Guest editor's foreword: NMR of proteins in solution

✍ Scribed by Gerhard Wider

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 89 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0749-1581
• DOI: 10.1002/mrc.1858

✦ Synopsis

This Special Issue of Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry is devoted to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies of proteins in solution. Applications of NMR to proteins are almost as old as the NMR method itself. The first NMR spectrum of a protein was published about 50 years ago. However, it took another 25 years before the technology had advanced to the point where the resonances of an entire spectrum of a protein could be assigned to individual atoms, making accessible the huge information content of such a spectrum. Ever since, NMR of biological macromolecules has been a dynamic, constantly growing field in research and applications. The dramatic technical advances over the past 20 years have made NMR a major technique in biological sciences. Nowadays, NMR spectroscopy with biological macromolecules is a well-established tool in most universities and many industrial laboratories. NMR measurements of proteins provide structural data and supply information on dynamic properties, conformational equilibria, folding and intra-as well as intermolecular interactions.

This issue starts with mini reviews that discuss topics as diverse as cell-free expression of proteins, paramagnetic tagging, membrane proteins, conotoxins and projection spectroscopy. The mini reviews are followed by original research papers, which are divided into sections on structural studies, studies of dynamic features and methodology. Even though this issue covers many aspects of NMR of proteins in solution, the contributions can address only a portion of the very broad range of activities within this field of applications. I trust that the mixture of the contributions either presenting mini reviews or offering original research papers will be interesting for both experts and newcomers in this fascinating field of active research.