Towards increased concentration sensitivity for continuous wave EPR investigations of spin-labeled biological macromolecules at high fields
Abstract
High-field, high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy at W- (∼95 GHz) and D-band (∼140 GHz) is important for investigating the conformational dynamics of flexible biological macromolecules because this frequency range has increased spectral sensitivity to nitroxide motion over the 100 ps to 2 ns regime. However, low concentration sensitivity remains a roadblock for studying aqueous samples at high magnetic fields. Here, we examine the sensitivity of a non-resonant thin-layer cylindrical sample holder, coupled to a quasi-optical induction-mode W-band EPR spectrometer (HiPER), for continuous wave (CW) EPR analyses of: (i) the aqueous nitroxide standard, TEMPO; (ii) the unstructured to α-helical transition of a model IDP protein; and (iii) the base-stacking transition in a kink-turn motif of a large 232 nt RNA. For sample volumes of ∼50 μL, concentration sensitivities of 2-20 μM were achieved, representing a ∼10-fold enhancement compared to a cylindrical TE011 resonator on a commercial Bruker W-band spectrometer. These results therefore highlight the sensitivity of the thin-layer sample holders employed in HiPER for spin-labeling studies of biological macromolecules at high fields, where applications can extend to other systems that are facilitated by the modest sample volumes and ease of sample loading and geometry.
Citation
Song , L , Liu , Z , Kaur , P , Esquiaqui , J M , Hunter , R I , Hill , S , Smith , G M & Fanucci , G E 2016 , ' Towards increased concentration sensitivity for continuous wave EPR investigations of spin-labeled biological macromolecules at high fields ' , Journal of Magnetic Resonance , vol. 265 , pp. 188-196 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2016.02.007
Publication
Journal of Magnetic Resonance
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1090-7807Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2016.02.007
Description
This work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR-1157490) and the State of Florida. L.S. acknowledges support from the National Institutes of Health (AI091693) and the NHMFL User Collaboration Grants Program (Award No. 5080). G.E.F. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (MCB-1329467) and the National Institutes of Health (GM105409 and S10RR031603). S.H. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (DMR-1309463). J.M.E acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (DGE-0802270).Collections
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