NMR Characterization of Membrane Protein-Detergent Micelle Solutions by Use of Microcoil Equipment

Using microcoil NMR technology, the uniformly H-2,N-15-labeled integral membrane protein OmpX, and the phosphocholine derivative detergent Fos-10 (n-decylphosphocholine), we investigated solutions of mixed protein-detergent micelles to determine the influence of the detergent concentration on the NMR spectra of the protein. In a first step, we identified key parameters that influence the composition of the micelle solutions, which resulted in a new protocol for the preparation of well-defined concentrated protein olutions. This led to the observation that high-quality 2D [N-15,H-1]-transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) spectra of OmpX reconstituted in mixed micelles with Fos-10 were obtained only in a limited range of detergent concentrations. Outside of this range from about 90-180 mM, we observed a significant decrease of the average peak intensity. Relaxation-optimized NMR measurements of the rotational and translational diffusion coefficients of the OmpX/Fos-10 mixed micelles, D-r and D-t, respectively, then showed that the stoichiometry and the effective hydrodynamic radius of the protein-containing micelles are not significantly affected by high Fos-10 concentrations and that the deterioration of NMR spectra is due to the increased viscosity at high detergent concentrations. The paper thus provides a basis for refined guidelines on the preparation of integral membrane proteins for structural studies.