Multiple acquisition of magic angle spinning solid-state NMR experiments using one receiver: Application to microcrystalline and membrane protein preparations

Abstract

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy of proteins is a notoriously low-throughput technique. Relatively low-sensitivity and poor resolution of protein samples require long acquisition times for multidimensional NMR experiments. To speed up data acquisition, we developed a family of experiments called Polarization Optimized Experiments (POE), in which we utilized the orphan spin operators that are discarded in classical multidimensional NMR experiments, recovering them to allow simultaneous acquisition of multiple 2D and 3D experiments, all while using conventional probes with spectrometers equipped with one receiver. POE allow the concatenation of multiple 2D or 3D pulse sequences into a single experiment, thus potentially combining all of the aforementioned advances, boosting the capability of ssNMR spectrometers at least two-fold without the addition of any hardware. In this perspective, we describe the first generation of POE, such as dual acquisition MAS (or DUMAS) methods, and then illustrate the evolution of these experiments into MEIOSIS, a method that enables the simultaneous acquisition of multiple 2D and 3D spectra. Using these new pulse schemes for the solid-state NMR investigation of biopolymers makes it possible to obtain sequential resonance assignments, as well as distance restraints, in about half the experimental time. While designed for acquisition of heteronuclei, these new experiments can be easily implemented for proton detection and coupled with other recent advancements, such as dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), to improve signal to noise. Finally, we illustrate the application of these methods to microcrystalline protein preparations as well as single and multi-span membrane proteins reconstituted in lipid membranes.