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15N CPMG Relaxation Dispersion for the Investigation of Protein Conformational Dynamics on the µs-ms Timescale
Published on: April 19, 2021
Photo-CIDNP-Enhanced 19F NMR for Rapid Protein Conformation and Ligand Binding Analysis
Zhaofei Chai1,2, Weixuan Wang1,2, Qiong Wu1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan430071, China.
None:
19F NMR spectroscopy is a powerful probe of protein conformation and dynamics but is intrinsically limited by low sensitivity common to other NMR techniques. Here, we integrate photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) with genetically encoded 19F labels to enhance sensitivity by up to 220-fold, enabling the detection of 100 nM protein within 6.5 min. This approach employs commercially available, cost-effective 19F-labeled amino acid analogues and is broadly applicable to proteins ranging from 6.6 to 54.2 kDa. It allows rapid analysis of conformational changes and ligand binding in the low-micromolar range within minutes. Notably, it can readily characterize interactions with dissociation constants below 5 μM, which are challenging to access using conventional NMR. The combination of photo-CIDNP-induced sensitivity enhancement with the environmental responsiveness of 19F NMR establishes a practical platform for protein structural and interaction studies.
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