Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancement for Detecting and Characterizing Self-Associations of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins
Published on: September 23, 2021
Studying the structure and dynamics of biomolecules by using soluble paramagnetic probes
Henry G Hocking1, Klaus Zangger, Tobias Madl
1Chair of Biomolecular NMR, Department Chemie, Technische Universität München, 85747 Garching (Germany); Institute of Structural Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg (Germany).
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy struggles with large biomolecules. Solvent paramagnetic relaxation enhancements (PREs) offer a powerful new method to study their structure and dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Structural Biology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is crucial for studying biomolecular structure and dynamics.
- Signal overlap and broadening in NMR spectra limit the analysis of large biomolecules and complexes.
- Sparse NMR data necessitates complementary techniques for comprehensive characterization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review available solvent paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) probes.
- To discuss the application of solvent PREs for structural and dynamic characterization of biomolecules.
- To highlight solvent PREs as a complementary technique to NMR spectroscopy.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing inert and soluble paramagnetic probes to generate solvent PREs.
- Measuring solvent PREs without requiring biomolecular modification.
- Analyzing PRE data to determine solvent accessibility of NMR-active nuclei.
Main Results:
- Solvent PREs provide quantitative information on solvent accessibility.
- PRE measurements are sensitive to molecular structure and dynamics.
- This technique is applicable to proteins, nucleic acids, ligands, and their complexes.
Conclusions:
- Solvent PREs are a valuable tool for overcoming NMR limitations in studying large biomolecules.
- The technique offers detailed structural and dynamic insights into biomolecular systems.
- Solvent PREs are increasingly important for comprehensive biomolecular characterization in solution.
Related Concept Videos
Proteomics
Proteomics is the study of proteomes' function. It involves the large-scale systematic study of the proteome to denote the protein complement expressed by a genome. Scientist Mark Wilkins coined the term proteomics...
Applications Of NMR In Biology
The...
Protein Dynamics in Living Cells
Fluorescent recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) is a fluorescent-protein-based detection technique used to quantify protein movement rates within the cell. This method exposes a small portion of the cell to an intense laser beam. The laser beam causes permanent photobleaching of the fluorophore-tagged proteins in the exposed region. As the bleached...
