Cited by 17Advanced NMR Techniques and ApplicationsProtein Structure and DynamicsElectron Spin Resonance Studies

Rational design of 19F NMR labelling sites to probe protein structure and interactions

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Streit, Julian O., Chan, Sammy H. S., Daya, Saifu, Christodoulou, John·2025·Nature Communications

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Abstract

Proteins are investigated in increasingly more complex biological systems, where 19 F NMR is proving highly advantageous due to its high gyromagnetic ratio and background-free spectra. Its application has, however, been hindered by limited chemical shift dispersions and an incomprehensive relationship between chemical shifts and protein structure. Here, we exploit the sensitivity of 19 F chemical shifts to ring currents by designing labels with direct contact to a native or engineered aromatic ring. Fifty protein variants predicted by AlphaFold and molecular dynamics simulations show 80–90% success rates and direct correlations of their experimental chemical shifts with the magnitude of the engineered ring current. Our method consequently improves the chemical shift dispersion and through simple 1D experiments enables structural analyses of alternative conformational states, including ribosome-bound folding intermediates, and in-cell measurements of protein-protein interactions and thermodynamics. Our strategy thus provides a simple and sensitive tool to extract residue contact restraints from chemical shifts for previously intractable systems.

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Authors
Streit, J. O., Chan, S. H. S., Daya, S., & Christodoulou, J.
Affiliations
Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Streit, Julian O.
  • Chan, Sammy H. S.
  • Christodoulou, John
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2025-05-08
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
4300-4300
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4410203739
Cited by
17
References
98
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 2
FWCI
4.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust (206409/Z/17/Z)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Advanced NMR Techniques and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Electron Spin Resonance Studies
Keywords
19F NMR chemical shifts, ring current, protein structure determination, protein-protein interaction, folding intermediates, ribosome, conformational states
MeSH terms
Fluorine, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Protein Binding, Protein Conformation, Proteins, Thermodynamics, Protein Folding, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular, Molecular Dynamics Simulation

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