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C Griesinger

Publications and source records attributed to C Griesinger.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Adiabatic TOCSY for C,C and H,H J-transfer.

Adiabatic pulses have been widely used for broadband decoupling and spin inversion at high magnetic fields. In this paper we propose adiabatic pulses and supercycles that can be used at high magnetic fields like 800 or 900 MHz to obtain broadband TOCSY sequences with C,C or H,H J-transfer. The new mixing sequences are equal or even superior to the well known DIPSI-2,3 experiments with respect to bandwidth. They prove robust against pulse miscalibration and B1 inhomogeneity and are therefore attractive for fully automated spectrometer environments. These adiabatic mixing sequences have been incorporated in a novel z-filter HCCH-TOCSY experiment.

Calibration↗

N-carboxymethanofuran (carbamate) formation from methanofuran and CO2 in methanogenic archaea. Thermodynamics and kinetics of the spontaneous reaction.

N-carboxymethanofuran (carbamate) formation from unprotonated methanofuran (MFR) and CO2 is the first reaction in the reduction of CO2 to methane in methanogenic archaea. The reaction proceeds spontaneously. We address here the question whether the rate of spontaneous carbamate formation is high enough to account for the observed rate of methanogenesis from CO2. The rates of carbamate formation (v1) and cleavage (v2) were determined under equilibrium conditions via 2D proton exchange NMR spectroscopy (EXSY). At pH 7.0 and 300 K the second order rate constant k1* of carbamate formation from 'MFR'(MFR + MFRH+) and 'CO2' (CO2 + H2CO3 + HCO3-+ CO32-) was found to be 7 M-1.s-1 (v1 = k1* ['MFR'] ['CO2']) while the pseudo first order rate constant k2* of carbamate cleavage was 12 s-1 (v2 = k2* [carbamate]). The equilibrium constant K* = k1*/k2* = [carbamate]/['MFR']['CO2'] was 0.6 M-1 at pH 7.0 corresponding to a free energy change DeltaG degrees ' of + 1.3 kJ.mol-1. The pH and temperature dependence of k1*, of k2* and of K* were determined. From the second order rate constant k1* it was calculated that under physiological conditions the rate of spontaneous carbamate formation is of the same order as the maximal rate of methane formation and as the rate of spontaneous CO2 formation from HCO3- in methanogenic archaea, the latter being important as CO2 is mainly present as HCO3- which has to be converted to CO2 before it can react with MFR. An enzyme catalyzed carbamate formation thus appears not to be required for methanogenesis from CO2. Consistent with this conclusion is our finding that the rate of carbamate formation was not enhanced by cell extracts of Methanosarcina barkeri and Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum or by purified formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase which catalyzes the reduction of N-carboxymethanofuran to N-formylmethanofuran. From the concentrations of 'CO2' and of 'MFR' determined by 1D-NMR spectroscopy and the pKa of H2CO3 and of MFRH+ the concentrations of CO2 and of MFR were obtained, allowing to calculate k1 (v1 = k1 [MFR] [CO2]). The second order rate constant k1 was found to be approximately 1000 M-1 x s-1 at 300 K and pH values between 7.0 and 8. 0 which is in the order of k1 values determined for other carbamate forming reactions by stopped flow.

Aldehyde Oxidoreductases↗

Structural characteristics of human substantia nigra neuromelanin and synthetic dopamine melanins.

Neuromelanin (NM) is a complex polymer pigment found primarily in the dopaminergic neurons of the human substantia nigra. The structure of NM is only partially characterized, and its synthesis pathway remains unknown. We used nuclear magnetic and infrared spectroscopy to examine the structure of human NM isolated from the substantia nigra compared with synthetic dopamine melanins. Biochemical analyses were used to investigate proteinaceous and dopaminergic components in these samples. Following acid hydrolysis of NM samples, small amounts of DOPA, dopamine, and a variety of amino acids were measured. These findings suggest a peptide component in NM structure. NM also appears to contain a variety of unidentified structural components possibly derived from the oxidation of dopamine. Human NM differs structurally from synthetic dopamine melanin, but both human and synthetic NM include an aromatic backbone. It is interesting that both human NM and synthetic melanin also contain a large proportion of aliphatic structures. Our results suggest that NM is a more complex pigment than synthetic dopamine melanin formed via dopamine autoxidation alone.

Adult↗

NMR solution structure of a complex of calmodulin with a binding peptide of the Ca2+ pump.

The three-dimensional structure of the complex between calmodulin (CaM) and a peptide corresponding to the N-terminal portion of the CaM-binding domain of the plasma membrane calcium pump, the peptide C20W, has been solved by heteronuclear three-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The structure calculation is based on a total of 1808 intramolecular NOEs and 49 intermolecular NOEs between the peptide C20W and calmodulin from heteronuclear-filtered NOESY spectra and a half-filtered experiment, respectively. Chemical shift differences between free Ca(2+)-saturated CaM and its complex with C20W as well as the structure calculation reveal that C20W binds solely to the C-terminal half of CaM. In addition, comparison of the methyl resonances of the nine assigned methionine residues of free Ca(2+)-saturated CaM with those of the CaM/C20W complex revealed a significant difference between the N-terminal and the C-terminal domain; i.e., resonances in the N-terminal domain of the complex were much more similar to those reported for free CaM in contrast to those in the C-terminal half which were significantly different not only from the resonances of free CaM but also from those reported for the CaM/M13 complex. As a consequence, the global structure of the CaM/C20W complex is unusual, i.e., different from other peptide calmodulin complexes, since we find no indication for a collapsed structure. The fine modulation in the peptide protein interface shows a number of differences to the CaM/M13 complex studied by Ikura et al. [Ikura, M., Clore, G. M., Gronenborn, A. M., Zhu, G., Klee, C. B., and Bax, A. (1992) Science 256, 632-638]. The unusual binding mode to only the C-terminal half of CaM is in agreement with the biochemical observation that the calcium pump can be activated by the C-terminal half of CaM alone [Guerini, D., Krebs, J., and Carafoli, E. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 15172-15177].

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Determination of sugar conformation in large RNA oligonucleotides from analysis of dipole-dipole cross correlated relaxation by solution NMR spectroscopy.

A new experiment, the forward directed quantitative gamma-HCCH-TOCSY for the measurement of the conformation of the five-membered ribosyl unit in RNA oligonucleotides, is presented. The experiment relies on quantification of cross peak intensities caused by evolution of CH, CH-dipole-dipole cross correlated relaxation in non-evolution periods and the resolution enhancement obtainable in forward directed HCC-TOCSY transfer. Cross correlated relaxation rates are interpreted to reveal the sugar conformation of 22 out of 25 nucleotides in an isotopically labelled 25-mer RNA. The results obtained with this new method are in agreement with the conformational analysis derived from 3J(H,H) coupling constants.

Carbohydrate Conformation↗

Metabolism of retigabine (D-23129), a novel anticonvulsant.

Retigabine (D-23129, N-(2-amino-4-(4-fluorobenzylamino)-phenyl) carbamic acid ethyl ester) is a potent anticonvulsant in a variety of animal models. Rats metabolized [14C]retigabine mainly through glucuronidation and acetylation reactions. Glucuronides were detected in incubates with liver microsomes or slices, in plasma, and in bile and feces but were absent in urine (0-24 h) that contained about 2% of the dose as retigabine and approximately 29% of the dose in > 20 metabolites, which are derived mainly from acetylation reactions. About 67% of the radioactivity was excreted into feces, approximately 10% of the dose as glucuronide. The metabolite pattern in the urine (0-24 h) of dogs was comparatively simple in that retigabine (13%), retigabine-N-glucuronide (5%), and retigabine-N-glucoside (1%) were present. In the same 24-h interval, about 39% of unchanged retigabine was excreted into feces. Plasma profiling and spectroscopic analysis (liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry NMR) of two isolated urinary metabolites obtained after single oral dosing of 600 mg retigabine in healthy volunteers indicated that both acetylation and glucuronidation are major metabolic pathways of retigabine in humans. We found that in vitro assays with liver slices from rat and humans reveal the major circulating metabolites in vivo.

Animals↗

Unitary control in quantum ensembles: maximizing signal intensity in coherent spectroscopy

Experiments in coherent magnetic resonance, microwave, and optical spectroscopy control quantum-mechanical ensembles by guiding them from initial states toward target states by unitary transformation. Often, the coherences detected as signals are represented by a non-Hermitian operator. Hence, spectroscopic experiments, such as those used in nuclear magnetic resonance, correspond to unitary transformations between operators that in general are not Hermitian. A gradient-based systematic procedure for optimizing these transformations is described that finds the largest projection of a transformed initial operator onto the target operator and, thus, the maximum spectroscopic signal. This method can also be used in applied mathematics and control theory.

Journal Article↗

New methylene specific experiments for the measurement of scalar spin-spin coupling constants between protons attached to 13C.

New two- and three-dimensional NMR methods are proposed for the measurement of 3J(H, H) coupling constants between two adjacent methylene moieties. The new experiment, which is based on a combination of the E.COSY principle and double/zero quantum heteronuclear spectroscopy, has been applied to diaceton-glucose and to the protein rhodniin. The coupling constants of CH-CH2 groups have been compared with those obtained from a HCCH-E.COSY experiment to check the reliability of the results. An analysis of the coupling constants derived by comparison between experimental and simulated spectra is presented. Simulations were done with the program wtest considering fully correlated dipolar relaxation. Side-chain conformations in amino acids with adjacent methylene groups can be determined by the new experiment.

Carbon Isotopes↗

Direct measurement of angles between bond vectors in high-resolution NMR.

Angles between two interatomic vectors are measured for structure elucidation in solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The angles can be determined directly by using the effects of dipole-dipole cross-correlated relaxation of double-quantum and zero-quantum coherences. The measured rates can be directly related to the angular geometry without need for calibration of a Karplus-type curve, as is the case for scalar coupling measurements, and depend only on the rotational correlation time of the molecule as an empirical parameter. This makes the determination of torsional angles independent from the measurement of coupling constants. The two interatomic vectors can in principle be arbitrarily far apart. The method was demonstrated on the measurement of the peptide backbone angle psi in the protein rhodniin, which is difficult to determine in solution by NMR spectroscopy.

Antithrombins↗

Constitution and solution conformation of the antibiotic mersacidin determined by NMR and molecular dynamics.

The solution structure of the tetracyclic lantibiotic mersacidin in methanol (CD3OH) has been determined by NMR followed by distance bound driven dynamics and subsequent restrained molecular dynamics simulations combined with an iterative relaxation matrix approach and alternatively by a simulated annealing protocol. The molecular dynamics simulations were performed with the AMBER program system and with the INSIGHT program package. The distance bound driven dynamics calculation was conducted using a modified version of the DISGEO II program. The interproton distance restraints were derived from jump symmetrized rotating-frame Overhauser enhancement and exchange (JS-ROESY) spectra, which yield optimum sensitivity for medium-sized molecules like mersacidin. The connectivities via the sulfide bridges were unambiguously confirmed by heteronuclear NMR techniques (heteronuclear single quantum coherence and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation methods). Due to the tetracyclic structure, mersacidin exhibits a rather rigid globular shape, which neither belongs to the duramycin nor to the nisin structure type lantibiotics. The resulting structures for the simulated annealing protocol of restrained and subsequent free molecular dynamics were compared and found to be very similar.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Small peptide libraries: combinatorial split-mix synthesis followed by combinatorial amino acid analysis of selected variants.

Peptides from small combinatorial libraries, covalently attached to polymeric TentaGel beads, can be directly sequenced using amino acid analysis. For libraries with restricted diversity, generated by the split-mix synthesis method, the amino acids on a selected single bead identified by pre-column derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) correlate directly with the sequence of a given peptide. This is shown on a tripeptide (343 different compounds) and a tetrapeptide (4096 different compounds) library. This method allows for rapid peptide sequence determination without relying on complex encoding strategies.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Secondary structural elements as a basis for antibody recognition in the immunodominant region of human immunodeficiency viruses 1 and 2.

Synthetic peptide antigens corresponding to the entire third variable region V3, the principal neutralizing determinant of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1 subtype B (1), HIV-2 subtype A (5), and HIV-2 subtype B (7) were synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis (Table 1). 1 and 5 were also prepared as their GlcNAc-glycosylated forms at the natural N-glycosylation site NXT (positions 6-8; peptides 4 and 6). Additionally, the proposed beta-turn region of 1 (GPGR; positions 15-18) was altered by introducing D-Ala17 (2) and D-Pro16 (3). All compounds have been studied by two-dimensional NMR techniques. Interproton distances and 3JNH/H alpha coupling constants derived from NMR data are used as restraints in distance geometry and ENSEMBLE-Distance and angle-bound driven dynamics calculations. The stimulations led to disordered conformations except for a high propensity of a beta II-turn in the region GPXR (positions 15-18) in 1, 2, and 4. In 3 (G-D-ProGR, positions 15-18), a type beta I'-turn was mainly found instead. For peptide 7, the consensus sequence of HIV-2 subtype B, a type beta II-turn was also found although the primary structure (VSGL; positions 15-18) differs grossly from the HIV-1 peptide 1. With the exception of 2, all beta II-turns were able to form a canonically opened beta-turn by a 180 degree rotation of phi(G17). Surprisingly, compounds 5 and 6 that are highly similar to 7 showed no beta II-type turn within MSGL (positions 15-18). They form a type beta VIII-turn across the tetrapeptide SGLV (positions 16-19) together with a non-canonical turn conformation across LMSG (positions 14-17) leading to an S-conformation. The reaction of the peptides with HIV-positive sera from patients infected with different subtypes of HIV-1 and HIV-2 was tested in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA reactions). No HIV-2 sera reacted peptide 1 and no HIV-1 sera showed reactivity to peptide 5. We propose that certain amino acid exchanges within the V3 domain lead to altered conformations of the V3 loop resulting in antibodies that show altered binding properties to the peptide antigens used in the ELISA reactions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Directed TOCSY, a method for selection of directed correlations by optimal combinations of isotropic and longitudinal mixing.

The directed TOCSY pulse sequence element transfers coherence predominantly into "forward-directed" antiphase coherences while simultaneously suppressing in-phase and "backward-directed" antiphase coherences. This novel selection principle, based on the "direction" of the target coherences, provides a new approach for the simplification of crowded spectra. In this article, the theory of directed TOCSY is presented for linear spin systems that are frequently found in carbon-labeled biomolecules.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging↗

Sequential correlation of anomeric ribose protons and intervening phosphorus in RNA oligonucleotides by a 1H, 13C, 31P triple resonance experiment: HCP-CCH-TOCSY.

A three-dimensional 1H, 13C, 31P triple resonance experiment, HCP-CCH-TOCSY, is presented which provides unambiguous through-bond correlation of all 1H ribose protons on the 5' and 3' sides of the intervening phosphorus along the backbone bonding network in 13C-labeled RNA oligonucleotides. The correlation of the complete ribose spin system to the intervening phosphorus is obtained by adding a C,C-TOCSY coherence transfer step to the triple resonance HCP experiment. The C,C-TOCSY transfer step, which utilizes the large and relatively uniform 1J(C,C) coupling constant (approximately 40 Hz for ribose carbons), efficiently correlates the phosphorus-coupled carbons observed in the HCP correlation experiment (i.e., C4' and C5' in the 5' direction and C4' and C3' in the 3' direction) to all other carbons in the ribose spin system. Of the additional correlations observed in the HCP-CCH-TOCSY, that to the relatively well-resolved anomeric H1',C1' resonance pairs provides the greatest gain in terms of facilitating assignment. The gain in spectral resolution afforded by chemical shift labeling with the anomeric resonances should provide a more robust pathway for sequential assignment over the intervening phosphorus in larger RNA oligonucleotides. The HCP-CCH-TOCSY experiment is demonstrated on a uniformly 13C, 15N-labeled 19-nucleotide RNA stem-loop, derived from the antisense RNA I molecule found in the ColE1 plasmid replication control system.

Base Sequence↗

H2-forming N5, N10-methylenetetrahydromethanopterin dehydrogenase from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum catalyzes a stereoselective hydride transfer as determined by two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy.

5,6,7,8-Tetrahydromethanopterin is a coenzyme playing a key role in the energy metabolism of methanogenic archaea. In Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, the reduction of N5, N10-methenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin at C(14a) with H2 to N5, N10-methylene-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin can be catalyzed by H2-forming methylenetetrahydromethanopterin dehydrogenase, a new hydrogenase present in most methanogenic archaea, which is unique because it does not contain nickel or iron/sulfur clusters. In this work, the stereochemistry of this enzymatic hydride-transfer reaction is elucidated by means of a series of heteronuclear two-dimensional NMR experiments. It is found that the hydride from H2 is transferred by the enzyme into the rel-(pro-R) position of the C(14a) methylene group of the reaction product N5, N10-methylene-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin. NMR experiments are described that show that the hydrogen nucleus of the hydride transferred to the oxidized coenzyme partially originates from water. The stereochemical course of this reaction is the same as that for direct hydride transfer. It is demonstrated that the diastereotopic atoms at C(14a) of the reaction product epimerize in an uncatalyzed reaction under the conditions of operation of the enzyme (k = 0.01 s-1 at 58 degree C and pH 6.5).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Circular Dichroism↗

A general enhancement scheme in heteronuclear multidimensional NMR employing pulsed field gradients.

General pulse sequence elements that achieve sensitivity-enhanced coherence transfer from a heteronucleus to protons of arbitrary multiplicity are introduced. The building blocks are derived from the sensitivity-enhancement scheme introduced by Cavanagh et al. ((1991) J. Magn. Reson., 91, 429-436), which was used in conjunction with gradient coherence selection by Kay et al. ((1992) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 10663-10665), as well as from a multiple-pulse sequence effecting a heteronuclear planar coupling Hamiltonian. The building blocks are incorporated into heteronuclear correlation experiments, in conjunction with coherence selection by the formation of a heteronuclear gradient echo. This allows for efficient water suppression without the need for water presaturation. The methods are demonstrated in HSQC-type experiments on a sample of a decapeptide in H2O. The novel pulse sequence elements can be incorporated into multidimensional experiments.

Amino Acid Sequence↗