%0 Journal Article %J Journal of Magnetic Resonance %D 2002 %T Laser-polarized Xe-129 NMR and MRI at ultralow magnetic fields %A Wong-Foy, A. %A Saxena, S. %A Moule, A. J. %A Bitter, H. M. L. %A Seeley, J. A. %A McDermott, R. %A Clarke, J. %A Pines, A. %K atoms %X

Laser-polarized Xe-129 and a high-T-c superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) are used to obtain magnetic resonance images in porous materials at a magnetic field of 2.3 mT, corresponding to a Larmor frequency of 27 kHz. Image resolution of 1 mm is obtained with gradients of only 1 mT/m. The resolution of xenon chemical shifts in different physicochemical environments at ultralow fields is also demonstrated. Details of the circulating flow optical pumping apparatus and the SQUID spectrometer are presented. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

%B Journal of Magnetic Resonance %V 157 %P 235-241 %8 Aug %@ 1090-7807 %G English %U ://WOS:000178377400009 %N 2 %M WOS:000178377400009 %! Laser-polarized Xe-129 NMR and MRI at ultralow magnetic fields %R Doi 10.1006/Jmre.2002.2592 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of the American Chemical Society %D 2001 %T An experimental and theoretical investigation of the chemical shielding tensors of C-13(alpha) of alanine, valine, and leucine residues in solid peptides and in proteins in solution %A Havlin, R. H. %A Laws, D. D. %A Bitter, H. M. L. %A Sanders, L. K. %A Sun, H. H. %A Grimley, J. S. %A Wemmer, D. E. %A Pines, A. %A Oldfield, E. %K threonine %X

We have carried out a solid-state magic-angle sample-spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic investigation of the C-13(alpha), chemical shielding tensors of alanine, valine, and leucine residues in a series of crystalline peptides of known structure. For alanine and leucine, which are not branched at the beta -carbon, the experimental chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) spans (Omega) are large, about 30 ppm, independent of whether the residues adopt helical or sheet geometries, and are in generally good accord with Omega values calculated by using ab initio Hartree-Fock quantum chemical methods. The experimental Omegas for valine C-alpha in two peptides (in sheet geometries) are also large and in good agreement with theoretical predictions. In contrast, the "CSAs" (Delta sigma*) obtained from solution NMR data for alanine, valine, and leucine residues in proteins show major differences, with helical residues having Delta sigma* values of similar to6 ppm while sheet residues have Delta sigma* approximate to 27 ppm. The origins of these differences are shown to be due to the different definitions of the CSA, When defined in terms of the solution NMR CSA, the solid-state results also show small helical but large sheet CSA values. These results are of interest since they lead to the idea that only the beta -branched amino acids threonine, valine, and isoleucine can have small (static) tensor spans, Omega (in helical creometries), and that the small helical "CSAs" seen in solution NMR are overwhelmingly dominated by changes in tensor orientation, from sheet to helix. These results have important implications for solid-state NMR structural studies which utilize the CSA span, Omega, to differentiate between helical and sheet residues. Specifically, there will be only a small degree of spectral editing possible in solid proteins since the spans, Omega, for the dominant nonbranched amino acids are quite similar. Editing on the basis of Omega will, however, be very effective for many Thr, Val, and Hen residues, which frequently have small (similar to 15-20 ppm) helical CSA (Omega) spans.

%B Journal of the American Chemical Society %V 123 %P 10362-10369 %8 Oct 24 %@ 0002-7863 %G English %U ://WOS:000171808300025 %N 42 %M WOS:000171808300025 %! An experimental and theoretical investigation of the chemical shielding tensors of C-13(alpha) of alanine, valine, and leucine residues in solid peptides and in proteins in solution %R Doi 10.1021/Ja0115060 %0 Journal Article %J Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America %D 2001 %T Solid-state NMR studies of the secondary structure of a mutant prion protein fragment of 55 residues that induces neurodegeneration %A Laws, D. D. %A Bitter, H. M. L. %A Liu, K. %A Ball, H. L. %A Kaneko, K. %A Wille, H. %A Cohen, F. E. %A Prusiner, S. B. %A Pines, A. %A Wemmer, D. E. %K diseases %X

The secondary structure of a 55-residue fragment of the mouse prion protein, MoPrP(89-143), was studied in randomly aggregated (dried from water) and fibrillar (precipitated from water/ acetonitrile) forms by C-13 solid-state NMR. Recent studies have shown that the fibrillar form of the P101L mutant of MoPrP(89-143) is capable of inducing prion disease in transgenic mice, whereas unaggregated or randomly aggregated samples do not provoke disease. Through analysis of C-13 chemical shifts, we have determined that both wild-type and mutant sequence MoPrP(89-143) form a mixture of beta -sheet and alpha -helical conformations in the randomly aggregated state although the beta -sheet content in MoPrP(89-143, P101L) is significantly higher than in the wild-type peptide. In a fibrillar state, MoPrP(89-143, P101L) is completely converted into beta -sheet, suggesting that the formation of a specific beta -sheet structure may be required for the peptide to induce disease. Studies of an analogous peptide from Syrian hamster PrP verify that sequence alterations in residues 101-117 affect the conformation of aggregated forms of the peptides.

%B Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America %V 98 %P 11686-11690 %8 Sep 25 %@ 0027-8424 %G English %U ://WOS:000171237100125 %N 20 %M WOS:000171237100125 %! Solid-state NMR studies of the secondary structure of a mutant prion protein fragment of 55 residues that induces neurodegeneration %R Doi 10.1073/Pnas.201404298