Proton NMR measurements of bacteriophage T4 lysozyme aided by 15N isotopic labeling: structural and dynamic studies of larger proteins.

A strategy for resolution and assignment of single proton resonances in proteins of molecular mass up to at least 40 kDa is presented. This approach is based on 15N (or 13C) labeling of selected residues in a protein. The resonances from protons directly bonded to labeled atoms are detected in a two-dimensional 1H-15N (or 13C) spectrum. The nuclear Overhauser effects from isotopically tagged protons are selectively observed in one-dimensional isotope-directed measurements. Using this approach, we have observed approximately 160 resonances from 15N-bonded protons in the backbone and sidechains of uniformly 15N-labeled T4 lysozyme (molecular mass = 18.7 kDa). Partial proton-deuterium exchange can be used to simplify the 1H-15N spectrum of this protein. These resonances are identified by amino acid class using selective incorporation of 15N-labeled amino acids and are assigned to specific residues by mutational substitution, multiple 15N and 13C labeling, and isotope-directed nuclear Overhauser effect measurements. For example, using a phenyl[15N]alanine-labeled lysozyme variant containing two consecutive phenylalanine residues in an alpha-helical region, we observe an isotope-directed nuclear Overhauser effect from the amide proton of Phe-66 to that of Phe-67.