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Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Site Directed Spin Labeling and EPR Spectroscopic Studies of Pentameric Ligand-Gated Ion Channels
Published on: July 4, 2016
Spectroscopically Orthogonal Spin Labels in Structural Biology at Physiological Temperatures
Markus Teucher1, Svetlana Kucher1,2, M Hadi Timachi1
1Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University of Bochum, Bochum 44801, Germany.
Abstract:
Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) is mostly used in structural biology in conjunction with pulsed dipolar spectroscopy (PDS) methods to monitor interspin distances in biomacromolecules at cryogenic temperatures both in vitro and in cells. In this context, spectroscopically orthogonal spin labels were shown to increase the information content that can be gained per sample. Here, we exploit the characteristic properties of gadolinium and nitroxide spin labels at physiological temperatures to study side chain dynamics via continuous wave (cw) EPR at X band, surface water dynamics via Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization at X band and short-range distances via cw EPR at high fields. The presented approaches further increase the accessible information content on biomolecules tagged with orthogonal labels providing insights into molecular interactions and dynamic equilibria that are only revealed under physiological conditions.
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