A method for selective F-labeling absent of probe sequestration (SLAPS).

Fluorine ( F) offers several distinct advantages for biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy such as no background signal, 100% natural abundance, high sensitivity, and a large chemical shift range. Exogenous cysteine-reactive F-probes have proven especially indispensable for characterizing large, challenging systems that are less amenable to other isotopic labeling strategies such as G protein-coupled receptors. As fluorine linewidths are inherently broad, limiting reactions with offsite cysteines is critical for spectral simplification and accurate deconvolution of component peaks-especially when analyzing systems with intermediate to slow timescale conformational exchange.

Effect of Ligands and Transducers on the Neurotensin Receptor 1 Conformational Ensemble.

Using a discrete, intracellular F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probe on transmembrane helix 6 of the neurotensin receptor 1 (NTS1), we aim to understand how ligands and transducers modulate the receptor's structural ensemble in a solution. For apo NTS1, F NMR spectra reveal an ensemble of at least three conformational substates (one inactive and two active-like) in equilibrium that exchange on the millisecond to second timescale. Dynamic NMR experiments reveal that these substates follow a linear three-site exchange process that is both thermodynamically and kinetically remodeled by orthosteric ligands.

Sulfonate/Nitro Bearing Methylmalonyl-Thioester Isosteres Applied to Methylmalonyl-CoA Decarboxylase Structure-Function Studies.

Malonyl-thioesters are reactive centers of malonyl-CoA and malonyl- S-acyl carrier protein, essential to fatty acid, polyketide and various specialized metabolite biosynthesis. Enzymes that create or use malonyl-thioesters spontaneously hydrolyze or decarboxylate reactants on the crystallographic time frame preventing determination of structure-function relationships. To address this problem, we have synthesized a panel of methylmalonyl-CoA analogs with the carboxylate represented by a sulfonate or nitro and the thioester retained or represented by an ester or amide.