CP build-up curves measured on a well resolved EPDM resonance line in a series of EPDM/PP blends.

Structure of Multi-component Basaltic Glasses under Static and Dynamic Compression: Implications for Mantle Melting and Impact Processes on Planetary Surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, S.; Mosenfelder, J. L.; Tschauner, O. D.; Asimow, P. D.; Park, S.; Kim, H.

2012-12-01

The structures of basaltic melts under both static and dynamic compression are essential to understand the changes in the corresponding melt properties and to provide atomistic insights into impact-induced events in Earth's crust and planetary surfaces. Despite the importance, structural changes in basaltic glasses due both to dynamic and static compression have not been well understood. The advances in multi-nuclear NMR and multi-edge inelastic x-ray scattering allow us to obtain details of the pressure-induced changes in the degree of melt polymerization and cation coordination number in multi-component melts under static and dynamic compression (e.g. Lee, Proc. Nat. Aca. Sci. 2011, 108, 6847; Sol. St. NMR. 2010, 38, 45; Lee et al. Geophys. Res. Letts. 39 5306; Proc. Nat. Aca. Sci. 2008, 105, 7925). Here, we explore the structures of shock compressed silicate glass with a diopside-anorthite eutectic composition (Di64An36), a common Fe-free model basaltic composition, using oxygen K-edge X-ray Raman scattering and high- resolution Al-27 solid-state NMR spectroscopy and report details of shock-induced changes in the atomic configurations. A topologically driven densification of the Di64An36 glass is indicated by the increase in oxygen K-edge energy for the glass upon shock compression with peak pressure up to 20 GPa. The first experimental evidence of the increase in the fraction of highly coordinated Al in shock compressed glass is found in the Al-27 NMR spectra. This result provides atomistic insights into shock compression in basaltic glasses and allows us to microscopically constrain the magnitude of impact events or relevant processes involving natural basalts on Earth and planetary surfaces. We also report the first high pressure multi-nuclear NMR spectrum for basaltic glass up to 5 GPa. While [4]Al species is dominant at 1atm, the significant fraction of [5,6]Al in the glass is apparent, leading to changes in oxygen connectivity in the multi-component. The prevalence of highly coordinated Al and high energy oxygen cluster in the basaltic melts at 5 GPa implies that thermodynamic properties (e.g. element portioning coefficient between melts and crystal) of primary mantle melts formed at mid-ocean ridge (~150 km in depth) should be largely different from what can be predicted for silicate melts at 1 atm. The structural transitions in model basaltic glass at high pressure provide atomistic origins of anomalous mantle composition based on MORB at 1atm that is different from the prediction from chondritic meteorite (e.g. missing Si content in the primitive mantle).

Ab initio/GIAO-CCSD(T) (13)C NMR study of the rearrangement and dynamic aspects of rapidly equilibrating tertiary carbocations, C6H13(+) and C7H15(+).

PubMed

Olah, George A; Prakash, G K Surya; Rasul, Golam

2016-01-05

The rearrangement pathways of the equilibrating tertiary carbocations, 2,3-dimethyl-2-butyl cation (C6H13(+), 1), 2,3,3-trimethyl-2-butyl cation (C7H15(+), 5) and 2,3-dimethyl-2-pentyl cation (C7H15(+), 8 and 9) were investigated using the ab initio/GIAO-CCSD(T) (13)C NMR method. Comparing the calculated and experimental (13)C NMR chemical shifts of a series of carbocations indicates that excellent prediction of δ(13)C could be achieved through scaling. In the case of symmetrical equilibrating cations (1 and 5) the Wagner-Meerwein 1,2-hydride and 1,2-methide shifts, respectively, produce the same structure. This indicates that the overall (13)C NMR chemical shifts are conserved and independent of temperature. However, in the case of unsymmetrical equilibrating cations (8 and 9) the Wagner-Meerwein shift produces different tertiary structures, which have slightly different thermodynamic stabilities and, thus, different spectra. At the MP4(SDTQ)/cc-pVTZ//MP2/cc-pVTZ + ZPE level structure 8 is only 90 calories/mol more stable than structure 9. Based on computed (13)C NMR chemical shift calculations, mole fractions of these isomers were determined by assuming the observed chemical shifts are due to the weighted average of the chemical shifts of the static ions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pilgrim, C. D.; Callahan, J. R.; Colla, C. A.

Here, one-dimensional 27Al, 23Na Magic-Angle-Spinning (MAS) NMR and 27Al Multiple-Quantum Magic-Angle-Spinning NMR (MQMAS) measurements are reported for the δ-isomer of the Al 13 Keggin structure at high spinning speed and 14.1 T field. Values for the CQ and η parameters are on the same scale as those seen in other isomers of the Al 13 structure. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed for comparison to the experimental fits using the B3PW91/6-31+G* and PBE0/6-31+G* levels of theory, with the Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM).

On the structure of amorphous calcium carbonate--a detailed study by solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Nebel, Holger; Neumann, Markus; Mayer, Christian; Epple, Matthias

2008-09-01

The calcium carbonate phases calcite, aragonite, vaterite, monohydrocalcite (calcium carbonate monohydrate), and ikaite (calcium carbonate hexahydrate) were studied by solid-state NMR spectroscopy ( (1)H and (13)C). Further model compounds were sodium hydrogencarbonate, potassium hydrogencarbonate, and calcium hydroxide. With the help of these data, the structure of synthetically prepared additive-free amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) was analyzed. ACC contains molecular water (as H 2O), a small amount of mobile hydroxide, and no hydrogencarbonate. This supports the concept of ACC as a transient precursor in the formation of calcium carbonate biominerals.

[Non-invasive analysis of proteins in living cells using NMR spectroscopy].

PubMed

Tochio, Hidehito; Murayama, Shuhei; Inomata, Kohsuke; Morimoto, Daichi; Ohno, Ayako; Shirakawa, Masahiro

2015-01-01

NMR spectroscopy enables structural analyses of proteins and has been widely used in the structural biology field in recent decades. NMR spectroscopy can be applied to proteins inside living cells, allowing characterization of their structures and dynamics in intracellular environments. The simplest "in-cell NMR" approach employs bacterial cells; in this approach, live Escherichia coli cells overexpressing a specific protein are subjected to NMR. The cells are grown in an NMR active isotope-enriched medium to ensure that the overexpressed proteins are labeled with the stable isotopes. Thus the obtained NMR spectra, which are derived from labeled proteins, contain atomic-level information about the structure and dynamics of the proteins. Recent progress enables us to work with higher eukaryotic cells such as HeLa and HEK293 cells, for which a number of techniques have been developed to achieve isotope labeling of the specific target protein. In this review, we describe successful use of electroporation for in-cell NMR. In addition, (19)F-NMR to characterize protein-ligand interactions in cells is presented. Because (19)F nuclei rarely exist in natural cells, when (19)F-labeled proteins are delivered into cells and (19)F-NMR signals are observed, one can safely ascertain that these signals originate from the delivered proteins and not other molecules.

Raman and surface enhanced Raman scattering study of the orientation of cruciform 9,10-anthracene thiophene and furan derivatives deposited on a gold colloidal surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñoz-Pérez, J.; Leyton, P.; Paipa, C.; Soto, J. P.; Brunet, J.; Gómez-Jeria, J. S.; Campos-Vallette, M. M.

2016-10-01

The 9,10-di(thiophen-2-yl)anthracene (TAT), 9,10-di(furan-2-yl)anthracene (FAF) and 2-[(10-(thiophen-2-yl)anthracen-9-yl)]furan (TAF) cruciform molecular systems were synthesized using one-step coupling reactions and structurally characterized via Raman, infrared, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectroscopies. The orientation of the analytes on a gold colloidal surface was inferred from a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) study. The metal surface interaction was driven by the S and O atoms of the thiophene and furan α-substituents, and the plane of the anthracene fragment remained parallel to the surface. Theoretical calculations based on a simplified molecular model for the analyte-surface interaction provide a good representation of the experimental data.

31P NMR Characterization of Tricin and Its Structurally Similar Flavonoids

DOE PAGES

Li, Mi; Pu, Yunqiao; Tschaplinski, Timothy J.; ...

2017-04-24

Tricin, a flavonoid metabolite, has been recently identified as a component of lignin in select monocot plants. This finding has initiated consideration on updating the lignin biosynthesis pathway. Here, we report a rapid method of determination of tricin in corn stover lignin, based on 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy by phosphitylating with 2-chloro-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (TMDP). Nine other flavonoids, with similar structure to tricin, have also been examined using the current method. The application of 31P NMR enables rapid identification of tricin-like flavonoids in the heterogeneous lignin polymer. The well resolved spectroscopic peaks from these derivatized flavonoids and lignin functional groupsmore » provide important information for the determination of flavonoids individually or their association with lignin.« less

31P NMR Characterization of Tricin and Its Structurally Similar Flavonoids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Mi; Pu, Yunqiao; Tschaplinski, Timothy J.

Tricin, a flavonoid metabolite, has been recently identified as a component of lignin in select monocot plants. This finding has initiated consideration on updating the lignin biosynthesis pathway. Here, we report a rapid method of determination of tricin in corn stover lignin, based on 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy by phosphitylating with 2-chloro-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (TMDP). Nine other flavonoids, with similar structure to tricin, have also been examined using the current method. The application of 31P NMR enables rapid identification of tricin-like flavonoids in the heterogeneous lignin polymer. The well resolved spectroscopic peaks from these derivatized flavonoids and lignin functional groupsmore » provide important information for the determination of flavonoids individually or their association with lignin.« less

NMR-based platform for fragment-based lead discovery used in screening BRD4-targeted compounds

PubMed Central

Yu, Jun-lan; Chen, Tian-tian; Zhou, Chen; Lian, Fu-lin; Tang, Xu-long; Wen, Yi; Shen, Jing-kang; Xu, Ye-chun; Xiong, Bing; Zhang, Nai-xia

2016-01-01

Aim: Fragment-based lead discovery (FBLD) is a complementary approach in drug research and development. In this study, we established an NMR-based FBLD platform that was used to screen novel scaffolds targeting human bromodomain of BRD4, and investigated the binding interactions between hit compounds and the target protein. Methods: 1D NMR techniques were primarily used to generate the fragment library and to screen compounds. The inhibitory activity of hits on the first bromodomain of BRD4 [BRD4(I)] was examined using fluorescence anisotropy binding assay. 2D NMR and X-ray crystallography were applied to characterize the binding interactions between hit compounds and the target protein. Results: An NMR-based fragment library containing 539 compounds was established, which were clustered into 56 groups (8–10 compounds in each group). Eight hits with new scaffolds were found to inhibit BRD4(I). Four out of the 8 hits (compounds 1, 2, 8 and 9) had IC50 values of 100–260 μmol/L, demonstrating their potential for further BRD4-targeted hit-to-lead optimization. Analysis of the binding interactions revealed that compounds 1 and 2 shared a common quinazolin core structure and bound to BRD4(I) in a non-acetylated lysine mimetic mode. Conclusion: An NMR-based platform for FBLD was established and used in discovery of BRD4-targeted compounds. Four potential hit-to-lead optimization candidates have been found, two of them bound to BRD4(I) in a non-acetylated lysine mimetic mode, being selective BRD4(I) inhibitors. PMID:27238211

Solid state NMR: The essential technology for helical membrane protein structural characterization

PubMed Central

Cross, Timothy A.; Ekanayake, Vindana; Paulino, Joana; Wright, Anna

2014-01-01

NMR spectroscopy of helical membrane proteins has been very challenging on multiple fronts. The expression and purification of these proteins while maintaining functionality has consumed countless graduate student hours. Sample preparations have depended on whether solution or solid-state NMR spectroscopy was to be performed – neither have been easy. In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that membrane mimic environments influence the structural result. Indeed, in these recent years we have rediscovered that Nobel laureate, Christian Anfinsen, did not say that protein structure was exclusively dictated by the amino acid sequence, but rather by the sequence in a given environment (Anfinsen, 1973) [106]. The environment matters, molecular interactions with the membrane environment are significant and many examples of distorted, non-native membrane protein structures have recently been documented in the literature. However, solid-state NMR structures of helical membrane proteins in proteoliposomes and bilayers are proving to be native structures that permit a high resolution characterization of their functional states. Indeed, solid-state NMR is uniquely able to characterize helical membrane protein structures in lipid environments without detergents. Recent progress in expression, purification, reconstitution, sample preparation and in the solid-state NMR spectroscopy of both oriented samples and magic angle spinning samples has demonstrated that helical membrane protein structures can be achieved in a timely fashion. Indeed, this is a spectacular opportunity for the NMR community to have a major impact on biomedical research through the solid-state NMR spectroscopy of these proteins. PMID:24412099

Solid state NMR: The essential technology for helical membrane protein structural characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cross, Timothy A.; Ekanayake, Vindana; Paulino, Joana; Wright, Anna

2014-02-01

NMR spectroscopy of helical membrane proteins has been very challenging on multiple fronts. The expression and purification of these proteins while maintaining functionality has consumed countless graduate student hours. Sample preparations have depended on whether solution or solid-state NMR spectroscopy was to be performed - neither have been easy. In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that membrane mimic environments influence the structural result. Indeed, in these recent years we have rediscovered that Nobel laureate, Christian Anfinsen, did not say that protein structure was exclusively dictated by the amino acid sequence, but rather by the sequence in a given environment (Anfinsen, 1973) [106]. The environment matters, molecular interactions with the membrane environment are significant and many examples of distorted, non-native membrane protein structures have recently been documented in the literature. However, solid-state NMR structures of helical membrane proteins in proteoliposomes and bilayers are proving to be native structures that permit a high resolution characterization of their functional states. Indeed, solid-state NMR is uniquely able to characterize helical membrane protein structures in lipid environments without detergents. Recent progress in expression, purification, reconstitution, sample preparation and in the solid-state NMR spectroscopy of both oriented samples and magic angle spinning samples has demonstrated that helical membrane protein structures can be achieved in a timely fashion. Indeed, this is a spectacular opportunity for the NMR community to have a major impact on biomedical research through the solid-state NMR spectroscopy of these proteins.

Interactive Design Strategy for a Multi-Functional PAMAM Dendrimer-Based Nano-Therapeutic Using Computational Models and Experimental Analysis

PubMed Central

Lee, Inhan; Williams, Christopher R.; Athey, Brian D.; Baker, James R.

2010-01-01

Molecular dynamics simulations of nano-therapeutics as a final product and of all intermediates in the process of generating a multi-functional nano-therapeutic based on a poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer were performed along with chemical analyses of each of them. The actual structures of the dendrimers were predicted, based on potentiometric titration, gel permeation chromatography, and NMR. The chemical analyses determined the numbers of functional molecules, based on the actual structure of the dendrimer. Molecular dynamics simulations calculated the configurations of the intermediates and the radial distributions of functional molecules, based on their numbers. This interactive process between the simulation results and the chemical analyses provided a further strategy to design the next reaction steps and to gain insight into the products at each chemical reaction step. PMID:20700476

1H NMR-Based Metabolomic Analysis of Sub-Lethal Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Exposure to the Earthworm, Eisenia fetida, in Soil

PubMed Central

Lankadurai, Brian P.; Furdui, Vasile I.; Reiner, Eric J.; Simpson, André J.; Simpson, Myrna J.

2013-01-01

1H NMR-based metabolomics was used to measure the response of Eisenia fetida earthworms after exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in soil. Earthworms were exposed to a range of PFOS concentrations (five, 10, 25, 50, 100 or 150 mg/kg) for two, seven and fourteen days. Earthworm tissues were extracted and analyzed by 1H NMR. Multivariate statistical analysis of the metabolic response of E. fetida to PFOS exposure identified time-dependent responses that were comprised of two separate modes of action: a non-polar narcosis type mechanism after two days of exposure and increased fatty acid oxidation after seven and fourteen days of exposure. Univariate statistical analysis revealed that 2-hexyl-5-ethyl-3-furansulfonate (HEFS), betaine, leucine, arginine, glutamate, maltose and ATP are potential indicators of PFOS exposure, as the concentrations of these metabolites fluctuated significantly. Overall, NMR-based metabolomic analysis suggests elevated fatty acid oxidation, disruption in energy metabolism and biological membrane structure and a possible interruption of ATP synthesis. These conclusions obtained from analysis of the metabolic profile in response to sub-lethal PFOS exposure indicates that NMR-based metabolomics is an excellent discovery tool when the mode of action (MOA) of contaminants is not clearly defined. PMID:24958147

Synthesis and structure elucidation of a series of pyranochromene chalcones and flavanones using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.

PubMed

Pawar, Sunayna S; Koorbanally, Neil A

2014-06-01

A series of novel pyranochromene chalcones and corresponding flavanones were synthesized. This is the first report on the confirmation of the absolute configuration of chromene-based flavanones using X-ray crystallography. These compounds were characterized by 2D NMR spectroscopy, and their assignments are reported herein. The 3D structure of the chalcone 3b and flavanone 4g was determined by X-ray crystallography, and the structure of the flavanone was confirmed to be in the S configuration at C-2. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Investigation of Local Structures in Cation-ordered Microwave Dielectric A Solid-state NMR and First Principle Calculation Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalfarisi, Rony G.

Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful method to probe the local structure and dynamics of a system. In powdered solids, the nuclear spins experience various anisotropic interactions which depend on the molecular orientation. These anisotropic interactions make ssNMR very useful as they give a specific appearance to the resonance lines of the spectra. The position and shape of these resonance lines can be related to local structure and dynamics of the system under study. My research interest has focused around studying local structures and dynamics of quadrupolar nuclei in materials using ssNMR spectroscopy. 7Li and 93Nb ssNMR magic angle spinning (MAS) spectra, acquired at 17.6 and 7.06 T, have been used to evaluate the structural and dynamical properties of cation-ordered microwave dielectric materials. Microwave dielectric materials are essential in the application of wireless telecommunication, biomedical engineering, and other scientific and industrial implementations that use radio and microwave signals. The study of the local environment with respect to average structure, such as X-ray diffraction study, is essential for the better understanding of the correlations between structures and properties of these materials. The investigation for short and medium range can be performed with the use of ssNMR techniques. Even though XRD results show cationic ordering at the B-site (third coordination sphere), NMR spectra show a presence of disorder materials. This was indicated by the observation of a distribution in NMR parameters derived from experimental . {93}Nb NMR spectraand supported by theoretical calculations.

Thermodynamic and structural characterization of 2′-nitrogen-modified RNA duplexes

PubMed Central

Pham, John W.; Radhakrishnan, Ishwar; Sontheimer, Erik J.

2004-01-01

2′-aminonucleosides are commonly used as sites of post-synthetic chemical modification within nucleic acids. As part of a larger cross-linking strategy, we appended alkyl groups onto the N2′ position of 2′-amino-modified RNAs via 2′-ureido and 2′-amido linkages. We have characterized the thermodynamics of 2′-amino, 2′-alkylamido and 2′-alkylureido-modified RNA duplexes and show that 2′-ureido-modified RNAs are significantly more stable than analogous 2′-amido-modified RNAs. Using NMR spectroscopy and NMR-based molecular modeling of 2′-modified RNA duplexes, we examined the effects that 2′-nitrogen modifications have on RNA helices. Our data suggest that the 2′-ureido group forms a specific intra-nucleoside interaction that cannot occur within 2′-amido-modified helices. These results indicate that 2′-ureido modifications are superior to analogous 2′-amido ones for applications that require stable base pairing. PMID:15247335

Reduced dimensionality (3,2)D NMR experiments and their automated analysis: implications to high-throughput structural studies on proteins.

PubMed

Reddy, Jithender G; Kumar, Dinesh; Hosur, Ramakrishna V

2015-02-01

Protein NMR spectroscopy has expanded dramatically over the last decade into a powerful tool for the study of their structure, dynamics, and interactions. The primary requirement for all such investigations is sequence-specific resonance assignment. The demand now is to obtain this information as rapidly as possible and in all types of protein systems, stable/unstable, soluble/insoluble, small/big, structured/unstructured, and so on. In this context, we introduce here two reduced dimensionality experiments – (3,2)D-hNCOcanH and (3,2)D-hNcoCAnH – which enhance the previously described 2D NMR-based assignment methods quite significantly. Both the experiments can be recorded in just about 2-3 h each and hence would be of immense value for high-throughput structural proteomics and drug discovery research. The applicability of the method has been demonstrated using alpha-helical bovine apo calbindin-D9k P43M mutant (75 aa) protein. Automated assignment of this data using AUTOBA has been presented, which enhances the utility of these experiments. The backbone resonance assignments so derived are utilized to estimate secondary structures and the backbone fold using Web-based algorithms. Taken together, we believe that the method and the protocol proposed here can be used for routine high-throughput structural studies of proteins. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Concurrent display of both α- and β-turns in a model peptide.

PubMed

Srinivas, Deekonda; Vijayadas, Kuruppanthara N; Gonnade, Rajesh; Phalgune, Usha D; Rajamohanan, Pattuparambil R; Sanjayan, Gangadhar J

2011-08-21

This article describes a model peptide that concurrently displays both α- and β-turns, as demonstrated by structural investigations using single crystal X-ray crystallography and solution-state NMR studies. The motif reported herein has the potential for the design of novel conformationally ordered synthetic oligomers with structural architectures distinct from those classically observed.

Non-Uniform Sampling and J-UNIO Automation for Efficient Protein NMR Structure Determination.

PubMed

Didenko, Tatiana; Proudfoot, Andrew; Dutta, Samit Kumar; Serrano, Pedro; Wüthrich, Kurt

2015-08-24

High-resolution structure determination of small proteins in solution is one of the big assets of NMR spectroscopy in structural biology. Improvements in the efficiency of NMR structure determination by advances in NMR experiments and automation of data handling therefore attracts continued interest. Here, non-uniform sampling (NUS) of 3D heteronuclear-resolved [(1)H,(1)H]-NOESY data yielded two- to three-fold savings of instrument time for structure determinations of soluble proteins. With the 152-residue protein NP_372339.1 from Staphylococcus aureus and the 71-residue protein NP_346341.1 from Streptococcus pneumonia we show that high-quality structures can be obtained with NUS NMR data, which are equally well amenable to robust automated analysis as the corresponding uniformly sampled data. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

13C CP/MAS NMR Studies of Hemoprotein Models with and without an Axial Hindered Base: (13)C Shielding Tensors and Comparison with Hemoproteins and X-ray Structural Data.

PubMed

Gerothanassis, I. P.; Momenteau, M.; Barrie, P. J.; Kalodimos, C. G.; Hawkes, G. E.

1996-04-24

13C cross-polarization magic-angle-spinning (CP/MAS) NMR spectra of several carbonmonoxide (93-99% (13)C enriched) hemoprotein models with 1,2-dimethylimidazole (1,2-diMeIm) and 1-methylimidazole (1-MeIm) as axial ligands are reported. This enables the (13)CO spinning sideband manifold to be measured and hence the principal components of the (13)CO chemical shift tensor to be obtained. Negative polar interactions in the binding pocket of the cap porphyrin model and inhibition of Fe-->CO back-donation result in a reduction in shielding anisotropy; on the contrary, positive distal polar interactions result in an increase in the shielding anisotropy and asymmetry parameter in some models. It appears that the axial hindered base 1,2-dimethylimidazole has little direct effect on the local geometry at the CO site, despite higher rates of CO desorption being observed for such complexes. This suggests that the mechanism by which steric interactions are released for the 1,2-diMeIm complexes compared to 1-MeIm complexes does not involve a significant increase in bending of the Fe-C-O unit. The asymmetry of the shielding tensor of all the heme model compounds studied is smaller than that found for horse myoglobin and rabbit hemoglobin.

Factors influencing protein tyrosine nitration – structure-based predictive models

PubMed Central

Bayden, Alexander S.; Yakovlev, Vasily A.; Graves, Paul R.; Mikkelsen, Ross B.; Kellogg, Glen E.

2010-01-01

Models for exploring tyrosine nitration in proteins have been created based on 3D structural features of 20 proteins for which high resolution X-ray crystallographic or NMR data are available and for which nitration of 35 total tyrosines has been experimentally proven under oxidative stress. Factors suggested in previous work to enhance nitration were examined with quantitative structural descriptors. The role of neighboring acidic and basic residues is complex: for the majority of tyrosines that are nitrated the distance to the heteroatom of the closest charged sidechain corresponds to the distance needed for suspected nitrating species to form hydrogen bond bridges between the tyrosine and that charged amino acid. This suggests that such bridges play a very important role in tyrosine nitration. Nitration is generally hindered for tyrosines that are buried and for those tyrosines where there is insufficient space for the nitro group. For in vitro nitration, closed environments with nearby heteroatoms or unsaturated centers that can stabilize radicals are somewhat favored. Four quantitative structure-based models, depending on the conditions of nitration, have been developed for predicting site-specific tyrosine nitration. The best model, relevant for both in vitro and in vivo cases predicts 30 of 35 tyrosine nitrations (positive predictive value) and has a sensitivity of 60/71 (11 false positives). PMID:21172423

NMR-BASED METABOLOMIC STUDIES OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION IN SMALL FISH MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

Metabolomics is now being widely used to obtain complementary information to genomic and proteomic studies. Among the various approaches used in metabolomics, NMR spectroscopy is particularly powerful, in part because it is relatively non-selective, and is amenable to the study o...

Boroxol rings from diffraction data on vitreous boron trioxide.

PubMed

Soper, Alan K

2011-09-14

There has been a considerable debate about the nature of the short range atomic order in vitreous B(2)O(3). Some authorities state that it is not possible to build a model of glassy boron oxide of the correct density containing a large number of six-membered rings which also fits experimental diffraction data, but recent computer simulations appear to overrule that view. To discover which view is correct I use empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR) on existing neutron and x-ray diffraction data to build two models of vitreous B(2)O(3). One of these consists only of single boron and oxygen atoms arranged in a network to reproduce the diffraction data as closely as possible. This model has less than 10% of boron atoms in boroxol rings. The second model is made up of an equimolar mixture of B(3)O(3) hexagonal ring 'molecules' and BO(3) triangular molecules, with no free boron or oxygen atoms. This second model therefore has 75% of the boron atoms in boroxol rings. It is found that both models give closely similar diffraction patterns, suggesting that the diffraction data in this case are not sensitive to the number of boroxol rings present in the structure. This reinforces recent Raman, ab initio, and NMR claims that the percentage of boroxol rings in this material may be as high as 75%. The findings of this study probably explain why some interpretations based on different simulation techniques only find a small fraction of boroxol rings. The results also highlight the power of EPSR for the extraction of accurate atomistic representations of amorphous structures, provided adequate additional, non-scattering data (such as Raman and NMR in this case) are available.

Workshop on High-Field NMR and Biological Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scientists at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory have been working toward the establishment of a new Molecular Science Research Center (MSRC). The primary scientific thrust of this new research center is in the areas of theoretical chemistry, chemical dynamics, surface and interfacial science, and studies on the structure and interactions of biological macromolecules. The MSRC will provide important new capabilities for studies on the structure of biological macromolecules. The MSRC program includes several types of advanced spectroscopic techniques for molecular structure analysis, and a theory and modeling laboratory for molecular mechanics/dynamics calculations and graphics. It is the goal to closely integrate experimental and theoretical studies on macromolecular structure, and to join these research efforts with those of the molecular biological programs to provide new insights into the structure/function relationships of biological macromolecules. One of the areas of structural biology on which initial efforts in the MSRC will be focused is the application of high field, 2-D NMR to the study of biological macromolecules. First, there is interest in obtaining 3-D structural information on large proteins and oligonucleotides. Second, one of the primary objectives is to closely link theoretical approaches to molecular structure analysis with the results obtained in experimental research using NMR and other spectroscopies.

Automatic NMR-Based Identification of Chemical Reaction Types in Mixtures of Co-Occurring Reactions

PubMed Central

Latino, Diogo A. R. S.; Aires-de-Sousa, João

2014-01-01

The combination of chemoinformatics approaches with NMR techniques and the increasing availability of data allow the resolution of problems far beyond the original application of NMR in structure elucidation/verification. The diversity of applications can range from process monitoring, metabolic profiling, authentication of products, to quality control. An application related to the automatic analysis of complex mixtures concerns mixtures of chemical reactions. We encoded mixtures of chemical reactions with the difference between the 1H NMR spectra of the products and the reactants. All the signals arising from all the reactants of the co-occurring reactions were taken together (a simulated spectrum of the mixture of reactants) and the same was done for products. The difference spectrum is taken as the representation of the mixture of chemical reactions. A data set of 181 chemical reactions was used, each reaction manually assigned to one of 6 types. From this dataset, we simulated mixtures where two reactions of different types would occur simultaneously. Automatic learning methods were trained to classify the reactions occurring in a mixture from the 1H NMR-based descriptor of the mixture. Unsupervised learning methods (self-organizing maps) produced a reasonable clustering of the mixtures by reaction type, and allowed the correct classification of 80% and 63% of the mixtures in two independent test sets of different similarity to the training set. With random forests (RF), the percentage of correct classifications was increased to 99% and 80% for the same test sets. The RF probability associated to the predictions yielded a robust indication of their reliability. This study demonstrates the possibility of applying machine learning methods to automatically identify types of co-occurring chemical reactions from NMR data. Using no explicit structural information about the reactions participants, reaction elucidation is performed without structure elucidation of the molecules in the mixtures. PMID:24551112

Automatic NMR-based identification of chemical reaction types in mixtures of co-occurring reactions.

PubMed

Latino, Diogo A R S; Aires-de-Sousa, João

2014-01-01

The combination of chemoinformatics approaches with NMR techniques and the increasing availability of data allow the resolution of problems far beyond the original application of NMR in structure elucidation/verification. The diversity of applications can range from process monitoring, metabolic profiling, authentication of products, to quality control. An application related to the automatic analysis of complex mixtures concerns mixtures of chemical reactions. We encoded mixtures of chemical reactions with the difference between the (1)H NMR spectra of the products and the reactants. All the signals arising from all the reactants of the co-occurring reactions were taken together (a simulated spectrum of the mixture of reactants) and the same was done for products. The difference spectrum is taken as the representation of the mixture of chemical reactions. A data set of 181 chemical reactions was used, each reaction manually assigned to one of 6 types. From this dataset, we simulated mixtures where two reactions of different types would occur simultaneously. Automatic learning methods were trained to classify the reactions occurring in a mixture from the (1)H NMR-based descriptor of the mixture. Unsupervised learning methods (self-organizing maps) produced a reasonable clustering of the mixtures by reaction type, and allowed the correct classification of 80% and 63% of the mixtures in two independent test sets of different similarity to the training set. With random forests (RF), the percentage of correct classifications was increased to 99% and 80% for the same test sets. The RF probability associated to the predictions yielded a robust indication of their reliability. This study demonstrates the possibility of applying machine learning methods to automatically identify types of co-occurring chemical reactions from NMR data. Using no explicit structural information about the reactions participants, reaction elucidation is performed without structure elucidation of the molecules in the mixtures.

Recent Advances in Characterization of Lignin Polymer by Solution-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Methodology

PubMed Central

Wen, Jia-Long; Sun, Shao-Long; Xue, Bai-Liang; Sun, Run-Cang

2013-01-01

The demand for efficient utilization of biomass induces a detailed analysis of the fundamental chemical structures of biomass, especially the complex structures of lignin polymers, which have long been recognized for their negative impact on biorefinery. Traditionally, it has been attempted to reveal the complicated and heterogeneous structure of lignin by a series of chemical analyses, such as thioacidolysis (TA), nitrobenzene oxidation (NBO), and derivatization followed by reductive cleavage (DFRC). Recent advances in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology undoubtedly have made solution-state NMR become the most widely used technique in structural characterization of lignin due to its versatility in illustrating structural features and structural transformations of lignin polymers. As one of the most promising diagnostic tools, NMR provides unambiguous evidence for specific structures as well as quantitative structural information. The recent advances in two-dimensional solution-state NMR techniques for structural analysis of lignin in isolated and whole cell wall states (in situ), as well as their applications are reviewed. PMID:28809313

Using 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts to determine cyclic peptide conformations: a combined molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics approach.

PubMed

Nguyen, Q Nhu N; Schwochert, Joshua; Tantillo, Dean J; Lokey, R Scott

2018-05-10

Solving conformations of cyclic peptides can provide insight into structure-activity and structure-property relationships, which can help in the design of compounds with improved bioactivity and/or ADME characteristics. The most common approaches for determining the structures of cyclic peptides are based on NMR-derived distance restraints obtained from NOESY or ROESY cross-peak intensities, and 3J-based dihedral restraints using the Karplus relationship. Unfortunately, these observables are often too weak, sparse, or degenerate to provide unequivocal, high-confidence solution structures, prompting us to investigate an alternative approach that relies only on 1H and 13C chemical shifts as experimental observables. This method, which we call conformational analysis from NMR and density-functional prediction of low-energy ensembles (CANDLE), uses molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to generate conformer families and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to predict their 1H and 13C chemical shifts. Iterative conformer searches and DFT energy calculations on a cyclic peptide-peptoid hybrid yielded Boltzmann ensembles whose predicted chemical shifts matched the experimental values better than any single conformer. For these compounds, CANDLE outperformed the classic NOE- and 3J-coupling-based approach by disambiguating similar β-turn types and also enabled the structural elucidation of the minor conformer. Through the use of chemical shifts, in conjunction with DFT and MD calculations, CANDLE can help illuminate conformational ensembles of cyclic peptides in solution.

Protein Delivery into Plant Cells: Toward In vivo Structural Biology

PubMed Central

Cedeño, Cesyen; Pauwels, Kris; Tompa, Peter

2017-01-01

Understanding the biologically relevant structural and functional behavior of proteins inside living plant cells is only possible through the combination of structural biology and cell biology. The state-of-the-art structural biology techniques are typically applied to molecules that are isolated from their native context. Although most experimental conditions can be easily controlled while dealing with an isolated, purified protein, a serious shortcoming of such in vitro work is that we cannot mimic the extremely complex intracellular environment in which the protein exists and functions. Therefore, it is highly desirable to investigate proteins in their natural habitat, i.e., within live cells. This is the major ambition of in-cell NMR, which aims to approach structure-function relationship under true in vivo conditions following delivery of labeled proteins into cells under physiological conditions. With a multidisciplinary approach that includes recombinant protein production, confocal fluorescence microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and different intracellular protein delivery strategies, we explore the possibility to develop in-cell NMR studies in living plant cells. While we provide a comprehensive framework to set-up in-cell NMR, we identified the efficient intracellular introduction of isotope-labeled proteins as the major bottleneck. Based on experiments with the paradigmatic intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) Early Response to Dehydration protein 10 and 14, we also established the subcellular localization of ERD14 under abiotic stress. PMID:28469623

A one- and two-dimensional NMR study of the B to Z transition of (m5dC-dG)3 in methanolic solution.

PubMed Central

Feigon, J; Wang, A H; van der Marel, G A; Van Boom, J H; Rich, A

1984-01-01

The deoxyribose hexanucleoside pentaphosphate (m5dC-dG)3 has been studied by 500 MHz 1H NMR in D2O (0.1 M NaCl) and in D2O/deuterated methanol mixtures. Two conformations, in slow equilibrium on the NMR time scale, were detected in methanolic solution. Two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) experiments were used to assign the base and many of the sugar resonances as well as to determine structural features for both conformations. The results were consistent with the an equilibrium in solution between B-DNA and Z-DNA. The majority of the molecules have a B-DNA structure in low-salt D2O and a Z-DNA structure at high methanol concentrations. A cross-strand NOE between methyl groups on adjacent cytosines is observed for Z-DNA but not B-DNA. The B-DNA conformation predominates at low methanol concentrations and is stabilized by increasing temperature, while the Z-DNA conformation predominates at high methanol concentrations and low temperatures. 31P NMR spectra gave results consistent with those obtained by 1H NMR. Comparison of the 31P spectra with those obtained on poly(dG-m5dC) allow assignment of the lower field resonances to GpC in the Z conformation. PMID:6694910

Fragment-Based, Structure-Enabled Discovery of Novel Pyridones and Pyridone Macrocycles as Potent Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal Domain (BET) Family Bromodomain Inhibitors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Le; Pratt, John K.; Soltwedel, Todd

Members of the BET family of bromodomain containing proteins have been identified as potential targets for blocking proliferation in a variety of cancer cell lines. A two-dimensional NMR fragment screen for binders to the bromodomains of BRD4 identified a phenylpyridazinone fragment with a weak binding affinity (1, Ki = 160 μM). SAR investigation of fragment 1, aided by X-ray structure-based design, enabled the synthesis of potent pyridone and macrocyclic pyridone inhibitors exhibiting single digit nanomolar potency in both biochemical and cell based assays. Advanced analogs in these series exhibited high oral exposures in rodent PK studies and demonstrated significant tumormore » growth inhibition efficacy in mouse flank xenograft models.« less

Solution structure of a GAAA tetraloop receptor RNA.

PubMed Central

Butcher, S E; Dieckmann, T; Feigon, J

1997-01-01

The GAAA tetraloop receptor is an 11-nucleotide RNA sequence that participates in the tertiary folding of a variety of large catalytic RNAs by providing a specific binding site for GAAA tetraloops. Here we report the solution structure of the isolated tetraloop receptor as solved by multidimensional, heteronuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The internal loop of the tetraloop receptor has three adenosines stacked in a cross-strand or zipper-like fashion. This arrangement produces a high degree of base stacking within the asymmetric internal loop without extrahelical bases or kinking the helix. Additional interactions within the internal loop include a U. U mismatch pair and a G.U wobble pair. A comparison with the crystal structure of the receptor RNA bound to its tetraloop shows that a conformational change has to occur upon tetraloop binding, which is in good agreement with previous biochemical data. A model for an alternative binding site within the receptor is proposed based on the NMR structure, phylogenetic data and previous crystallographic structures of tetraloop interactions. PMID:9405377

Arginine Kinase. Joint Crystallographic & NMR RDC Analyses link Substrate-Associated Motions to Intrinsic Flexibility

PubMed Central

Niu, Xiaogang; Brüschweiler-Li, Lei; Davulcu, Omar; Skalicky, Jack J.; Brüschweiler, Rafael; Chapman, Michael S.

2010-01-01

The phosphagen kinase family, including creatine and arginine kinases, catalyze the reversible transfer of a “high energy” phosphate between ATP and a phospho-guanidino substrate. They have become a model for the study of both substrate-induced conformational change and intrinsic protein dynamics. Prior crystallographic studies indicated large substrate-induced domain rotations, but differences among a recent set of arginine kinase structures was interpreted as a plastic deformation. Here, the structure of Limulus substrate-free arginine kinase is refined against high resolution crystallographic data and compared quantitatively with NMR chemical shifts and residual dipolar couplings (RDCs). This demonstrates the feasibility of this type of RDC analysis of proteins that are large by NMR standards (42 kDa), and illuminates the solution structure, free from crystal-packing constraints. Detailed comparison of the 1.7 Å resolution substrate-free crystal structure against the 1.2 Å transition state analog complex shows large substrate-induced domain motions which can be broken down into movements of smaller quasi-rigid bodies. The solution state structure of substrate-free arginine kinase is most consistent with an equilibrium of substrate-free and –bound structures, with the substrate-free form dominating, but with varying displacements of the quasi-rigid groups. Rigid-group rotations evident from the crystal structures are about axes previously associated with intrinsic millisecond dynamics using NMR relaxation dispersion. Thus, “substrate-induced” motions are along modes that are intrinsically flexible in the substrate-free enzyme, and likely involve some degree of conformational selection. PMID:21075117

Reliable resonance assignments of selected residues of proteins with known structure based on empirical NMR chemical shift prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Da-Wei; Meng, Dan; Brüschweiler, Rafael

2015-05-01

A robust NMR resonance assignment method is introduced for proteins whose 3D structure has previously been determined by X-ray crystallography. The goal of the method is to obtain a subset of correct assignments from a parsimonious set of 3D NMR experiments of 15N, 13C labeled proteins. Chemical shifts of sequential residue pairs are predicted from static protein structures using PPM_One, which are then compared with the corresponding experimental shifts. Globally optimized weighted matching identifies the assignments that are robust with respect to small changes in NMR cross-peak positions. The method, termed PASSPORT, is demonstrated for 4 proteins with 100-250 amino acids using 3D NHCA and a 3D CBCA(CO)NH experiments as input producing correct assignments with high reliability for 22% of the residues. The method, which works best for Gly, Ala, Ser, and Thr residues, provides assignments that serve as anchor points for additional assignments by both manual and semi-automated methods or they can be directly used for further studies, e.g. on ligand binding, protein dynamics, or post-translational modification, such as phosphorylation.

Reliable Resonance Assignments of Selected Residues of Proteins with Known Structure Based on Empirical NMR Chemical Shift Prediction

PubMed Central

Li, Da-Wei; Meng, Dan; Brüschweiler, Rafael

2015-01-01

A robust NMR resonance assignment method is introduced for proteins whose 3D structure has previously been determined by X-ray crystallography. The goal of the method is to obtain a subset of correct assignments from a parsimonious set of 3D NMR experiments of 15N, 13C labeled proteins. Chemical shifts of sequential residue pairs are predicted from static protein structures using PPM_One, which are then compared with the corresponding experimental shifts. Globally optimized weighted matching identifies the assignments that are robust with respect to small changes in NMR cross-peak positions. The method, termed PASSPORT, is demonstrated for 4 proteins with 100 – 250 amino acids using 3D NHCA and a 3D CBCA(CO)NH experiments as input producing correct assignments with high reliability for 22% of the residues. The method, which works best for Gly, Ala, Ser, and Thr residues, provides assignments that serve as anchor points for additional assignments by both manual and semi-automated methods or they can be directly used for further studies, e.g. on ligand binding, protein dynamics, or post-translational modification, such as phosphorylation. PMID:25863893

Ab initio 27Al NMR chemical shifts and quadrupolar parameters for Al2O3 phases and their precursors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Ary R.; Küçükbenli, Emine; Leitão, Alexandre A.; de Gironcoli, Stefano

2011-12-01

The gauge-including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) method, within the density functional theory (DFT) generalized gradient approximation (GGA) framework, is applied to compute solid state NMR parameters for 27Al in the α, θ, and κ aluminium oxide phases and their gibbsite and boehmite precursors. The results for well established crystalline phases compare very well with available experimental data and provide confidence in the accuracy of the method. For γ-alumina, four structural models proposed in the literature are discussed in terms of their ability to reproduce the experimental spectra also reported in the literature. Among the considered models, the Fd3¯m structure proposed by Paglia [Phys. Rev. BPRBMDO1098-012110.1103/PhysRevB.71.224115 71, 224115 (2005)] shows the best agreement. We attempt to link the theoretical NMR parameters to the local geometry. Chemical shifts depend on coordination number but no further correlation is found with geometrical parameters. Instead, our calculations reveal that, within a given coordination number, a linear correlation exists between chemical shifts and Born effective charges.

Determination of Membrane Protein Structure by Rotational Resonance NMR: Bacteriorhodopsin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creuzet, F.; McDermott, A.; Gebhard, R.; van der Hoef, K.; Spijker-Assink, M. B.; Herzfeld, J.; Lugtenburg, J.; Levitt, M. H.; Griffin, R. G.

1991-02-01

Rotationally resonant magnetization exchange, a new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique for measuring internuclear distances between like spins in solids, was used to determine the distance between the C-8 and C-18 carbons of retinal in two model compounds and in the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin. Magnetization transfer between inequivalent spins with an isotropic shift separation, δ, is driven by magic angle spinning at a speed ω_r that matches the rotational resonance condition δ = nω_r, where n is a small integer. The distances measured in this way for both the 6-s-cis- and 6-s-trans-retinoic acid model compounds agreed well with crystallographically known distances. In bacteriorhodopsin the exchange trajectory between C-8 and C-18 was in good agreement with the internuclear distance for a 6-s-trans configuration [4.2 angstroms (overset{circ}{mathrm A})] and inconsistent with that for a 6-s-cis configuration (3.1 overset{circ}{mathrm A}). The results illustrate that rotational resonance can be used for structural studies in membrane proteins and in other situations where diffraction and solution NMR techniques yield limited information.

Structural characterization/correlation of calorimetric properties of coal fluids: Final report, September 1, 1985--August 31, 1988

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Starling, K.E.; Mallinson, R.G.; Li, M.H.

The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between the calorimetric properties of coal fluids and their molecular functional group composition. Coal fluid samples which have had their calorimetric properties measured are characterized using proton NMR, IR, and elemental analysis. These characterizations are then used in a chemical structural model to determine the composition of the coal fluid in terms of the important molecular functional groups. These functional groups are particularly important in determining the intramolecular based properties of a fluid, such as ideal gas heat capacities. Correlational frameworks for ideal gas heat capacities are then examined withinmore » an existing equation of state methodology to determine an optimal correlation. The optimal correlation for obtaining the characterization/chemical structure information and the sensitivity of the correlation to the characterization and structural model is examined. 8 refs.« less

Structural characterization/correlation of calorimetric properties of coal fluids: Second annual report, September 1, 1986-August 31, 1987

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Starling, K.E.; Mallinson, R.G.; Li, M.H.

The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between the calorimetric properties of coal fluids and their molecular functional group composition. Coal fluid samples which have had their calorimetric properties measured are characterized using proton NMR, ir, and elemental analysis. These characterizations are then used in a chemical structural model to determine the composition of the coal fluid in terms of the important molecular functional groups. These functional groups are particularly important in determining the intramolecular based properties of a fluid, such as ideal gas heat capacities. Correlational frameworks for ideal gas heat capacities are then examined withinmore » an existing equation of state methodology to determine an optimal correlation. The optimal correlation for obtaining the characterization/chemical structure information and the sensitivity of the correlation to the characterization and structural model is examined.« less

Structural characterization/correlation of calorimetric properties of coal fluids. First annual report, September 1, 1985-August 31, 1986

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Starling, K.E.; Mallinson, R.G.; Li, M.H.

The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between the calorimetric properties of coal liquids and their molecular functional group composition. Coal liquid samples which have had their calorimetric properties measured are characterized using proton NMR, ir and elemental analysis. These characterizations are then used in a chemical structural model to determine the composition of the coal liquid in terms of the important molecular functional groups. These functional groups are particularly important in determining the intramolecular based properties of a fluid, such as ideal gas heat capacities. Correlational frameworks for heat capacities will then be examined within anmore » existing equation of state methodology to determine an optimal correlation. Also, the optimal recipe for obtaining the characterization/chemical structure information and the sensitivity of the correlation to the characterization and structural model will be examined and determined. 7 refs.« less

2-Methoxypyridine as a Thymidine Mimic in Watson-Crick Base Pairs of DNA and PNA: Synthesis, Thermal Stability, and NMR Structural Studies.

PubMed

Novosjolova, Irina; Kennedy, Scott D; Rozners, Eriks

2017-11-02

The development of nucleic acid base-pair analogues that use new modes of molecular recognition is important both for fundamental research and practical applications. The goal of this study was to evaluate 2-methoxypyridine as a cationic thymidine mimic in the A-T base pair. The hypothesis was that including protonation in the Watson-Crick base pairing scheme would enhance the thermal stability of the DNA double helix without compromising the sequence selectivity. DNA and peptide nucleic acid (PNA) sequences containing the new 2-methoxypyridine nucleobase (P) were synthesized and studied by using UV thermal melting and NMR spectroscopy. Introduction of P nucleobase caused a loss of thermal stability of ≈10 °C in DNA-DNA duplexes and ≈20 °C in PNA-DNA duplexes over a range of mildly acidic to neutral pH. Despite the decrease in thermal stability, the NMR structural studies showed that P-A formed the expected protonated base pair at pH 4.3. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of cationic unnatural base pairs; however, future optimization of such analogues will be required. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

NMR spectroscopic studies of a TAT-derived model peptide in imidazolium-based ILs: influence on chemical shifts and the cis/trans equilibrium state.

PubMed

Wiedemann, Christoph; Ohlenschläger, Oliver; Mrestani-Klaus, Carmen; Bordusa, Frank

2017-09-13

NMR spectroscopy was used to study systematically the impact of imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) solutions on a TAT-derived model peptide containing Xaa-Pro peptide bonds. The selected IL anions cover a wide range of the Hofmeister series of ions. Based on highly resolved one- and two-dimensional NMR spectra individual 1 H and 13 C peptide chemical shift differences were analysed and a classification of IL anions according to the Hofmeister series was derived. The observed chemical shift changes indicate significant interactions between the peptide and the ILs. In addition, we examined the impact of different ILs towards the cis/trans equilibrium state of the Xaa-Pro peptide bonds. In this context, the IL cations appear to be of exceptional importance for inducing an alteration of the native cis/trans equilibrium state of Xaa-Pro bonds in favour of the trans-isomers.

Complementary analyses of hollow cylindrical unioriented permanent magnet (HCM) with high permeability external layer.

PubMed

Lobo, Carlos M S; Tosin, Giancarlo; Baader, Johann E; Colnago, Luiz A

2017-10-01

In this article, several studies based on analytical expressions and computational simulations on Hollow Cylindrical Magnets with an external soft ferromagnetic material (HCM magnets) are presented. Electromagnetic configurations, as well as permanent-magnet-based structures, are studied in terms of magnetic field strength and homogeneity. Permanent-magnet-based structures are further analyzed in terms of the anisotropy of the magnetic permeability. It was found that the HCM magnets produce a highly homogeneous magnetic field as long as the magnetic material is isotropic. The dependency of the magnetic field strength and homogeneity in terms of the anisotropy of the magnetic permeability is also explored here. These magnets can potentially be used in medium-resolution NMR spectrometers and high-field NMR spectrometers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Insecticidal peptides from the theraposid spider Brachypelma albiceps: an NMR-based model of Ba2.

PubMed

Corzo, Gerardo; Bernard, Cedric; Clement, Herlinda; Villegas, Elba; Bosmans, Frank; Tytgat, Jan; Possani, Lourival D; Darbon, Herve; Alagón, Alejandro

2009-08-01

Soluble venom and purified fractions of the theraposid spider Brachypelma albiceps were screened for insecticidal peptides based on toxicity to crickets. Two insecticidal peptides, named Ba1 and Ba2, were obtained after the soluble venom was separated by high performance liquid chromatography and cation exchange chromatography. The two insecticidal peptides contain 39 amino acid residues and three disulfide bonds, and based on their amino acid sequence, they are highly identical to the insecticidal peptides from the theraposid spiders Aphonopelma sp. from the USA and Haplopelma huwenum from China indicating a relationship among these genera. Although Ba1 and Ba2 were not able to modify currents in insect and vertebrate cloned voltage-gated sodium ion channels, they have noteworthy insecticidal activities compared to classical arachnid insecticidal toxins indicating that they might target unknown receptors in insect species. The most abundant insecticidal peptide Ba2 was submitted to NMR spectroscopy to determine its 3-D structure; a remarkable characteristic of Ba2 is a cluster of basic residues, which might be important for receptor recognition.

Protein folding by NMR.

PubMed

Zhuravleva, Anastasia; Korzhnev, Dmitry M

2017-05-01

Protein folding is a highly complex process proceeding through a number of disordered and partially folded nonnative states with various degrees of structural organization. These transiently and sparsely populated species on the protein folding energy landscape play crucial roles in driving folding toward the native conformation, yet some of these nonnative states may also serve as precursors for protein misfolding and aggregation associated with a range of devastating diseases, including neuro-degeneration, diabetes and cancer. Therefore, in vivo protein folding is often reshaped co- and post-translationally through interactions with the ribosome, molecular chaperones and/or other cellular components. Owing to developments in instrumentation and methodology, solution NMR spectroscopy has emerged as the central experimental approach for the detailed characterization of the complex protein folding processes in vitro and in vivo. NMR relaxation dispersion and saturation transfer methods provide the means for a detailed characterization of protein folding kinetics and thermodynamics under native-like conditions, as well as modeling high-resolution structures of weakly populated short-lived conformational states on the protein folding energy landscape. Continuing development of isotope labeling strategies and NMR methods to probe high molecular weight protein assemblies, along with advances of in-cell NMR, have recently allowed protein folding to be studied in the context of ribosome-nascent chain complexes and molecular chaperones, and even inside living cells. Here we review solution NMR approaches to investigate the protein folding energy landscape, and discuss selected applications of NMR methodology to studying protein folding in vitro and in vivo. Together, these examples highlight a vast potential of solution NMR in providing atomistic insights into molecular mechanisms of protein folding and homeostasis in health and disease. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Solid-state 11B and 13C NMR, IR, and X-ray crystallographic characterization of selected arylboronic acids and their catechol cyclic esters.

PubMed

Oh, Se-Woung; Weiss, Joseph W E; Kerneghan, Phillip A; Korobkov, Ilia; Maly, Kenneth E; Bryce, David L

2012-05-01

Nine arylboronic acids, seven arylboronic catechol cyclic esters, and two trimeric arylboronic anhydrides (boroxines) are investigated using (11)B solid-state NMR spectroscopy at three different magnetic field strengths (9.4, 11.7, and 21.1 T). Through the analysis of spectra of static and magic-angle spinning samples, the (11)B electric field gradient and chemical shift tensors are determined. The effects of relaxation anisotropy and nutation field strength on the (11)B NMR line shapes are investigated. Infrared spectroscopy was also used to help identify peaks in the NMR spectra as being due to the anhydride form in some of the arylboronic acid samples. Seven new X-ray crystallographic structures are reported. Calculations of the (11)B NMR parameters are performed using cluster model and periodic gauge-including projector-augmented wave (GIPAW) density functional theory (DFT) approaches, and the results are compared with the experimental values. Carbon-13 solid-state NMR experiments and spectral simulations are applied to determine the chemical shifts of the ipso carbons of the samples. One bond indirect (13)C-(11)B spin-spin (J) coupling constants are also measured experimentally and compared with calculated values. The (11)B/(10)B isotope effect on the (13)C chemical shift of the ipso carbons of arylboronic acids and their catechol esters, as well as residual dipolar coupling, is discussed. Overall, this combined X-ray, NMR, IR, and computational study provides valuable new insights into the relationship between NMR parameters and the structure of boronic acids and esters. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Fragment-Linking Approach Using (19)F NMR Spectroscopy To Obtain Highly Potent and Selective Inhibitors of β-Secretase.

PubMed

Jordan, John B; Whittington, Douglas A; Bartberger, Michael D; Sickmier, E Allen; Chen, Kui; Cheng, Yuan; Judd, Ted

2016-04-28

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has become a widely used tool in small-molecule drug discovery efforts. One of the most commonly used biophysical methods in detecting weak binding of fragments is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In particular, FBDD performed with (19)F NMR-based methods has been shown to provide several advantages over (1)H NMR using traditional magnetization-transfer and/or two-dimensional methods. Here, we demonstrate the utility and power of (19)F-based fragment screening by detailing the identification of a second-site fragment through (19)F NMR screening that binds to a specific pocket of the aspartic acid protease, β-secretase (BACE-1). The identification of this second-site fragment allowed the undertaking of a fragment-linking approach, which ultimately yielded a molecule exhibiting a more than 360-fold increase in potency while maintaining reasonable ligand efficiency and gaining much improved selectivity over cathepsin-D (CatD). X-ray crystallographic studies of the molecules demonstrated that the linked fragments exhibited binding modes consistent with those predicted from the targeted screening approach, through-space NMR data, and molecular modeling.

GIAO-DFT calculation of 15 N NMR chemical shifts of Schiff bases: Accuracy factors and protonation effects.

PubMed

Semenov, Valentin A; Samultsev, Dmitry O; Krivdin, Leonid B

2018-02-09

15 N NMR chemical shifts in the representative series of Schiff bases together with their protonated forms have been calculated at the density functional theory level in comparison with available experiment. A number of functionals and basis sets have been tested in terms of a better agreement with experiment. Complimentary to gas phase results, 2 solvation models, namely, a classical Tomasi's polarizable continuum model (PCM) and that in combination with an explicit inclusion of one molecule of solvent into calculation space to form supermolecule 1:1 (SM + PCM), were examined. Best results are achieved with PCM and SM + PCM models resulting in mean absolute errors of calculated 15 N NMR chemical shifts in the whole series of neutral and protonated Schiff bases of accordingly 5.2 and 5.8 ppm as compared with 15.2 ppm in gas phase for the range of about 200 ppm. Noticeable protonation effects (exceeding 100 ppm) in protonated Schiff bases are rationalized in terms of a general natural bond orbital approach. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Turning limited experimental information into 3D models of RNA.

PubMed

Flores, Samuel Coulbourn; Altman, Russ B

2010-09-01

Our understanding of RNA functions in the cell is evolving rapidly. As for proteins, the detailed three-dimensional (3D) structure of RNA is often key to understanding its function. Although crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can determine the atomic coordinates of some RNA structures, many 3D structures present technical challenges that make these methods difficult to apply. The great flexibility of RNA, its charged backbone, dearth of specific surface features, and propensity for kinetic traps all conspire with its long folding time, to challenge in silico methods for physics-based folding. On the other hand, base-pairing interactions (either in runs to form helices or isolated tertiary contacts) and motifs are often available from relatively low-cost experiments or informatics analyses. We present RNABuilder, a novel code that uses internal coordinate mechanics to satisfy user-specified base pairing and steric forces under chemical constraints. The code recapitulates the topology and characteristic L-shape of tRNA and obtains an accurate noncrystallographic structure of the Tetrahymena ribozyme P4/P6 domain. The algorithm scales nearly linearly with molecule size, opening the door to the modeling of significantly larger structures.

Determinants of Ligand Subtype-Selectivity at α1A-Adrenoceptor Revealed Using Saturation Transfer Difference (STD) NMR.

PubMed

Yong, Kelvin J; Vaid, Tasneem M; Shilling, Patrick J; Wu, Feng-Jie; Williams, Lisa M; Deluigi, Mattia; Plückthun, Andreas; Bathgate, Ross A D; Gooley, Paul R; Scott, Daniel J

2018-04-20

α 1A - and α 1B -adrenoceptors (α 1A -AR and α 1B -AR) are closely related G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that modulate the cardiovascular and nervous systems in response to binding epinephrine and norepinephrine. The GPCR gene superfamily is made up of numerous subfamilies that, like α 1A -AR and α 1B -AR, are activated by the same endogenous agonists but may modulate different physiological processes. A major challenge in GPCR research and drug discovery is determining how compounds interact with receptors at the molecular level, especially to assist in the optimization of drug leads. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) can provide great insight into ligand-binding epitopes, modes, and kinetics. Ideally, ligand-based NMR methods require purified, well-behaved protein samples. The instability of GPCRs upon purification in detergents, however, makes the application of NMR to study ligand binding challenging. Here, stabilized α 1A -AR and α 1B -AR variants were engineered using Cellular High-throughput Encapsulation, Solubilization, and Screening (CHESS), allowing the analysis of ligand binding with Saturation Transfer Difference NMR (STD NMR). STD NMR was used to map the binding epitopes of epinephrine and A-61603 to both receptors, revealing the molecular determinants for the selectivity of A-61603 for α 1A -AR over α 1B -AR. The use of stabilized GPCRs for ligand-observed NMR experiments will lead to a deeper understanding of binding processes and assist structure-based drug design.

NMR spectroscopy of Group 13 metal ions: biologically relevant aspects.

PubMed

André, J P; Mäcke, H R

2003-12-01

In spite of the fact that Group 13 metal ions (Al(3+), Ga(3+), In(3+) and Tl(+/3+)) show no main biological role, they are NMR-active nuclides which can be used in magnetic resonance spectroscopy of biologically relevant systems. The fact that these metal ions are quadrupolar (with the exception of thallium) means that they are particularly sensitive to ligand type and coordination geometry. The line width of the NMR signals of their complexes shows a strong dependence on the symmetry of coordination, which constitutes an effective tool in the elucidation of structures. Here we report published NMR studies of this family of elements, applied to systems of biological importance. Special emphasis is given to binding studies of these cations to biological molecules, such as proteins, and to chelating agents of radiopharmaceutical interest. The possibility of in vivo NMR studies is also stressed, with extension to (27)Al-based MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) experiments.

Time-reversal-based SU(2)× Sn scalar invariants as (Lie Algebraic) group measures: a structured overview of generalised democratic-recoupled, uniform non-Abelian [ AX] n NMR spin systems, as abstract Sn⊃ Sn-1../U n⊃U n-1.. chain networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Temme, F. P.

2004-03-01

The physics of dual group scalar invariants (SIs) as (Lie algebraic) group measures (L-GMs) and its significance to non-Abelian NMR spin systems motivates this overview of uniform general-2 n [ AX] 2 n spin evolution, which represents an extensive addendum to Corio's earlier (essentially restricted) view of Abelian spin system SU(2)-based SI-cardinalities. The |D 0( U)|((⊗SU(2)) (2n))|SI| values in [J. Magn. Reson., 134 (1998) 131] arise from strictly linear recoupled time-reversal invariance (TRI) models. In contrast, here we discuss the physical significance of an alternative polyhedral combinatorics approach to democratic recoupling (DR), a property inherent in both the TRI and statistical sampling. Recognition of spin ensemble SIs as being L-GMs over isomorphic algebras is invaluable in many DR-based NMR problems. Various [ AX] n model spin systems, including the [ AX] 3bis odd-odd parity spin system, are examined as direct applications of these L-GM- and combinatorial-based SI ideas. Hence in place of | SI|=15 (implied by Corio's | D0|((⊗ SU(2)) 2 n) approach), the bis 3-fold spin system cardinality is seen now as constrained to a single invariant on an isomorphic product algebra under L-GMs, in accord with the subspectral analysis of Jones et al. [Canad. J. Chem., 43 (1965) 683]. The group projective ideas cited here for DR (as cf. to graph theoretic views) apply to highly degenerate non-Abelian problems. Over dual tensorial bases, they define models of spin dynamical evolution whose (SR) quasiparticle superboson carrier (sub)spaces are characterised by SIs acting as explicit auxiliary labels [Physica, A198 (1993) 245; J. Math. Chem., 31 (2002) 281]. A deeper S2n network-based view of spin-alone space developed in Balasubramanian's work [J. Chem. Phys., 78 (1983) 6358] is especially important, (e.g.) in the study of spin waves [J. Math. Chem., 31 (2002) 363]. Beyond the specific NMR SIs derived here, there are DR applications where a sporadic, still higher, 2 n-fold regular uniform spin ensemble exhibits a topological FG duality to some known modest | SI| (2 i<2 n) cardinality—in principle providing for the (sparce) existence of other | SI| (2 n) DR-based values.

Conformational analysis of α-helical polypeptide included L-proline residue by high-resolution solid-state NMR measurement and quantum chemical calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Souma, Hiroyuki; Shoji, Akira; Kurosu, Hiromichi

2008-10-01

We challenged the problem about the stabilization mechanism of an α-helix formation for polypeptides containing L-proline (Pro) residue. We computed the optimized structure of α-helical poly( L-alanine) molecules including a Pro residue, H-(Ala) 8-Pro-(Ala) 9-OH, based on the molecular orbital calculation with density functional theory, B3LYP/6-31G(d) and the 13C and 15N chemical shift values based on the GIAO-CHF method with B3LYP/6-311G(d,p), respectively. It was found that two kinds of optimized structures, 'Bent structure' and 'Included α-helix structure', were preferred structures in H-(Ala) 8-Pro-(Ala) 9-OH. In addition, based on the precise 13C and 15N chemical shift data of the simple model, we successfully analyzed the secondary structure of well-defined synthetic polypeptide H-(Phe-Leu-Ala) 3-Phe C-Pro-Ala N-(Phe-Leu-Ala) 2-OH (FLA-11P), the secondary structure of which was proven to the 'Included α-helix structure'.

Contribution of first-principles calculations to multinuclear NMR analysis of borosilicate glasses.

PubMed

Soleilhavoup, Anne; Delaye, Jean-Marc; Angeli, Frédéric; Caurant, Daniel; Charpentier, Thibault

2010-12-01

Boron-11 and silicon-29 NMR spectra of xSiO(2)-(1-x)B(2)O(3) glasses (x=0.40, 0.80 and 0.83) have been calculated using a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with density functional theory (DFT) calculations of NMR parameters. Structure models of 200 atoms have been generated using classical force fields and subsequently relaxed at the PBE-GGAlevel of DFT theory. The gauge including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) method is then employed for computing the shielding and electric field gradient tensors for each silicon and boron atom. Silicon-29 MAS and boron-11 MQMAS NMR spectra of two glasses (x=0.40 and 0.80) have been acquired and theoretical spectra are found to well agree with the experimental data. For boron-11, the NMR parameter distributions have been analysed using a Kernel density estimation (KDE) approach which is shown to highlight its main features. Accordingly, a new analytical model that incorporates the observed correlations between the NMR parameters is introduced. It significantly improves the fit of the (11)B MQMAS spectra and yields, therefore, more reliable NMR parameter distributions. A new analytical model for a quantitative description of the dependence of the silicon-29 and boron-11 isotropic chemical shift upon the bond angles is proposed, which incorporates possibly the effect of SiO(2)-B(2)O(3) intermixing. Combining all the above procedures, we show how distributions of Si-O-T and B-O-T (T=Si, B) bond angles can be estimated from the distribution of isotropic chemical shift of silicon-29 and boron-11, respectively. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

NMR study of methane + ethane structure I hydrate decomposition.

PubMed

Dec, Steven F; Bowler, Kristen E; Stadterman, Laura L; Koh, Carolyn A; Sloan, E Dendy

2007-05-24

The thermally activated decomposition of methane + ethane structure I hydrate was studied with use of 13C magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR as a function of composition and temperature. The observed higher decomposition rate of large sI cages initially filled with ethane gas can be described in terms of a model where a distribution of sI unit cells exists such that a particular unit cell contains zero, one, or two methane molecules in the unit cell; this distribution of unit cells is combined to form the observed equilibrium composition. In this model, unit cells with zero methane molecules are the least stable and decompose more rapidly than those populated with one or two methane molecules leading to the observed overall faster decomposition rate of the large cages containing ethane molecules.

Towards a true protein movie: a perspective on the potential impact of the ensemble-based structure determination using exact NOEs.

PubMed

Vögeli, Beat; Orts, Julien; Strotz, Dean; Chi, Celestine; Minges, Martina; Wälti, Marielle Aulikki; Güntert, Peter; Riek, Roland

2014-04-01

Confined by the Boltzmann distribution of the energies of the states, a multitude of structural states are inherent to biomolecules. For a detailed understanding of a protein's function, its entire structural landscape at atomic resolution and insight into the interconversion between all the structural states (i.e. dynamics) are required. Whereas dedicated trickery with NMR relaxation provides aspects of local dynamics, and 3D structure determination by NMR is well established, only recently have several attempts been made to formulate a more comprehensive description of the dynamics and the structural landscape of a protein. Here, a perspective is given on the use of exact NOEs (eNOEs) for the elucidation of structural ensembles of a protein describing the covered conformational space. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Crystal structures, spectroscopic and theoretical study of novel Schiff bases of 2-(methylthiomethyl)anilines.

PubMed

Olalekan, Temitope E; Adejoro, Isaiah A; VanBrecht, Bernardus; Watkins, Gareth M

2015-03-15

New Schiff bases derived from p-methoxysalicylaldehyde and 2-(methylthiomethyl)anilines (substituted with methyl, methoxy, nitro) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, NMR, electronic spectra and quantum chemical calculations. X-ray crystallography of two compounds showed the solid structures are stabilized by intramolecular and intermolecular H-bonds. The effect of OH⋯N interaction between the phenolic hydrogen and imine nitrogen on the proton and carbon NMR shifts, and the role of CH⋯O and CH⋯S contacts are discussed. The bond lengths and angles, (1)H and (13)C NMR data, E(LUMO-HOMO), dipole moments and polarizability of the compounds were predicted by density functional theory, DFT (B3LYP/6-31G∗∗) method. The experimental geometric parameters and the NMR shifts were compared with the calculated values, which gave good correlations. The electronic effects of aryl ring substituents (methyl, methoxy and nitro) on the properties of the resulting compounds, such as the color, NMR shifts, electronic spectra and the calculated energy band gaps, dipole moments and polarizability are discussed. Increase in electron density shifted the phenolic proton resonance to lower fields. The methoxy-substituted compound has a small dipole moment and subsequent large polarizability value. Highest polarity was indicated by the nitro compound which also showed high polarizability due to its larger size. The energy gaps obtained from E(LUMO-HOMO) calculations suggest these compounds may have applications as organic semiconducting materials. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, crystal structure and biological activity of the Schiff base organotin(IV) complexes based on salicylaldehyde-o-aminophenol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Yu-Xing; Zhang, Zhi-Jian; Liu, Yang; Yu, Jiang-Xi; Zhu, Xiao-Ming; Kuang, Dai-Zhi; Jiang, Wu-Jiu

2017-12-01

Schiff base organotin(IV) complexes C1 ∼ C5b have been synthesized via the reaction of the substituted salicylaldehyde-o-aminophenol Schiff base ligands (L1 ∼ L3) with the dibenzyltin dichloride, n-butyltin trichloride or dibutyltin oxide, respectively. The complexes have been characterized by IR, UV-Vis, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectra, elemental analysis and the crystal structures have been determined by X-ray diffraction. The anticancer activity of the Schiff base ligand and complexes C1 ∼ C5b against five species of cancer cell which are Hela, MCF7, HepG2, Colo205, NCIsbnd H460 were tested respectively, the tests showed that C1 ∼ C5b exhibited significant anticancer activity for the cancer cells in comparison with the ligand, and the activity was greater than carboplatin.

Microwave Synthesis and Characterization of Waste Soybean Oil-Based Gemini Imidazolinium Surfactants with Carbonate Linkage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tripathy, Divya Bajpai; Mishra, Anuradha

Gemini surfactants are presently gaining attention due to their unusual self-assembling characteristics and incomparable interfacial activity. Current research work involves the cost-effective microwave (MW) synthesis of waste soybean oil-based gemini imidazolinium surfactants (GIS) having a carbonate linkage in its spacer moiety. Structural characterizations of the materials have been done using FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. Using indigenous and natural material as base and MW as energy source for synthesizing the GIS with easily degradable chemical moiety make them to be labeled as green surfactants.

DFT molecular modeling and NMR conformational analysis of a new longipinenetriolone diester

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerda-García-Rojas, Carlos M.; Guerra-Ramírez, Diana; Román-Marín, Luisa U.; Hernández-Hernández, Juan D.; Joseph-Nathan, Pedro

2006-05-01

The structure and conformational behavior of the new natural compound (4 R,5 S,7 S,8 R,9 S,10 R,11 R)-longipin-2-en-7,8,9-triol-1-one 7-angelate-9-isovalerate (1) isolated from Stevia eupatoria, were studied by molecular modeling and NMR spectroscopy. A Monte Carlo search followed by DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level provided the theoretical conformations of the sesquiterpene framework, which were in full agreement with results derived from the 1H- 1H coupling constant analysis.

Conformational analysis of endomorphin-2 analogs with phenylalanine mimics by NMR and molecular modeling.

PubMed

Shao, Xuan; Gao, Yanfeng; Zhu, Chuanjun; Liu, Xuehui; Yao, Jinlong; Cui, Yuxin; Wang, Rui

2007-05-15

We investigated a series of conformations of endomorphin-2 (EM-2) analogs substituted by phenylglycine (Phg) and homophenylalanine (Hfe) in the position 3 or 4 by two-dimensional (1)H NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. Evaluating the aromatic interactions and the dihedral angles in these phenylalanine mimics, we have observed that the conformations in trans isomer have varied from extended to folded as bioactivity decreases. It is suggested that the flexibility of aromatic side chain affects the backbone of EM-2 to adopt folded structures, which may block the ligands in binding to micro-opioid receptor.

Assessing the acid-base and conformational properties of histidine residues in human prion protein (125-228) by means of pK(a) calculations and molecular dynamics simulations.

PubMed

Langella, Emma; Improta, Roberto; Crescenzi, Orlando; Barone, Vincenzo

2006-07-01

A thorough study of the acid-base behavior of the four histidines and the other titratable residues of the structured domain of human prion protein (125-228) is presented. By using multi-tautomer electrostatic calculations, average titration curves have been built for all titratable residues, using the whole bundles of NMR structures determined at pH 4.5 and 7.0. According to our results, (1) only histidine residues are likely to be involved in the first steps of the pH-driven conformational transition of prion protein; (2) the pK(a)'s of His140 and His177 are approximately 7.0, whereas those of His155 and His187 are < 5.5. 10-ns long molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on five different models, corresponding to the most significant combinations of histidine protonation states. A critical comparison between the available NMR structures and our computational results (1) confirms that His155 and His187 are the residues whose protonation is involved in the conformational rearrangement of huPrP in mildly acidic condition, and (2) shows how their protonation leads to the destructuration of the C-terminal part of HB and to the loss of the last turn of HA that represent the crucial microscopic steps of the rearrangement. (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

NMR-based diffusion lattice imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laun, Frederik Bernd; Müller, Lars; Kuder, Tristan Anselm

2016-03-01

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diffusion experiments are widely employed as they yield information about structures hindering the diffusion process, e.g., about cell membranes. While it has been shown in recent articles that these experiments can be used to determine the shape of closed pores averaged over a volume of interest, it is still an open question how much information can be gained in open well-connected systems. In this theoretical work, it is shown that the full structure information of connected periodic systems is accessible. To this end, the so-called "SEquential Rephasing by Pulsed field-gradient Encoding N Time intervals" (SERPENT) sequence is used, which employs several diffusion encoding gradient pulses with different amplitudes. Two two-dimensional solid matrices that are surrounded by an NMR-visible medium are considered: a hexagonal lattice of cylinders and a rectangular lattice of isosceles triangles.

Determination of Structural Topology of a Membrane Protein in Lipid -Bilayers using Polarization Optimized Experiments (POE) for Static and MAS Solid State NMR Spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Mote, Kaustubh R.; Gopinath, T.; Veglia, Gianluigi

2013-01-01

The low sensitivity inherent to both the static and magic angle spinning techniques of solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy has thus far limited the routine application of multidimensional experiments to determine the structure of membrane proteins in lipid bilayers. Here, we demonstrate the advantage of using a recently developed class of experiments, polarization optimized experiments (POE), for both static and MAS spectroscopy to achieve higher sensitivity and substantial time-savings for 2D and 3D experiments. We used sarcolipin, a single pass membrane protein, reconstituted in oriented bicelles (for oriented ssNMR) and multilamellar vesicles (for MAS ssNMR) as a benchmark. The restraints derived by these experiments are then combined into a hybrid energy function to allow simultaneous determination of structure and topology. The resulting structural ensemble converged to a helical conformation with a backbone RMSD ∼ 0.44 Å, a tilt angle of 24° ± 1°, and an azimuthal angle of 55° ± 6°. This work represents a crucial first step toward obtaining high-resolution structures of large membrane proteins using combined multidimensional O-ssNMR and MAS-ssNMR. PMID:23963722

Ammonia Vapor Removal by Cu(3)(BTC)(2) and Its Characterization by MAS NMR.

PubMed

Peterson, Gregory W; Wagner, George W; Balboa, Alex; Mahle, John; Sewell, Tara; Karwacki, Christopher J

2009-07-01

Adsorption equilibria and NMR experiments were performed to study the adsorption and interactions of ammonia with metal-organic framework (MOF) HKUST-1, or Cu(3)(BTC)(2) (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate). Ammonia capacities determined from chemical breakthrough measurements show significantly higher uptake capacities than from adsorption alone, suggesting a stronger interaction involving a potential reaction with the Cu(3)(BTC)(2) framework. Indeed, (1)H MAS NMR reveals that a major disruption of the relatively simple spectrum of Cu(3)(BTC)(2) occurs to generate a composite spectrum consistent with Cu(OH)(2) and (NH(4))(3)BTC species under humid conditions-the anticipated products of a copper(II) carboxylate reacted with limited ammonia. These species are not detected under dry conditions; however, reaction stoichiometry combined with XRD results suggests the partial formation of an indeterminate diammine copper (II) complex with some residual Cu(3)(BTC)(2) structure retained. Cu(II)-induced paramagnetic shifts exhibited by various species in (1)H and (13)C MAS NMR spectra are consistent with model compounds and previous literature. Although results show extensive ammonia capacity of Cu(3)(BTC)(2), much of the capacity is due to reaction with the structure itself, causing a permanent loss in porosity and structural integrity.

Ammonia Vapor Removal by Cu3(BTC)2 and Its Characterization by MAS NMR

PubMed Central

Peterson, Gregory W.; Wagner, George W.; Balboa, Alex; Mahle, John; Sewell, Tara; Karwacki, Christopher J.

2009-01-01

Adsorption equilibria and NMR experiments were performed to study the adsorption and interactions of ammonia with metal-organic framework (MOF) HKUST-1, or Cu3(BTC)2 (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate). Ammonia capacities determined from chemical breakthrough measurements show significantly higher uptake capacities than from adsorption alone, suggesting a stronger interaction involving a potential reaction with the Cu3(BTC)2 framework. Indeed, 1H MAS NMR reveals that a major disruption of the relatively simple spectrum of Cu3(BTC)2 occurs to generate a composite spectrum consistent with Cu(OH)2 and (NH4)3BTC species under humid conditions—the anticipated products of a copper(II) carboxylate reacted with limited ammonia. These species are not detected under dry conditions; however, reaction stoichiometry combined with XRD results suggests the partial formation of an indeterminate diammine copper (II) complex with some residual Cu3(BTC)2 structure retained. Cu(II)-induced paramagnetic shifts exhibited by various species in 1H and 13C MAS NMR spectra are consistent with model compounds and previous literature. Although results show extensive ammonia capacity of Cu3(BTC)2, much of the capacity is due to reaction with the structure itself, causing a permanent loss in porosity and structural integrity. PMID:20161144

Micromixer-based time-resolved NMR: applications to ubiquitin protein conformation.

PubMed

Kakuta, Masaya; Jayawickrama, Dimuthu A; Wolters, Andrew M; Manz, Andreas; Sweedler, Jonathan V

2003-02-15

Time-resolved NMR spectroscopy is used to studychanges in protein conformation based on the elapsed time after a change in the solvent composition of a protein solution. The use of a micromixer and a continuous-flow method is described where the contents of two capillary flows are mixed rapidly, and then the NMR spectra of the combined flow are recorded at precise time points. The distance after mixing the two fluids and flow rates define the solvent-protein interaction time; this method allows the measurement of NMR spectra at precise mixing time points independent of spectral acquisition time. Integration of a micromixer and a microcoil NMR probe enables low-microliter volumes to be used without losing significant sensitivity in the NMR measurement. Ubiquitin, the model compound, changes its conformation from native to A-state at low pH and in 40% or higher methanol/water solvents. Proton NMR resonances of the His-68 and the Tyr-59 of ubiquitin are used to probe the conformational changes. Mixing ubiquitin and methanol solutions under low pH at microliter per minute flow rates yields both native and A-states. As the flow rate decreases, yielding longer reaction times, the population of the A-state increases. The micromixer-NMR system can probe reaction kinetics on a time scale of seconds.

Molecular-level characterization of the structure and the surface chemistry of periodic mesoporous organosilicates using DNP-surface enhanced NMR spectroscopy.

PubMed

Grüning, Wolfram R; Rossini, Aaron J; Zagdoun, Alexandre; Gajan, David; Lesage, Anne; Emsley, Lyndon; Copéret, Christophe

2013-08-28

We present the molecular level characterization of a phenylpyridine-based periodic mesoporous organosilicate and its post-functionalized organometallic derivatives through the fast acquisition of high quality natural isotopic abundance 1D (13)C, (15)N, and (29)Si and 2D (1)H-(13)C and (1)H-(29)Si solid-state NMR spectra enhanced with dynamic nuclear polarization.

The NMR–Rosetta capsid model of M13 bacteriophage reveals a quadrupled hydrophobic packing epitope

PubMed Central

Morag, Omry; Sgourakis, Nikolaos G.; Baker, David; Goldbourt, Amir

2015-01-01

Filamentous phage are elongated semiflexible ssDNA viruses that infect bacteria. The M13 phage, belonging to the family inoviridae, has a length of ∼1 μm and a diameter of ∼7 nm. Here we present a structural model for the capsid of intact M13 bacteriophage using Rosetta model building guided by structure restraints obtained from magic-angle spinning solid-state NMR experimental data. The C5 subunit symmetry observed in fiber diffraction studies was enforced during model building. The structure consists of stacked pentamers with largely alpha helical subunits containing an N-terminal type II β-turn; there is a rise of 16.6–16.7 Å and a tilt of 36.1–36.6° between consecutive pentamers. The packing of the subunits is stabilized by a repeating hydrophobic stacking pocket; each subunit participates in four pockets by contributing different hydrophobic residues, which are spread along the subunit sequence. Our study provides, to our knowledge, the first magic-angle spinning NMR structure of an intact filamentous virus capsid and further demonstrates the strength of this technique as a method of choice to study noncrystalline, high-molecular-weight molecular assemblies. PMID:25587134

Structural Analysis of N- and O-glycans Using ZIC-HILIC/Dialysis Coupled to NMR Detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Qu, Yi; Feng, Ju; Deng, Shuang

2014-11-19

Protein glycosylation, an important and complex post-translational modification (PTM), is involved in various biological processes including the receptor-ligand and cell-cell interaction, and plays a crucial role in many biological functions. However, little is known about the glycan structures of important biological complex samples, and the conventional glycan enrichment strategy (i.e., size-exclusion column [SEC] separation,) prior to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) detection is time-consuming and tedious. In this study, we employed SEC, Zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (ZIC-HILIC), and ZIC-HILIC coupled with dialysis strategies to enrich the glycopeptides from the pronase E digests of RNase B, followed by NMR analysis ofmore » the glycoconjugate. Our results suggest that the ZIC-HILIC enrichment coupled with dialysis is the most efficient, which was thus applied to the analysis of biological complex sample, the pronase E digest of the secreted proteins from the fungi Aspergillus niger. The NMR spectra revealed that the secreted proteins from A. niger contain both N-linked glycans with a high-mannose core and O-linked glycans bearing mannose and glucose with 1->3 and 1->6 linkages. In all, our study provides compelling evidence that ZIC-HILIC separation coupled to dialysis is superior to the commonly used SEC separation to prepare glycopeptides for the downstream NMR analysis, which could greatly facilitate the future NMR-based glycoproteomics research.« less

Compatible topologies and parameters for NMR structure determination of carbohydrates by simulated annealing.

PubMed

Feng, Yingang

2017-01-01

The use of NMR methods to determine the three-dimensional structures of carbohydrates and glycoproteins is still challenging, in part because of the lack of standard protocols. In order to increase the convenience of structure determination, the topology and parameter files for carbohydrates in the program Crystallography & NMR System (CNS) were investigated and new files were developed to be compatible with the standard simulated annealing protocols for proteins and nucleic acids. Recalculating the published structures of protein-carbohydrate complexes and glycosylated proteins demonstrates that the results are comparable to the published structures which employed more complex procedures for structure calculation. Integrating the new carbohydrate parameters into the standard structure calculation protocol will facilitate three-dimensional structural study of carbohydrates and glycosylated proteins by NMR spectroscopy.

Compatible topologies and parameters for NMR structure determination of carbohydrates by simulated annealing

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The use of NMR methods to determine the three-dimensional structures of carbohydrates and glycoproteins is still challenging, in part because of the lack of standard protocols. In order to increase the convenience of structure determination, the topology and parameter files for carbohydrates in the program Crystallography & NMR System (CNS) were investigated and new files were developed to be compatible with the standard simulated annealing protocols for proteins and nucleic acids. Recalculating the published structures of protein-carbohydrate complexes and glycosylated proteins demonstrates that the results are comparable to the published structures which employed more complex procedures for structure calculation. Integrating the new carbohydrate parameters into the standard structure calculation protocol will facilitate three-dimensional structural study of carbohydrates and glycosylated proteins by NMR spectroscopy. PMID:29232406

Biopolymer Chain Elasticity: a novel concept and a least deformation energy principle predicts backbone and overall folding of DNA TTT hairpins in agreement with NMR distances

PubMed Central

Pakleza, Christophe; Cognet, Jean A. H.

2003-01-01

A new molecular modelling methodology is presented and shown to apply to all published solution structures of DNA hairpins with TTT in the loop. It is based on the theory of elasticity of thin rods and on the assumption that single-stranded B-DNA behaves as a continuous, unshearable, unstretchable and flexible thin rod. It requires four construction steps: (i) computation of the tri-dimensional trajectory of the elastic line, (ii) global deformation of single-stranded helical DNA onto the elastic line, (iii) optimisation of the nucleoside rotations about the elastic line, (iv) energy minimisation to restore backbone bond lengths and bond angles. This theoretical approach called ‘Biopolymer Chain Elasticity’ (BCE) is capable of reproducing the tri-dimensional course of the sugar–phosphate chain and, using NMR-derived distances, of reproducing models close to published solution structures. This is shown by computing three different types of distance criteria. The natural description provided by the elastic line and by the new parameter, Ω, which corresponds to the rotation angles of nucleosides about the elastic line, offers a considerable simplification of molecular modelling of hairpin loops. They can be varied independently from each other, since the global shape of the hairpin loop is preserved in all cases. PMID:12560506

Photo-CIDNP NMR spectroscopy of amino acids and proteins.

PubMed

Kuhn, Lars T

2013-01-01

Photo-chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (CIDNP) is a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon which, among other things, is exploited to extract information on biomolecular structure via probing solvent-accessibilities of tryptophan (Trp), tyrosine (Tyr), and histidine (His) amino acid side chains both in polypeptides and proteins in solution. The effect, normally triggered by a (laser) light-induced photochemical reaction in situ, yields both positive and/or negative signal enhancements in the resulting NMR spectra which reflect the solvent exposure of these residues both in equilibrium and during structural transformations in "real time". As such, the method can offer - qualitatively and, to a certain extent, quantitatively - residue-specific structural and kinetic information on both the native and, in particular, the non-native states of proteins which, often, is not readily available from more routine NMR techniques. In this review, basic experimental procedures of the photo-CIDNP technique as applied to amino acids and proteins are discussed, recent improvements to the method highlighted, and future perspectives presented. First, the basic principles of the phenomenon based on the theory of the radical pair mechanism (RPM) are outlined. Second, a description of standard photo-CIDNP applications is given and it is shown how the effect can be exploited to extract residue-specific structural information on the conformational space sampled by unfolded or partially folded proteins on their "path" to the natively folded form. Last, recent methodological advances in the field are highlighted, modern applications of photo-CIDNP in the context of biological NMR evaluated, and an outlook into future perspectives of the method is given.

Syntheses, characterisation and crystal structures of ferrocenyl β-diketones and their Schiff base Nsbnd Nsbnd O ligand derivatives with 2-picolylamine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artigas, Vania; González, Deborah; Fuentealba, Mauricio

2017-02-01

Ferrocenyl β-diketones compounds β3-4 were synthesised by Claisen condensation reaction between acetylferrocene and ethyl benzoate or 4-bromoethyl benzoate. We also synthesised four new Schiff base ligands L1-4 by condensation reaction between β1-4 and 2-picolylamine. Identities of all these compounds were confirmed by satisfactory elemental analysis, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) correlation and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. In addition, all these compounds were authenticated by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In solution, 1H NMR spectra of β3 and β4 exhibit a mixture of keto:enol tautomer ratios of 12:88 and 8:92, respectively, calculated by the integration of the free cyclopentadienyl ring. In contrast, the proton NMR spectra of L1-4 showed only the keto-enamine tautomer displacements. In addition, decoupled 13C NMR spectrum clearly confirmed the existence of these tautomers. These results are in accordance with X-ray crystallographic studies, in which the enol and keto-enamine forms were elucidated for β-diketones and Schiff base ligands, respectively.

Solution structure of a DNA decamer containing the antiviral drug ganciclovir: combined use of NMR, restrained molecular dynamics, and full relaxation matrix refinement.

PubMed

Foti, M; Marshalko, S; Schurter, E; Kumar, S; Beardsley, G P; Schweitzer, B I

1997-05-06

The nucleoside analog 9-[(1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxy)methyl]guanine (ganciclovir, DHPG) is an antiviral drug that is used in the treatment of a variety of herpes viruses in immunocompromised patients and in a gene therapy protocol that has shown promising activity for the treatment of cancer. To probe the structural effects of ganciclovir when incorporated into DNA, we determined and compared the solution structure of a modified ganciclovir-containing decamer duplex [d(CTG)(ganciclovir)d(ATCCAG)]2 and a control duplex d[(CTGGATCCAG)]2 using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. 1H and 31P resonances in both duplexes were assigned using a combination of 2-D 1H and 31P NMR experiments. Proton-proton distances determined from NOESY data and dihedral angles determined from DQF-COSY data were used in restrained molecular dynamics simulations starting from canonical A- and B-form DNA models. Both the control and ganciclovir sets of simulations converged to B-type structures. These structures were subjected to full relaxation matrix refinement to produce final structures that were in excellent agreement with the observed NOE intensities. Examination of the final ganciclovir-containing structures reveals that the base of the ganciclovir residue is hydrogen bonded to its complementary dC and is stacked in the helix; in fact, the base of ganciclovir exhibits increased stacking with the 5' base relative to the control. Interestingly, some of the most significant distortions in the structures occur 3' to the lesion site, including a noticeable kink in the sugar-phosphate backbone at this position. Further examination reveals that the backbone conformation, sugar pucker, and glycosidic torsion angle of the residue 3' to the lesion site all indicate an A-type conformation at this position. A possible correlation of these structural findings with results obtained from earlier biochemical studies will be discussed.

27Al MQMAS of the δ-Al 13-Keggin

DOE PAGES

Pilgrim, C. D.; Callahan, J. R.; Colla, C. A.; ...

2017-01-20

Here, one-dimensional 27Al, 23Na Magic-Angle-Spinning (MAS) NMR and 27Al Multiple-Quantum Magic-Angle-Spinning NMR (MQMAS) measurements are reported for the δ-isomer of the Al 13 Keggin structure at high spinning speed and 14.1 T field. Values for the CQ and η parameters are on the same scale as those seen in other isomers of the Al 13 structure. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed for comparison to the experimental fits using the B3PW91/6-31+G* and PBE0/6-31+G* levels of theory, with the Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM).

Improving reliability of chemometric models for authentication of species origin of heparin by switching from 1D to 2D NMR experiments.

PubMed

Monakhova, Yulia B; Fareed, Jawed; Yao, Yiming; Diehl, Bernd W K

2018-05-10

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is regarded as one of the most powerful and versatile analytical approaches to assure the quality of heparin preparations. In particular, it was recently demonstrated that by using 1 H NMR coupled with chemometrics heparin and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) samples derived from three major animal species (porcine, ovine and bovine) can be differentiated [Y.B. Monakhova et al. J. Pharm. Anal. 149 (2018) 114-119]. In this study, significant improvement of existing chemometric models was achieved by switching to 2D NMR experiments (heteronuclear multiple-quantum correlation (HMQC) and diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY)). Two representative data sets (sixty-nine heparin and twenty-two LMWH) belonged to different batches and distributed by different commercial companies were investigated. A trend for animal species differentiation was observed in the principal component analysis (PCA) score plot built based on the DOSY data. A superior model was constructed using HMQC experiments, where individual heparin (LMWH) clusters as well as their blends were clearly differentiated. The predictive power of different classification methods as well as unsupervised techniques (independent components analysis, ICA) clearly proved applicability of the model for routine heparin and LMWH analysis. The switch from 1D to 2D NMR techniques provides a wealth of additional information, which is beneficial for multivariate modeling of NMR spectroscopic data for heparin preparations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamic NMR Study of Model CMP Slurry Containing Silica Particles as Abrasives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odeh, F.; Al-Bawab, A.; Li, Y.

2018-02-01

Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) should provide a good surface planarity with minimal surface defectivity. Since CMP slurries are multi-component systems, it is very important to understand the various processes and interactions taking place in such slurries. Several techniques have been employed for such task, however, most of them lack the molecular recognition to investigate molecular interactions without adding probes which in turn increase complexity and might alter the microenvironment of the slurry. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique that can be employed in such study. The longitudinal relaxation times (T1) of the different components of CMP slurries were measured using Spin Echo-NMR (SE-NMR) at a constant temperature. The fact that NMR is non-invasive and gives information on the molecular level gives more advantage to the technique. The model CMP slurry was prepared in D2O to enable monitoring of T1 for the various components' protons. SE-NMR provide a very powerful tool to study the various interactions and adsorption processes that take place in a model CMP silica based slurry which contains BTA and/or glycine and/or Cu+2 ions. It was found that BTA is very competitive towards complexation with Cu+2 ions and BTA-Cu complex adsorbs on silica surface.

AUTO-MUTE 2.0: A Portable Framework with Enhanced Capabilities for Predicting Protein Functional Consequences upon Mutation.

PubMed

Masso, Majid; Vaisman, Iosif I

2014-01-01

The AUTO-MUTE 2.0 stand-alone software package includes a collection of programs for predicting functional changes to proteins upon single residue substitutions, developed by combining structure-based features with trained statistical learning models. Three of the predictors evaluate changes to protein stability upon mutation, each complementing a distinct experimental approach. Two additional classifiers are available, one for predicting activity changes due to residue replacements and the other for determining the disease potential of mutations associated with nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in human proteins. These five command-line driven tools, as well as all the supporting programs, complement those that run our AUTO-MUTE web-based server. Nevertheless, all the codes have been rewritten and substantially altered for the new portable software, and they incorporate several new features based on user feedback. Included among these upgrades is the ability to perform three highly requested tasks: to run "big data" batch jobs; to generate predictions using modified protein data bank (PDB) structures, and unpublished personal models prepared using standard PDB file formatting; and to utilize NMR structure files that contain multiple models.

Fine refinement of solid-state molecular structures of Leu- and Met-enkephalins by NMR crystallography.

PubMed

Pawlak, Tomasz; Potrzebowski, Marek J

2014-03-27

This paper presents a methodology that allows the fine refinement of the crystal and molecular structure for compounds for which the data deposited in the crystallographic bases are of poor quality. Such species belong to the group of samples with molecular disorder. In the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (CCDC), there are approximately 22,000 deposited structures with an R-factor over 10. The powerful methodology we present employs crystal data for Leu-enkephalin (two crystallographic forms) with R-factor values of 14.0 and 8.9 and for Met-enkephalin (one form) with an R-factor of 10.5. NMR crystallography was employed in testing the X-ray data and the quality of the structure refinement. The GIPAW (gauge invariant projector augmented wave) method was used to optimize the coordinates of the enkephalins and to compute NMR parameters. As we reveal, this complementary approach makes it possible to generate a reasonable set of new coordinates that better correlate to real samples. This methodology is general and can be employed in the study of each compound possessing magnetically active nuclei.

The molecular structure and vibrational, 1H and 13C NMR spectra of lidocaine hydrochloride monohydrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badawi, Hassan M.; Förner, Wolfgang; Ali, Shaikh A.

2016-01-01

The structure, vibrational and NMR spectra of the local anesthetic drug lidocaine hydrochloride monohydrate salt were investigated by B3LYP/6-311G∗∗ calculations. The lidocaine·HCl·H2O salt is predicted to have the gauche structure as the predominant form at ambient temperature with NCCN and CNCC torsional angles of 110° and -123° as compared to 10° and -64°, respectively in the base lidocaine. The repulsive interaction between the two N-H bonds destabilized the gauche structure of lidocaine·HCl·H2O salt. The analysis of the observed vibrational spectra is consistent with the presence of the lidocaine salt in only one gauche conformation at room temperature. The 1H and 13C NMR spectra of lidocaine·HCl·H2O were interpreted by experimental and DFT calculated chemical shifts of the lidocaine salt. The RMSD between experimental and theoretical 1H and 13C chemical shifts for lidocaine·HCl·H2O is 2.32 and 8.21 ppm, respectively.

Structural analysis of the recognition of the negative regulator NmrA and DNA by the zinc finger from the GATA-type transcription factor AreA.

PubMed

Kotaka, Masayo; Johnson, Christopher; Lamb, Heather K; Hawkins, Alastair R; Ren, Jingshan; Stammers, David K

2008-08-29

Amongst the most common protein motifs in eukaryotes are zinc fingers (ZFs), which, although largely known as DNA binding modules, also can have additional important regulatory roles in forming protein:protein interactions. AreA is a transcriptional activator central to nitrogen metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans. AreA contains a GATA-type ZF that has a competing dual recognition function, binding either DNA or the negative regulator NmrA. We report the crystal structures of three AreA ZF-NmrA complexes including two with bound NAD(+) or NADP(+). The molecular recognition of AreA ZF-NmrA involves binding of the ZF to NmrA via hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions through helices alpha1, alpha6 and alpha11. Comparison with an earlier NMR solution structure of AreA ZF-DNA complex by overlap of the AreA ZFs shows that parts of helices alpha6 and alpha11 of NmrA are positioned close to the GATA motif of the DNA, mimicking the major groove of DNA. The extensive overlap of DNA with NmrA explains their mutually exclusive binding to the AreA ZF. The presence of bound NAD(+)/NADP(+) in the NmrA-AreaA ZF complex, however, causes minimal structural changes. Thus, any regulatory effects on AreA function mediated by the binding of oxidised nicotinamide dinucleotides to NmrA in the NmrA-AreA ZF complex appear not to be modulated via protein conformational rearrangements.

A discrete three-layer stack aggregate of a linear porphyrin tetramer: solution-phase structure elucidation by NMR and X-ray scattering.

PubMed

Hutin, Marie; Sprafke, Johannes K; Odell, Barbara; Anderson, Harry L; Claridge, Tim D W

2013-08-28

Formation of stacked aggregates can dramatically alter the properties of aromatic π-systems, yet the solution-phase structure elucidation of these aggregates is often impossible because broad distributions of species are formed, giving uninformative spectroscopic data. Here, we show that a butadiyne-linked zinc porphyrin tetramer forms a remarkably well-defined aggregate, consisting of exactly three molecules, in a parallel stacked arrangement (in chloroform at room temperature; concentration 1 mM-0.1 μM). The aggregate has a mass of 14.7 kDa. Unlike most previously reported aggregates, it gives sharp NMR resonances and aggregation is in slow exchange on the NMR time scale. The structure was elucidated using a range of NMR techniques, including diffusion-editing, (1)H-(29)Si HMBC, (1)H-(1)H COSY, TOCSY and NOESY, and (1)H-(13)C edited HSQC spectroscopy. Surprisingly, the (1)H-(1)H COSY spectrum revealed many long-range residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), and detailed analysis of magnetic field-induced (1)H-(13)C RDCs provided further evidence for the structural model. The size and shape of the aggregate is supported by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data. It adopts a geometry that maximizes van der Waals contact between the porphyrins, while avoiding clashes between side chains. The need for interdigitation of the side chains prevents formation of stacks consisting of more than three layers. Although a detailed analysis has only been carried out for one compound (the tetramer), comparison with the NMR spectra of other oligomers indicates that they form similar three-layer stacks. In all cases, aggregation can be prevented by addition of pyridine, although at low pyridine concentrations, disaggregation takes many hours to reach equilibrium.

MAS-NMR investigations of the crystallization behaviour of lithium aluminum silicate (LAS) glasses containing P 2O 5 and TiO 2 nucleants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ananthanarayanan, A.; Kothiyal, G. P.; Montagne, L.; Revel, B.

2010-06-01

Lithium aluminum silicate (LAS) glass of composition (mol%) 20.4Li 2O-4.0Al 2O 3-68.6SiO 2-3.0K 2O-2.6B 2O 3-0.5P 2O 5-0.9TiO 2 was prepared by melt quenching. The glass was then nucleated and crystallized based on differential thermal analysis (DTA) data and was characterized by 29Si, 31P, 11B and 27Al MAS-NMR. XRD and 29Si NMR showed that lithium metasilicate (Li 2SiO 3) is the first phase to c form followed by cristobalite (SiO 2) and lithium disilicate (Li 2Si 2O 5). 29Si MAS-NMR revealed a change in the network structure already for the glasses nucleated at 550 °C. Since crystalline Li 3PO 4, as observed by 31P MAS-NMR, forms concurrently with the silicate phases, we conclude that crystalline Li 3PO 4 does not act as a nucleating agent for lithium silicate phases. Moreover, 31P NMR indicates the formation of M-PO 4 ( M=B, Al or Ti) complexes. The presence of BO 3 and BO 4 structural units in all the glass/glass-ceramic samples is revealed through 11B MAS-NMR. B remains in the residual glass and the crystallization of silicate phases causes a reduction in the number of alkali ions available for charge compensation. As a result, the number of trigonally coordinated B (BO 3) increases at the expense of tetrahedrally coordinated B (BO 4). The 27Al MAS-NMR spectra indicate the presence of tetrahedrally coordinated Al species, which are only slightly perturbed by the crystallization.

Databases of Conformations and NMR Structures of Glycan Determinants.

PubMed

Sarkar, Anita; Drouillard, Sophie; Rivet, Alain; Perez, Serge

2015-12-01

The present study reports a comprehensive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) characterization and a systematic conformational sampling of the conformational preferences of 170 glycan moieties of glycosphingolipids as produced in large-scale quantities by bacterial fermentation. These glycans span across a variety of families including the blood group antigens (A, B and O), core structures (Types 1, 2 and 4), fucosylated oligosaccharides (core and lacto-series), sialylated oligosaccharides (Types 1 and 2), Lewis antigens, GPI-anchors and globosides. A complementary set of about 100 glycan determinants occurring in glycoproteins and glycosaminoglycans has also been structurally characterized using molecular mechanics-based computation. The experimental and computational data generated are organized in two relational databases that can be queried by the user through a user-friendly search engine. The NMR ((1)H and (13)C, COSY, TOCSY, HMQC, HMBC correlation) spectra and 3D structures are available for visualization and download in commonly used structure formats. Emphasis has been given to the use of a common nomenclature for the structural encoding of the carbohydrates and each glycan molecule is described by four different types of representations in order to cope with the different usages in chemistry and biology. These web-based databases were developed with non-proprietary software and are open access for the scientific community available at http://glyco3d.cermav.cnrs.fr. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

NMReDATA, a standard to report the NMR assignment and parameters of organic compounds.

PubMed

Pupier, Marion; Nuzillard, Jean-Marc; Wist, Julien; Schlörer, Nils E; Kuhn, Stefan; Erdelyi, Mate; Steinbeck, Christoph; Williams, Antony J; Butts, Craig; Claridge, Tim D W; Mikhova, Bozhana; Robien, Wolfgang; Dashti, Hesam; Eghbalnia, Hamid R; Farès, Christophe; Adam, Christian; Kessler, Pavel; Moriaud, Fabrice; Elyashberg, Mikhail; Argyropoulos, Dimitris; Pérez, Manuel; Giraudeau, Patrick; Gil, Roberto R; Trevorrow, Paul; Jeannerat, Damien

2018-04-14

Even though NMR has found countless applications in the field of small molecule characterization, there is no standard file format available for the NMR data relevant to structure characterization of small molecules. A new format is therefore introduced to associate the NMR parameters extracted from 1D and 2D spectra of organic compounds to the proposed chemical structure. These NMR parameters, which we shall call NMReDATA (for nuclear magnetic resonance extracted data), include chemical shift values, signal integrals, intensities, multiplicities, scalar coupling constants, lists of 2D correlations, relaxation times, and diffusion rates. The file format is an extension of the existing Structure Data Format, which is compatible with the commonly used MOL format. The association of an NMReDATA file with the raw and spectral data from which it originates constitutes an NMR record. This format is easily readable by humans and computers and provides a simple and efficient way for disseminating results of structural chemistry investigations, allowing automatic verification of published results, and for assisting the constitution of highly needed open-source structural databases. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Observations using Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (31P-NMR) of structural changes in freeze-thawed hen egg yolk.

PubMed

Wakamatsu, Hiroki; Handa, Akihiro; Chiba, Kazuhiro

2018-04-01

Hen egg yolk (EY) has a complicated structure consisting of lipids and proteins, and its structure is deeply related with its functional properties. 31 P-NMR is an efficient technique to non-destructively detect the dynamic behaviour of phospholipids, the main component of bio-membranes. We determined conditions for measuring the 31 P NMR spectra of EY and identified the components. 31 P-NMR was used to detect phosvitin, inorganic phosphate, and lipoprotein as well as structural changes such as granule collapse and freeze-thaw denaturation as signal changes. Freeze-thaw denaturation generated a new denaturation peak. We separated aggregates of LDL from freeze-thawed plasma using centrifugation. TEM and 31 P-NMR observations revealed that the denaturation peak corresponded to LDL aggregates. The 31 P-NMR spectra suggested the formation of multiple forms of LDL aggregates in which the head groups of phospholipid molecules adopt a face-to-face orientation, similar to that observed following the flocculation of lipoproteins or in the lamellar-like structures of phospholipids. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MEMS-Based Force-Detected Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FDNMR) Spectrometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Choonsup; Butler, Mark C.; Elgammal, Ramez A.; George, Thomas; Hunt, Brian; Weitekamp, Daniel P.

2006-01-01

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy allows assignment of molecular structure by acquiring the energy spectrum of nuclear spins in a molecule, and by interpreting the symmetry and positions of resonance lines in the spectrum. As such, NMR has become one of the most versatile and ubiquitous spectroscopic methods. Despite these tremendous successes, NMR experiments suffer from inherent low sensitivity due to the relatively low energy of photons in the radio frequency (rt) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we describe a high-resolution spectroscopy in samples with diameters in the micron range and below. We have reported design and fabrication of force-detected nuclear magnetic resonance (FDNMR).

NMR contributions to structural dynamics studies of intrinsically disordered proteins☆

PubMed Central

Konrat, Robert

2014-01-01

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are characterized by substantial conformational plasticity. Given their inherent structural flexibility X-ray crystallography is not applicable to study these proteins. In contrast, NMR spectroscopy offers unique opportunities for structural and dynamic studies of IDPs. The past two decades have witnessed significant development of NMR spectroscopy that couples advances in spin physics and chemistry with a broad range of applications. This article will summarize key advances in basic physical-chemistry and NMR methodology, outline their limitations and envision future R&D directions. PMID:24656082

17alpha/H/ hopane identified in oil shale of the Green River formation /Eocene/ by carbon-13 NMR.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balogh, B.; Wilson, D. M.; Christiansen, P.; Burlingame, A. L.

1973-01-01

During an investigation of C-13 NMR shifts and the structural correspondence of pentacyclic triterpenes a C-13 NMR study was conducted on one of the most abundant components of the hexane soluble fraction of oil shale bitumen of the Green River formation. A rigorous proof was derived exclusively from C-13 NMR data for the structure of the important triterpenoid fossil molecule. It was established that the structure of the isolated triterpane was 17alpha(H) hopane.

Probing Silica-Biomolecule Interactions by Solid-State NMR and Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

PubMed

Brückner, Stephan Ingmar; Donets, Sergii; Dianat, Arezoo; Bobeth, Manfred; Gutiérrez, Rafael; Cuniberti, Gianaurelio; Brunner, Eike

2016-11-08

Understanding the molecular interactions between inorganic phases such as silica and organic material is fundamental for chromatographic applications, for tailoring silica-enzyme interactions, and for elucidating the mechanisms of biomineralization. The formation, structure, and properties of the organic/inorganic interface is crucial in this context. Here, we investigate the interaction of selectively 13 C-labeled choline with 29 Si-labeled monosilicic acid/silica at the molecular level. Silica/choline nanocomposites were analyzed by solid-state NMR spectroscopy in combination with extended molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to understand the silica/organic interface. Cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CP MAS)-based NMR experiments like 1 H- 13 C CP-REDOR (rotational-echo double resonance), 1 H- 13 C HETCOR (heteronuclear correlation), and 1 H- 29 Si- 1 H double CP are employed to determine spatial parameters. The measurement of 29 Si- 13 C internuclear distances for selectively 13 C-labeled choline provides an experimental parameter that allows the direct verification of MD simulations. Atomistic modeling using classical MD methodologies is performed using the INTERFACE force field. The modeling results are in excellent agreement with the experimental data and reveal the relevant molecular conformations as well as the nature and interplay of the interactions between the choline cation and the silica surface. Electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding are both important and depend strongly on the hydration level as well as the charge state of the silica surface.

Finding the Right Candidate for the Right Position: A Fast NMR-Assisted Combinatorial Method for Optimizing Nucleic Acids Binders.

PubMed

Jiménez-Moreno, Ester; Montalvillo-Jiménez, Laura; Santana, Andrés G; Gómez, Ana M; Jiménez-Osés, Gonzalo; Corzana, Francisco; Bastida, Agatha; Jiménez-Barbero, Jesús; Cañada, Francisco Javier; Gómez-Pinto, Irene; González, Carlos; Asensio, Juan Luis

2016-05-25

Development of strong and selective binders from promiscuous lead compounds represents one of the most expensive and time-consuming tasks in drug discovery. We herein present a novel fragment-based combinatorial strategy for the optimization of multivalent polyamine scaffolds as DNA/RNA ligands. Our protocol provides a quick access to a large variety of regioisomer libraries that can be tested for selective recognition by combining microdialysis assays with simple isotope labeling and NMR experiments. To illustrate our approach, 20 small libraries comprising 100 novel kanamycin-B derivatives have been prepared and evaluated for selective binding to the ribosomal decoding A-Site sequence. Contrary to the common view of NMR as a low-throughput technique, we demonstrate that our NMR methodology represents a valuable alternative for the detection and quantification of complex mixtures, even integrated by highly similar or structurally related derivatives, a common situation in the context of a lead optimization process. Furthermore, this study provides valuable clues about the structural requirements for selective A-site recognition.

Automatic Assignment of Methyl-NMR Spectra of Supramolecular Machines Using Graph Theory.

PubMed

Pritišanac, Iva; Degiacomi, Matteo T; Alderson, T Reid; Carneiro, Marta G; Ab, Eiso; Siegal, Gregg; Baldwin, Andrew J

2017-07-19

Methyl groups are powerful probes for the analysis of structure, dynamics and function of supramolecular assemblies, using both solution- and solid-state NMR. Widespread application of the methodology has been limited due to the challenges associated with assigning spectral resonances to specific locations within a biomolecule. Here, we present Methyl Assignment by Graph Matching (MAGMA), for the automatic assignment of methyl resonances. A graph matching protocol examines all possibilities for each resonance in order to determine an exact assignment that includes a complete description of any ambiguity. MAGMA gives 100% accuracy in confident assignments when tested against both synthetic data, and 9 cross-validated examples using both solution- and solid-state NMR data. We show that this remarkable accuracy enables a user to distinguish between alternative protein structures. In a drug discovery application on HSP90, we show the method can rapidly and efficiently distinguish between possible ligand binding modes. By providing an exact and robust solution to methyl resonance assignment, MAGMA can facilitate significantly accelerated studies of supramolecular machines using methyl-based NMR spectroscopy.

Visualising substrate-fingermark interactions: Solid-state NMR spectroscopy of amino acid reagent development on cellulose substrates.

PubMed

Spindler, Xanthe; Shimmon, Ronald; Roux, Claude; Lennard, Chris

2015-05-01

Most spectroscopic studies of the reaction products formed by ninhydrin, 1,2-indanedione-zinc (Ind-Zn) and 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one (DFO) when reacted with amino acids or latent fingermarks on paper substrates are focused on visible absorption or luminescence spectroscopy. In addition, structural elucidation studies are typically limited to solution-based mass spectrometry or liquid nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, which does not provide an accurate representation of the fingermark development process on common paper substrates. The research presented in this article demonstrates that solid-state carbon-13 magic angle spinning NMR ((13)C-MAS-NMR) is a technique that can not only be utilised for structural studies of fingermark enhancement reagents, but is a promising technique for characterising the effect of paper chemistry on fingermark deposition and enhancement. The latter opens up a research area that has been under-explored to date but has the potential to improve our understanding of how fingermark secretions and enhancement reagents interact with paper substrates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diagnosis of coinfection by schistosomiasis and viral hepatitis B or C using 1H NMR-based metabonomics.

PubMed

Gouveia, Liana Ribeiro; Santos, Joelma Carvalho; Silva, Ronaldo Dionísio; Batista, Andrea Dória; Domingues, Ana Lúcia Coutinho; Lopes, Edmundo Pessoa de Almeida; Silva, Ricardo Oliveira

2017-01-01

Diagnosis of liver involvement due to schistosomiasis in asymptomatic patients from endemic areas previously diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B (HBV) or C (HCV) and periportal fibrosis is challenging. H-1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics strategy is a powerful tool for providing a profile of endogenous metabolites of low molecular weight in biofluids in a non-invasive way. The aim of this study was to diagnose periportal fibrosis due to schistosomiasis mansoni in patients with chronic HBV or HCV infection through NMR-based metabonomics models. The study included 40 patients divided into two groups: (i) 18 coinfected patients with schistosomiasis mansoni and HBV or HCV; and (ii) 22 HBV or HCV monoinfected patients. The serum samples were analyzed through H-1 NMR spectroscopy and the models were based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). Ultrasonography examination was used to ascertain the diagnosis of periportal fibrosis. Exploratory analysis showed a clear separation between coinfected and monoinfected samples. The supervised model built from PLS-DA showed accuracy, R2 and Q2 values equal to 100%, 98.1% and 97.5%, respectively. According to the variable importance in the projection plot, lactate serum levels were higher in the coinfected group, while the signals attributed to HDL serum cholesterol were more intense in the monoinfected group. The metabonomics models constructed in this study are promising as an alternative tool for diagnosis of periportal fibrosis by schistosomiasis in patients with chronic HBV or HCV infection from endemic areas for Schistosoma mansoni.

Modelling studies in aqueous solution of lanthanide (III) chelates designed for nuclear magnetic resonance biomedical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henriques, E. S.; Geraldes, C. F. G. C.; Ramos, M. J.

Molecular dynamics simulations and complementary modelling studies have been carried out for the [Gd(DOTA)·(H2O)]- and [Tm(DOTP)]5- chelates in aqueous media, to provide a better understanding of several structural and dynamical properties of these versatile nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes, including coordination shells and corresponding water exchange mechanisms, and interactions of these complexes with alkali metal ions. This knowledge is of key importance in the areas of 1H relaxation and shift reagents for NMR applications in medical diagnosis. A new refinement of our own previously developed set of parameters for these Ln(III) chelates has been used, and is reported here. Calculations of water mean residence times suggest a reassessment of the characterization of the chelates' second coordination shell, one where the simple spherical distribution model is discarded in favour of a more detailed approach. Na+ probe interaction maps are in good agreement with the available site location predictions derived from 23Na NMR shifts.

Requirements on paramagnetic relaxation enhancement data for membrane protein structure determination by NMR.

PubMed

Gottstein, Daniel; Reckel, Sina; Dötsch, Volker; Güntert, Peter

2012-06-06

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure calculations of the α-helical integral membrane proteins DsbB, GlpG, and halorhodopsin show that distance restraints from paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) can provide sufficient structural information to determine their structure with an accuracy of about 1.5 Å in the absence of other long-range conformational restraints. Our systematic study with simulated NMR data shows that about one spin label per transmembrane helix is necessary for obtaining enough PRE distance restraints to exclude wrong topologies, such as pseudo mirror images, if only limited other NMR restraints are available. Consequently, an experimentally realistic amount of PRE data enables α-helical membrane protein structure determinations that would not be feasible with the very limited amount of conventional NOESY data normally available for these systems. These findings are in line with our recent first de novo NMR structure determination of a heptahelical integral membrane protein, proteorhodopsin, that relied extensively on PRE data. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metabolic changes associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma: A nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics study.

PubMed

Li, Yanyun; Chen, Minjian; Liu, Cuiping; Xia, Yankai; Xu, Bo; Hu, Yanhui; Chen, Ting; Shen, Meiping; Tang, Wei

2018-05-01

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common thyroid cancer. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)‑based metabolomic technique is the gold standard in metabolite structural elucidation, and can provide different coverage of information compared with other metabolomic techniques. Here, we firstly conducted NMR based metabolomics study regarding detailed metabolic changes especially metabolic pathway changes related to PTC pathogenesis. 1H NMR-based metabolomic technique was adopted in conju-nction with multivariate analysis to analyze matched tumor and normal thyroid tissues obtained from 16 patients. The results were further annotated with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and Human Metabolome Database, and then were analyzed using modules of pathway analysis and enrichment analysis of MetaboAnalyst 3.0. Based on the analytical techniques, we established the models of principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS‑DA) which could discriminate PTC from normal thyroid tissue, and found 15 robust differentiated metabolites from two OPLS-DA models. We identified 8 KEGG pathways and 3 pathways of small molecular pathway database which were significantly related to PTC by using pathway analysis and enrichment analysis, respectively, through which we identified metabolisms related to PTC including branched chain amino acid metabolism (leucine and valine), other amino acid metabolism (glycine and taurine), glycolysis (lactate), tricarboxylic acid cycle (citrate), choline metabolism (choline, ethanolamine and glycerolphosphocholine) and lipid metabolism (very-low‑density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein). In conclusion, the PTC was characterized with increased glycolysis and inhibited tricarboxylic acid cycle, increased oncogenic amino acids as well as abnormal choline and lipid metabolism. The findings in this study provide new insights into detailed metabolic changes of PTC, and hold great potential in the treatment of PTC.

7-epi-griffonilide, a new lactone from Bauhinia pentandra: complete 1H and 13C chemical shift assignments.

PubMed

Almeida, Macia C S DE; Souza, Luciana G S; Ferreira, Daniele A; Pinto, Francisco C L; Oliveira, Débora R DE; Santiago, Gilvandete M P; Monte, Francisco J Q; Braz-Filho, Raimundo; Lemos, Telma L G DE

2017-01-01

A new lactone, 7-epi-griffonilide (1), and six known compounds, 2, 3a - 3c, 4a and 4b, were isolated from the leaves of Bauhinia pentandra (Fabaceae). The structures elucidation of 1 and 2 were based on detailed 2D NMR techniques and spectral comparison with related compounds, leading to complete assignment of the 1H and 13C NMR spectra.