title: The direct determination of protein structure by NMR without assignment.
abstract: Assignment of the resonances in nuclear magnetic resonance spectra is considered a pre-requisite for the interpretation of spectra that yield structural information. The determination of the three-dimensional structure of a biological macromolecule may, however, be achieved directly without spectral assignment, using the same set of heteronuclear scalar and dipolar coupling experiments as normally used. A cross-peak in any of the spectra may be interpreted as a distance between atoms, yielding a set of distances between unassigned atoms that serves to define the tertiary structure of the molecule. The principle is illustrated using the 76 amino acid protein ubiquitin.
authors.affiliation: UPR 9004 du CNRS, Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg, Boulevard Sébastien Brant, 67400 Illkirch, France. andrew@esbs.u-strasbg.fr
authors.forename: R Andrew
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saudek
mesh_terms: D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / Q000379:methods*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D025801:Ubiquitin