Kinetic analysis of protein aggregation monitored by real-time 2D solid-state NMR spectroscopy

It is shown that real-time 2D solid-state NMR can be used to obtain kinetic and structural information about the process of protein aggregation. In addition to the incorporation of kinetic information involving intermediate states, this approach can offer atom-specific resolution for all detectable species. The analysis was carried out using experimental data obtained during aggregation of the 10.4 kDa Crh protein, which has been shown to involve a partially unfolded intermediate state prior to aggregation. Based on a single real-time 2D 13C–13C transition spectrum, kinetic information about the refolding and aggregation step could be extracted. In addition, structural rearrangements associated with refolding are estimated and several different aggregation scenarios were compared to the experimental data

Resolution Enhancement in Multidimensional Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy of Proteins using Spin-State Selection

A new experimental approach is introduced which leads to significant resolution enhancement in multidimensional 13C-13C correlation experiments of microcrystalline systems. Spin-state-selective techniques, adapted for solid-state NMR, are used for removing the J-coupling contribution to the 13C lineshapes. Combination of the spin-state-selective elements and standard ZQ or DQ solid-state NMR mixing sequences allows to perform a spin-state-selective polarization transfer. In addition to the resolution improvement, the new technique enables to distinguish "direct" cross peaks involving covalently bound nuclei from "relayed" cross peaks

Properties of the DREAM scheme and its optimization for application to proteins

The DREAM scheme is an efficient adiabatic homonuclear polarization-transfer method suitable for multi-dimensional experiments in biomolecular solid-state NMR. The bandwidth and dynamics of the polarization transfer in the DREAM experiment depend on a number of experimental and spin-system parameters. In order to obtain optimal results, the dependence of the cross-peak intensity on these parameters needs to be understood and carefully controlled. We introduce a simplified model to semi-quantitatively describe the polarization-transfer patterns for the relevant spin systems. Numerical simulations for all natural amino acids (except tryptophane) show the dependence of the cross-peak intensities as a function of the radio-frequency-carrier position. This dependency can be used as a guide to select the desired conditions in protein spectroscopy. Practical guidelines are given on how to set up a DREAM experiment for optimized Cα/Cβ transfer, which is important in sequential assignment experiment

Solid-state NMR sequential assignments of α-synuclein

Parkinson's disease is amongst the most frequent and most devastating neurodegenerative diseases. It is tightly associated with the assembly of proteins into high-molecular weight protein species, which propagate between neurons in the central nervous system. The principal protein involved in this process is α-synuclein which is a structural component of the Lewy bodies observed in diseased brain. We here present the solid-state NMR sequential assignments of a new fibrillar form of this protein, the first one with a well-ordered and rigid N-terminal par

Including Protons in Solid-State NMR Resonance Assignment and Secondary Structure Analysis: The Example of RNA Polymerase II Subunits Rpo4/7

International audience1 H-detected solid-state NMR experiments feasible at fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) frequencies allow accessing 1 H chemical shifts of proteins in solids, which enables their interpretation in terms of secondary structure. Here we present 1 H and 13 C-detected NMR spectra of the RNA polymerase subunit Rpo7 in complex with unlabeled Rpo4 and use the 13 C, 15 N, and 1 H chemical-shift values deduced from them to study the secondary structure of the protein in comparison to a known crystal structure. We applied the automated resonance assignment approach FLYA including 1 H-detected solid-state NMR spectra and show its success in comparison to manual spectral assignment. Our results show that reasonably reliable secondary-structure information can be obtained from 1 H secondary chemical shifts (SCS) alone by using the sum of 1 H α and 1 H N SCS rather than by TALOS. The confidence, especially at the boundaries of the observed secondary structure elements, is found to increase when evaluating 13 C chemical shifts, here either by using TALOS or in terms of 13 C SCS

Simultaneous use of solution, solid-state NMR and X-ray crystallography to study the conformational landscape of the Crh protein during oligomerization and crystallization

We explore, using the Crh protein dimer as a model, how information from solution NMR, solid-state NMR and X-ray crystallography can be combined using structural bioinformatics methods, in order to get insights into the transition from solution to crystal. Using solid-state NMR chemical shifts, we filtered intra-monomer NMR distance restraints in order to keep only the restraints valid in the solid state. These filtered restraints were added to solid-state NMR restraints recorded on the dimer state to sample the conformational landscape explored during the oligomerization process. The use of non-crystallographic symmetries then permitted the extraction of converged conformers subsets. Ensembles of NMR and crystallographic conformers calculated independently display similar variability in monomer orientation, which supports a funnel shape for the conformational space explored during the solution-crystal transition. Insights into alternative conformations possibly sampled during oligomerization were obtained by analyzing the relative orientation of the two monomers, according to the restraint precision. Molecular dynamics simulations of Crh confirmed the tendencies observed in NMR conformers, as a paradoxical increase of the distance between the two β1a strands, when the structure gets closer to the crystallographic structure, and the role of water bridges in this context

Spinning faster: protein NMR at MAS frequencies up to 126 kHz

International audienceWe report linewidth and proton T 1 , T 1ρ and T 2 ′ relaxation data of the model protein ubiquitin acquired at MAS frequencies up to 126 kHz. We find a predominantly linear improvement in linewidths and coherence decay times of protons with increasing spinning frequency in the range from 93 to 126 kHz. We further attempt to gain insight into the different contributions to the linewidth at fast MAS using site-specific analysis of proton relaxation parameters and present bulk relaxation times as a function of the MAS frequency. For microcrystalline fully-protonated ubiquitin, inhomogeneous contributions are only a minor part of the proton linewidth, and at 126 kHz MAS coherent effects are still dominating. We furthermore present site-specific proton relaxation rate constants during a spinlock at 126 kHz MAS, as well as MAS-dependent bulk T 1ρ (1 H N)

Extensive de novo solid-state NMR assignments of the 33kDa C-terminal domain of the Ure2 prion

We present the de novo resonance assignments for the crystalline 33kDa C-terminal domain of the Ure2 prion using an optimized set of five 3D solid-state NMR spectra. We obtained, using a single uniformly 13C, 15N labeled protein sample, sequential chemical-shift information for 74% of the N, Cα, Cβ triples, and for 80% of further side-chain resonances for these spin systems. We describe the procedures and protocols devised, and discuss possibilities and limitations of the assignment of this largest protein assigned today by solid-state NMR, and for which no solution-state NMR shifts were available. A comparison of the NMR chemical shifts with crystallographic data reveals that regions with high crystallographic B-factors are particularly difficult to assign. While the secondary structure elements derived from the chemical shift data correspond mainly to those present in the X-ray crystal structure, we detect an additional helical element and structural variability in the protein crystal, most probably originating from the different molecules in the asymmetric unit, with the observation of doubled resonances in several parts, including entire stretches, of the protein. Our results provide the point of departure towards an atomic-resolution structural analysis of the C-terminal Ure2p domain in the context of the full-length prion fibril