The study of conformational states of proteins by nuclear magnetic resonance

By the use of examples, mainly of rather rigid proteins, we hope to have shown that conformational analysis of proteins is a problem that is not simply related to the conformational analysis of small molecules. The primary difficulties with proteins are (1) the multitude of possible conformers, (2) the complex dynamical behaviour and (3) the degree of co-operativity within the molecules. Any experimentally derived structural description of a protein is an attempt to represent some average of a complex time dependence. N.m.r. techniques have now reached the point where it is possible to use them to describe many detailed structural features of small globular proteins in solution and to detect and to describe conformational changes in such proteins. In addition, analysis is becoming possible of much less ordered regions of polypeptides, such as are found in less compact proteins, of for example myosin, histones and virus coat proteins, or in denatured states. The limits to the detailed conformational analysis of such proteins are likely to be ones of reality rather than method but the description of the properties shown in Table 1 is by its very nature an extremely important problem in conformational analysis of dynamic macromolecules.