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Extending the NMR spatial resolution limit for RNA by motional couplings

Abstract

Experimental resolution of distinct dynamical processes in molecules can prove impossible when they are correlated to one another. In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, couplings between internal and overall motions lead to intractable complexity, depriving insights into functionally important motions. Here we demonstrate that motional couplings can be used to anchor NMR frames of reference onto different parts of an RNA molecule, thus extending the spatial resolution limit for dynamical characterization.

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Figure 1: Simultaneous anchoring of NMR frames onto individual helices using motional couplings.
Figure 2: Measurement of motions between two TAR helices using simultaneous helix-anchored frames and field RDCs.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Michigan Economic Development Cooperation and the Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor for support of the purchase of a 600 MHz spectrometer. Supported by US National Institutes of Health (R01 AI066975-01). H.M.A. was a visiting professor supported by Sonderforschungsbereich 579 at the University of Frankfurt in the group of H. Schwalbe during part of this work.

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Authors

Contributions

H.M.A. conceived the technique; Q.Z. prepared samples and recorded data; Q.Z. and H.M.A. analyzed the data and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Hashim M Al-Hashimi.

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Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Tables 1–3, Supplementary Figures 1–2 (PDF 829 kb)

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Zhang, Q., Al-Hashimi, H. Extending the NMR spatial resolution limit for RNA by motional couplings. Nat Methods 5, 243–245 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1180

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