Inter- and intramolecular contacts in a membrane protein/surfactant complex observed by heteronuclear dipole-to-dipole cross-relaxation

Heteronuclear dipole-to-dipole cross-relaxation has been applied to exploring intermolecular interactions and intramolecular spatial proximities in a large supramolecular structure comprised of a β-barrel membrane protein, OmpX, in complex with a polymeric surfactant, amphipol A8-35. The experiments, performed in either the laboratory or the rotating frame, reveal the existence of intermolecular contacts between aromatic amino acids and specific groups of the polymer, in addition to intra-protein dipolar interactions, some of them involving carbonyl carbons. This study opens the perspective of collecting by NMR spectroscopy a new kind of through-space structural information involving aromatic and carbonyl 13C atoms of large proteins.