Positive theta-angles in proteins by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Non-glycine residues with positive theta-angles have been identified in four proteins, barley serine proteinase inhibitor CI-2, bacterial ribonuclease (barnase) of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, hen egg white lysozyme and a basic protein from barley seed (barwin) by use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. By accurate measurements of the coupling constant (3)JHNHalpha and integration of the nuclear Overhauser HN-Halpha cross peak, positive theta-angles could be determined reliably to 60 degrees +/- 30 degrees, in full agreement with the crystal structures for lysozyme, barnase and serine proteinase inhibitor CI-2. The work emphasizes that positive theta-angles can also occur in non-glycine residues and in the four proteins, positive theta-angles have been observed for the residue types aspartic acid, asparagine, arginine, serine, glutamine, histidine, tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine. The measured (3)JHNHalpha coupling constants and the intensity of the intraresidue HN-Halpha NOEs agree well with the solution structures of three of the proteins, using the existing parametrization of the Karplus curve (Pardi, A., Billeter, M. and Wuthrich, K. (1984) J. Mol. Biol., 180, 741-751; Ludvigsen, S. Andersen, K.V. and Poulsen, F.M. (1991) J Mol. Biol., 217, 731-736).