Determination of membrane protein structure and dynamics by magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR spectroscopy

It is shown that molecular structure and dynamics of a uniformly labeled membrane protein can be studied under magic-angle-spinning conditions. For this purpose, dipolar recoupling experiments are combined with novel through-bond correlation schemes that probe mobile protein segments. These NMR schemes are demonstrated on a uniformly [C-13, N-15] variant of the 52-residue polypeptide phospholamban. When reconstituted in lipid bilayers, the NMR data are consistent with an a-helical trans-membrane segment and a cytoplasmic domain that exhibits a high degree of structural disorder.