Experimental Validation of the ALLNOX Program for Studying Protein-Nucleic Acid Complexes.

Measurement of distances between spectroscopic labels (e.g., spin labels, fluorophores) attached to specific sites of biomolecules is an important method for studying biomolecular complexes. ALLNOX (Addition of Labels and Linkers) has been developed as a program to model interlabel distances based on an input macromolecule structure. Here, we report validation of ALLNOX using measured distances between nitroxide spin labels attached to specific sites of a protein-DNA complex. The results demonstrate that ALLNOX predicts average interspin distances that matched with values measured with pairs of labels attached at the protein and/or DNA. This establishes a solid foundation for using spin labeling in conjunction with ALLNOX to investigate complexes without high-resolution structures. With its high degree of flexibility for the label or the target biomolecule, ALLNOX provides a useful tool for investigating the structure-function relationship in a large variety of biological molecules.