Expanding the Scope of NMR Sample Preparation

TR&D 1摘要 该技术研发项目针对固态NMR的两大挑战， 结构生物学首先，样品处理是固态NMR的主要瓶颈，耗费时间， 浪费的钱，浪费的样品。强大的新型固态NMR放宽了体积和标记要求， 只有当珍贵的生物样本可以有效地转移到微小的MAS转子。我们将开发工具， 使这一过程更快、更高效、更可靠。我们还将开发工具来改变样品条件， MAS转子，以更好地评估实验期间样品的功能状态。二、膜 蛋白质在电压，离子， 和pH，但膜蛋白的结构生物学在这些梯度的情况下进行。这 使结构与功能难以联系起来，并造成了目前最大的知识缺口之一， 结构生物学该项目开发的技术进行核磁共振研究的膜蛋白嵌入 在脂质双层中，在跨膜电压、pH和离子梯度的存在下，使用几种不同的 确保NMR数据收集过程中梯度稳定性的方法。我们还将开发核磁共振读出 在NMR数据采集过程中，使用传感器测量膜电位、pH和离子梯度。这 技术将能够直接测量膜蛋白的结构和动力学， 梯度的存在，揭示了跨膜梯度如何调节和驱动膜蛋白功能。 由于大部分药物靶点都是膜蛋白，这些膜蛋白会产生、转化、消散或降解， 通过跨膜梯度的调节，该技术将具有很高的生物医学影响。

TR&D 1 SUMMARY This technology research and development project targets two major challenges for solid-state NMR and structural biology. First, sample handling represents a major bottleneck for solid-state NMR, costing time, money, and wasted sample. Powerful new solid-state NMR relax the volume and labeling requirements, but only if precious biological samples can be efficiently transferred into tiny MAS rotors. We will develop tools to make this process faster, more efficient and reliable. We will also develop tools to change sample conditions in the MAS rotor to better assess the functional state of a sample during experiments. Second, membrane proteins function in an asymmetric environment in the presence of transmembrane gradients of voltage, ions, and pH, but structural biology of membrane proteins is carried out in the absence of these gradients. This makes it difficult to correlate structure with function and creates one of the largest current knowledge gaps in structural biology. The project develops technology to perform NMR studies of membrane proteins embedded in lipid bilayers in the presence of transmembrane voltage, pH and ion gradients using several different approaches to ensure gradient stability during NMR data collection. We will also develop NMR-readout sensors to measure the membrane potential and pH and ion gradients during NMR data acquisition. This technology will enable direct measurement of the structure and dynamics of membrane proteins in the presence of gradients, revealing how transmembrane gradients regulate and drive membrane protein function. Since a large percentage of drug targets are membrane proteins that create, transform, dissipate or are regulated by transmembrane gradients, this technology will have high biomedical impact.