Triple resonance experiments for aligned sample solid-state NMR of 13C and 15N labeled proteins

Initial steps in the development of a suite of triple-resonance 1H/13C/15N solid-state NMR experiments applicable to aligned samples of 13C and 15N labeled proteins are described. The experiments take advantage of the opportunities for 13C detection without the need for homonuclear 13C/13C decoupling presented by samples with two different patterns of isotopic labeling. In one type of sample, the proteins are ∼20% randomly labeled with 13C in all backbone and side chain carbon sites and ∼100% uniformly 15N labeled in all nitrogen sites; in the second type of sample, the peptides and proteins are 13C labeled at only the α-carbon and 15N labeled at the amide nitrogen of a few residues. The requirement for homonuclear 13C/13C decoupling while detecting 13C signals is avoided in the first case because of the low probability of any two 13C nuclei being bonded to each other; in the second case, the labeled 13Cα sites are separated by at least three bonds in the polypeptide chain. The experiments enable the measurement of the 13C chemical shift and 1H-13C and 15N-13C heteronuclear dipolar coupling frequencies associated with the 13Cα and 13C′ backbone sites, which provide orientation constraints complementary to those derived from the 15N labeled amide backbone sites. 13C/13C spin-exchange experiments identify proximate carbon sites. The ability to measure 13C-15N dipolar coupling frequencies and correlate 13C and 15N resonances provides a mechanism for making backbone resonance assignments. Three-dimensional combinations of these experiments ensure that the resolution, assignment, and measurement of orientationally dependent frequencies can be extended to larger proteins. Moreover, measurements of the 13C chemical shift and 1H-13C heteronuclear dipolar coupling frequencies for nearly all side chain sites enable the complete three-dimensional structures of proteins to be determined with this approach.