An approach to NMR assignment of intrinsically disordered proteins

An efficient approach to NMR assignments in intrinsically disordered proteins is presented, making use of the good dispersion of cross peaks observed in [(15) N,(13) C']- and [(13) C',(1) H(N) ]-correlation spectra. The method involves the simultaneous collection of {3D (H)NCO(CAN)H and 3D (HACA)CON(CA)HA} spectra for backbone assignments via sequential H(N) and H(α) correlations and {3D (H)NCO(CACS)HS and 3D (HS)CS(CA)CO(N)H} spectra for side-chain (1) H and (13) C assignments, employing sequential (1) H data acquisitions with direct detection of both the amide and aliphatic protons. The efficacy of the approach for obtaining resonance assignments with complete backbone and side-chain chemical shifts is demonstrated experimentally for the 61-residue [(13) C,(15) N]-labelled peptide of a voltage-gated potassium channel protein of the Kv1.4 channel subunit. The general applicability of the approach for the characterisation of moderately sized globular proteins is also demonstrated.