Stereospecific assignments of the isopropyl methyl groups of the membrane protein OmpX in DHPC micelles

J Biomol NMR. 2003 Dec;27(4):377-82. doi: 10.1023/a:1025877326533.

Abstract

In NMR studies of large molecular structures, the number of conformational constraints based on NOE measurements is typically limited due to the need for partial deuteration. As a consequence, when using selective protonation of peripheral methyl groups on a perdeuterated background, stereospecific assignments of the diastereotopic methyl groups of Val and Leu can have a particularly large impact on the quality of the NMR structure determination. For example, 3D 15N- and 13C-resolved [1H,1H]-NOESY spectra of the E. Coli membrane protein OmpX in mixed micelles with DHPC, which have an overall molecular weight of about 60 kDa, showed that about 50% of all obtainable NOEs involve the diastereotopic methyl groups of Val and Leu. In this paper, we used biosynthetically-directed fractional 13C labeling of OmpX and [13C,1H]-HSQC spectroscopy to obtain stereospecific methyl assignments of Val and Leu in OmpX/DHPC. For practical purposes it is of interest that this data could be obtained without use of a deuterated background, and that combinations of NMR experiments have been found for obtaining the desired information either at a 1H frequency of 500 MHz, or with significantly reduced measuring time on a high-frequency instrument.

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / chemistry*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / chemistry*
  • Hydrolases*
  • Membrane Proteins / chemistry*
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Methane / analogs & derivatives*
  • Methane / chemistry*
  • Micelles
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / methods*
  • Phospholipid Ethers / chemistry*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Stereoisomerism

Substances

  • 1,2-dihexadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Micelles
  • Phospholipid Ethers
  • OmpX protein, E coli
  • methyl radical
  • Hydrolases
  • Methane