Hsueh-Ying Chen

Genetic incorporation of twelve meta-substituted phenylalanine derivatives using a single pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase mutant.

When coexpressed with its cognate amber suppressing tRNACUAPyl(CUA), a pyrrolysyltRNA synthetase mutant N346A/C348A is able to genetically incorporate 12 meta-substituted phenylalanine derivatives into proteins site-specifically at amber mutation sites in Escherichia coli. These genetically encoded noncanonical amino acids resemble phenylalanine in size and contain diverse bioorthogonal functional groups such as halide, trifluoromethyl, nitrile, nitro,ketone, alkyne, and azide moieties. The genetic installation of these functional groups in proteins provides multiple ways to site-selectively label proteins with biophysical and biochemical probes for their functional investigations. We demonstrate that a genetically incorporated trifluoromethyl group can be used as a sensitive 19F NMR probe to study protein folding/unfolding, and that genetically incorporated reactive functional groups such as ketone,alkyne, and azide moieties can be applied to site-specifically label proteins with fluorescent probes. This critical discovery allows the synthesis of proteins with diverse bioorthogonal functional groups for a variety of basic studies and biotechnology development using a single recombinant expression system.

Ultrafast multidimensional Laplace NMR for a rapid and sensitive chemical analysis

Traditional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy relies on the versatile chemical information conveyed by spectra. To complement conventional NMR, Laplace NMR explores diffusion and relaxation phenomena to reveal details on molecular motions. Under a broad concept of ultrafast multidimensional Laplace NMR, here we introduce an ultrafast diffusion-relaxation correlation experiment enhancing the resolution and information content of corresponding 1D experiments as well as reducing the experiment time by one to two orders of magnitude or more as compared with its conventional 2D counterpart. We demonstrate that the method allows one to distinguish identical molecules in different physical environments and provides chemical resolution missing in NMR spectra. Although the sensitivity of the new method is reduced due to spatial encoding, the single-scan approach enables one to use hyperpolarized substances to boost the sensitivity by several orders of magnitude, significantly enhancing the overall sensitivity of multidimensional Laplace NMR.

Spontaneous emission of NMR signals in hyperpolarized proton spin systems

Hyperpolarization of nuclear spins is gaining increasing interest as a tool for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of NMR and MRI. While in principle, hyperpolarized samples are amenable to the same or similar experiments as are used in conventional NMR, the large spin polarization may give rise to unexpected effects. Here, spontaneous emission of signal was observed from proton spin systems, which were hyperpolarized to negative spin temperature by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). An unexpected feature of these emissions is that, without any radio-frequency excitation, multiple beats arise that cannot be explained by the Bloch equations with radiation damping. However, we show that a simple modification to these equations, which takes into account an additional supply of hyperpolarized magnetization from a reservoir outside of the active detection region, can phenomenologically describe the observed signal. The observed effect demonstrates that even well-known mechanisms of spin evolution can give rise to unexpected effects when working with hyperpolarized samples, which may need to be addressed through the development of new experimental techniques.

Implementation and Characterization of Flow Injection in Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization NMR Spectroscopy

The use of dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (D-DNP) offers substantially increased signals in liquid-state NMR spectroscopy. A challenge in realizing this potential lies in the transfer of the hyperpolarized sample to the NMR detector without loss of hyperpolarization. Here, the use of a flow injection method using high-pressure liquid leads to improved performance compared to the more common gas-driven injection, by suppressing residual fluid motions during the NMR experiment while still achieving a short injection time. Apparent diffusion coefficients are determined from pulsed field gradient echo measurements, and are shown to fall below 1.5 times the value of a static sample within 0.8 s. Due to the single-scan nature of D-DNP, pulsed field gradients are often the only choice for coherence selection or encoding, but their application requires stationary fluid. Sample delivery driven by a high-pressure liquid will improve the applicability of these types of D-DNP advanced experiments.

Protein Folding Studied by Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

Protein Folding Studied by Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Folding and hyperpolarization : A method is presented for the measurement of protein folding by nuclear magnetic resonance. Denatured polypeptide is hyperpolarized using dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization, yielding a substantial signal enhancement that allows realtime C NMR spectroscopy of the refolding process after a rapid pH jump. The resulting spectra indicate global and site-specific changes in the protein. Angewandte Chemie

Solution NMR of Polypeptides Hyperpolarized by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

Hyperpolarization of nuclear spins through techniques such as dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) can greatly increase the signal-to-noise ratio in NMR measurements, thus eliminating the need for signal averaging. This enables the study of many dynamic processes which would otherwise not be amenable to study by NMR spectroscopy. A report of solid- to liquid-state DNP of a short peptide, bacitracin A, as well as of a full-length protein, L23, is presented here. The polypeptides are hyperpolarized at low temperature and dissolved for NMR signal acquisition in the liquid state in mixtures of organic solvent and water. Signal enhancements of 300-2000 are obtained in partially deuterated polypeptide when hyperpolarized on (13)C and of 30-180 when hyperpolarized on (1)H. A simulated spectrum is used to identify different resonances in the hyperpolarized (13)C spectra, and the relation between observed signal enhancement for various groups in the protein and relaxation parameters measured from the hyperpolarized samples is discussed. Thus far, solid- to liquid-state DNP has been used in conjunction with small molecules. The results presented here, however, demonstrate the feasibility of hyperpolarizing larger proteins, with potential applications toward the study of protein folding or macromolecular interactions.

Hyperpolarized Hadamard spectroscopy using flow NMR.

The emergence of the dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (D-DNP) technique provides an important breakthrough to overcome inherent sensitivity limitations in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. In dissolution DNP, only a small amount of frozen sample is polarized, dissolved, and injected into an NMR spectrometer. Although substantially enhanced NMR signals can be obtained, the single scan nature of this technique a priori impedes the use of correlation experiments, which represent some of the most powerful applications of NMR spectroscopy. Here, an alternative method for multiscan spectroscopy from D-DNP samples utilizing a flow NMR probe is described. Multiple hyperpolarized segments of sample are sequentially injected using a purpose designed device. Hadamard spectroscopy can then be applied for obtaining chemical shift correlation information even from a small number of scans. This capability is demonstrated with a four-scan data set for obtaining the [(13)C,(1)H] correlations in the test molecule 1-butanol. Because of the effects of spin-lattice relaxation and concentration gradients in the D-DNP experiment, the subtractive process for Hadamard reconstruction requires an additional step of intensity scaling. For this purpose, a reconstruction procedure was developed that uses entropy maximization and is robust with respect to noise and signal overlap. In a broader sense, the multiscan NMR as described here is amenable to various correlation NMR experiments, and increases the versatility of D-DNP in small-molecule characterization.

Method for accurate measurements of nuclear-spin optical rotation for applications in correlated optical-NMR spectroscopy.

The nuclear-spin optical rotation (NSOR) effect recently attracted much attention due to potential applications in combined optical-NMR spectroscopy and imaging. Currently, the main problem with applications of NSOR is low SNR and accuracy of measurements. In this work we demonstrate a new method for data acquisition and analysis based on a low-power laser and an emphasis on software based processing. This method significantly reduces cost and is suitable for application in most NMR spectroscopy laboratories for exploration of the NSOR effect. Despite the use of low laser power, SNR can be substantially improved with fairly simple strategies including the use of short wavelength and a multi-pass optical cell with in-flow pre-polarization in a 7 T magnet. Under these conditions, we observed that NSOR signal can be detected in less than 1 min and discuss strategies for further improvement of signal. With higher SNR than previously reported, NSOR constants can be extracted with improved accuracy. On the example of water, we obtained measurements at a level of accuracy of 5%. We include a detailed theoretical analysis of the geometrical factors of the experiment, which is required for accurate quantification of NSOR. This discussion is particularly important for relatively short detection cells, which will be necessary to use in spectroscopy or imaging applications that impose geometrical constraints.

An ultra-low cost NMR device with arbitrary pulse programming.

Ultra-low cost, general purpose electronics boards featuring microprocessors or field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are reaching capabilities sufficient for direct implementation of NMR spectrometers. We demonstrate a spectrometer based on such a board, implemented with a minimal need for the addition of custom electronics and external components. This feature allows such a spectrometer to be readily implemented using typical knowledge present in an NMR laboratory. With FPGA technology, digital tasks are performed with precise timing, without the limitation of predetermined hardware function. In this case, the FPGA is used for programming of arbitrarily timed pulse sequence events, and to digitally generate required frequencies. Data acquired from a 0.53T permanent magnet serves as a demonstration of the flexibility of pulse programming for diverse experiments. Pulse sequences applied include a spin-lattice relaxation measurement using a pulse train with small-flip angle pulses, and a Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill experiment with phase cycle. Mixing of NMR signals with a digitally generated, 4-step phase-cycled reference frequency is further implemented to achieve sequential quadrature detection. The flexibility in hardware implementation permits tailoring this type of spectrometer for applications such as relaxometry, polarimetry, diffusometry or NMR based magnetometry.

Determination of Intermolecular Interactions Using Polarization Compensated Heteronuclear Overhauser Effect of Hyperpolarized Spins

The nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) has long been used as a selective indicator for intermolecular interactions. Due to relatively small changes of signal intensity, often on the order of several percent, quantitative NOE measurements can be challenging. Hyperpolarization of nuclear spins can dramatically increase the NOE intensity by increasing population differences, but poses its own challenge in quantifying the original polarization level. Here, we demonstrate a method for the accurate measurement of intermolecular heteronuclear cross-relaxation rates by simultaneous acquisition of signals from both nuclei. Using this method, we measure cross-relaxation rates between water protons and (19)F of trifluoroacetic acid at concentrations ranging from 23 to 72 mM. A concentration-independent value of 2.46 × 10(-4) ± 1.02 × 10(-5) s(-1) M(-1) is obtained at a temperature of 301 K and validated using a nonhyperpolarized measurement. In a broader context, accurate measurement of heteronuclear cross-relaxation rates may enable the study of intermolecular interactions including those involving macromolecules where (19)F atoms can be introduced as site-selective labels.