Deuterium NMR of Val1...(2-2H)Ala3...gramicidin A in oriented DMPC bilayers

Deuterium NMR is used to study the selectively labeled Val1...(2-2H)Ala3...gramicidin A molecule to investigate the structure and dynamics of the C alpha-2H bond in the Ala3 residue of gramicidin. Val1...(2-2H)Ala3...gramicidin A is synthesized, purified, and characterized and then incorporated into oriented bilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine sandwiched between glass coverslips. Phosphorus NMR line shapes obtained from this sample are consistent with the presence of the bilayer phase and indicate that no nonbilayer phases are present in significant amounts. Deuterium NMR line shapes obtained from this sample indicate that the motional axis of the gramicidin Ala3 residue is parallel to the coverslip normal, that the distribution of motional axis orientations has a width of 2 degrees, and that only one major conformational and dynamical state of the Ala3 C alpha-2H bond is observed on the NMR time scale. Furthermore, the Ala3 C alpha-2H bond angle relative to the motional axis is 19-20 degrees if fast axial rotation is assumed to be the only motion present but is less than or equal to 19-20 degrees in the absence of such an assumption. This result indicates that various double-stranded, helical dimer models are very unlikely to represent the structure of gramicidin in the sample studied but that the single-stranded, beta 6.3 helical dimer models are consistent with the experimental data. However, a definitive distinction between the left-handed, single-stranded, beta 6.3 helical dimer model and the right-handed, single-stranded, beta 6.3 helical dimer model cannot be made on the basis of the experimental data obtained in this study.