Oxytocin solution structure changes upon protonation of the N-terminus in dimethyl sulfoxide.

With the combined use of various two-dimensional (2D) NMR techniques, a complete assignment of the 1H and 13C resonances of oxytocin, Cys-Tyr-Ile-Gln-Asn-Cys-Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2, for two molecular states, protonated and unprotonated at the N-terminal group, was performed in dimethyl sulfoxide. A small but distinct change in the backbone conformation of the six-residue cyclic moiety, associated with the protonation, was first suggested from those NMR parameters relevant to conformation, such as change with temperature in the chemical shifts of the peptide amide protons and changes in chemical shifts and homonuclear as well as heteronuclear three-bond coupling constants. The solution structures of oxytocin for the protonated and unprotonated forms were then calculated using distance analysis in dihedral-angle space, based on a relaxation matrix evaluated from quantitative NOE intensities at different mixing times. Total amounts of 93 and 105 distances were determined for the protonated and the unprotonated forms, respectively. There were 25 interresidue distances relevant to the structure of the cyclic moiety for the protonated form of oxytocin and 43 for the unprotonated form. Overall structures with the lowest target penalty function were similar between the two forms, having a beta-turn structure at the endocyclic residues of the Tyr-Ile-Gln-Asn moiety. The local backbone conformations near the N-terminus, however, were significantly different between the two forms. This was found to be due to a change in the dihedral angle of the disulfide bridge (chi ss around C-S-S-C), which closes the ring in the cyclic peptide. The dihedral angle was about +90 degrees for the unprotonated form and an intermediate value of about +45 degrees for the protonated form.