• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.21-23
• /
• 2022

High-pressure (HP) NMR is a powerful method to elucidate various structural features of amyloidogenic proteins. Following the previous mini-review recapitulating the HP-NMR application for amyloid-β peptides of the last issue [J. H. Kim, J. Kor. Mag. Reson. Soc. 26, 17 (2022)], the recent advancements in the HP NMR application for α-synuclein (α-Syn) are briefly summarized and discussed here. Although α-Syn is a well-known intrinsically disordered protein (IDP), several studies have shown that it can also exhibit heterogeneous yet partially folded conformations, which may correlate with its amyloid-forming propensity. HP NMR has been a valuable tool for investigating the dynamic and transient structural features of α-Syn and has provided unique insights to appreciate its aggregation-prone characters.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.17-20
• /
• 2022

High-pressure (HP) NMR is a versatile tool to investigate diverse features of proteins. This technique has been particularly powerful to elucidate structural dynamics that only populates sufficiently in a pressurized condition. Amyloidogenic proteins, which are prone to aggregate and form amyloid fibrils, often maintains highly dynamic states in its native or aggregation-prone states, and HP NMR contributed much to advance our understandings of the dynamic behaviors of amyloidogenic proteins and the molecular mechanisms of their aggregation. In this mini review, we therefore summarize recent HP NMR studies on amyloid-beta (Aβ), the representative amyloidogenic intrinsically disordered protein (IDP).

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2024

IscU, the iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster scaffold protein, is an essential protein for biogenesis of Fe-S clusters. Previous studies showed that IscU manifests a metamorphic structural feature; at least two structural states, namely the structured state (S-state) and the disordered state (D-state), interconverting in a physiological condition, was observed. Moreover, subsequent studies demonstrated that the metamorphic flexibility of IscU is important for its Fe-S cluster assembly activity as well as for an efficient interaction with various partner proteins. Although solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been a useful tool to investigate this protein, the detailed molecular mechanism that sustains the structural heterogeneity of IscU is still unclear. To tackle this issue, we applied a high-pressure NMR (HP-NMR) technique to the IscU variant, IscU(I8K), which shows an increased population of the S-state. We found that the equilibrium between the S- and D-state was significantly perturbed by pressure application, and the specific regions of IscU exhibited more sensitivity to pressure than the other regions. Our results provide novel insights to appreciate the dynamic behaviors of IscU and the related versatile functionality.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2005

The recent development and advances in 2 dimensional solid-state NMR, particularly, triple quantum (3Q) MAS NMR yield much improved resolution compared with conventional 1 dimensional MAS NMR, allowing us to study the distributions of cations and anions in the non-crystalline silicate glasses and melts. Here, we present the recent progress made by 3QMAS NMR spectra of silicate glasses quenched from melts at pressures up to 10 GPa in a multi-anvil apparatus, revealing previously unknown details of structures of covalent oxide glasses and melts at high pressure.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.65-73
• /
• 2022

The proper estimation of physical and chemical properties of Earth materials and their structures at high pressure and high temperature conditions is key to the full understanding of diverse geological processes in Earth and planetary interiors. Multi-anvil press - high-pressure generating device - provides unique information of Earth materials under compression, mainly relevant to Earth's upper mantle. The quantitative estimation of the relationship between the oil load within press and the actual pressure conditions within the sample needs to be established to infer the planetary processes. Such pressure-load calibration has often been based on the phase transitions of crystalline earth materials with known pressure conditions; however, unlike at high temperature conditions, phase transitions at low (or room) temperatures can be sluggish, making the calibration at such conditions challenging. In this study, we explored the changes in Al coordination environments of permanently densified pyrope glasses upon the cold compression using the high-resolution ²⁷Al MAS and 3QMAS NMR. The fractions of highly coordinated Al in the cold compressed pyrope glasses increase with increasing oil load and thus, the peak pressure condition. Based on known relationship between the peak pressure and the Al coordination environment in the compressed pyrope glasses at room temperature, we established a room temperature pressure-load calibration of the 14/8 HT assembly in 1,100-ton multi-anvil press. The current results highlight the first pressure-load calibration of any high pressure device using high-resolution NMR. Irreversible structural densification upon cold compression observed for the pyrope glasses provides insights into the deformation and densification mechanisms of amorphous earth materials at low temperature and high pressure conditions within the subducting slabs.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.1-4
• /
• 2023

Transthyretin (TTR) is an indispensable transporter protein of thyroxine and a retinol molecule in humans. TTR has a stable homo-tetrameric structure in its native state, while upon dissociation into monomers, it becomes aggregation-prone and can form an amyloid fibril. Although the amyloidogenic propensity of TTR has been known and investigated since the late 1990s, the structural information regarding TTR's amyloidogenic species is still elusive. Here, we employed high-pressure nuclear magnetic resonance (HP-NMR) approaches on the monomeric variant of TTR (TTR[F87M/L110M]; M-TTR) and observed that it experiences a two-step transition in response to the pressurized condition. Our study demonstrated that M-TTR in an ambient condition has heterogeneous structural features, which is likely related to the amyloidogenic propensity of TTR.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.435-442
• /
• 2008

Natural, synthetic, and treated diamonds were studied by NMR and EPR. It was demonstrated that natural and synthetic diamonds, treated and non-treated diamonds, high pressure high temperature (HPHT) treated and electron beam treated diamonds could be distinguished among each other based on the $^{13}C$ NMR spectra acquired for relatively short periods of 100 minutes. The $^{13}C$ NMR linewidths of gem quality synthetic diamonds were broader than 1.6 ppm due to the paramagentic effects of transition metals, generally used as catalysts, while the linewidths of gem quality natural diamonds were narrower than 0.5 ppm regardless of the methods of treatment. The linewidth (0.5 ppm) for a HPHT treated, gem quality natural diamond was as broad as more than twice of the linewidth (0.2 ppm) of an electron beam treated diamond. The $^{13}C$ NMR signal intensities of treated, gem quality natural diamonds were as strong as more than 10 times of the intensities of non-treated, gem quality natural diamonds. When correlated with the concentrations of the paramagnetic defects (electrons) obtained from the EPR spectra, the relative $^{13}C$ NMR signal intensities increased in proportion to the concentrations of the paramagnetic electrons contained in each sample but the electron beam treated diamond was an exception. This suggested that the lattice component, in addition to the paramagnetic defect component, should also be considered in determining the $^{13}C$ NMR signal intensity of the electron beam treated diamond.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.736-742
• /
• 2015

The effect of pressure on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddtion has been studied by means of FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. Pressure accelerates 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition without solvent or catalyst. This simple and inexpensive method eliminates the need for work-up or purification. The method is expected to be applied to the synthesis of binders for solid rocket propellants.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.19 no.9
• /
• pp.942-947
• /
• 1998

The >$^13C$ NMR spectrum of >$^13CO$ adsorbed on Pd particles varies dramatically depending on dispersion. The spectrum of highly dispersed Pd particles supported on silica is a powder pattern ∼800 ppm wide with a first moment of 410 ppm. A low dispersion sample has a motionally narrowed line centered at 750±30 ppm and only ∼85 ppm full width at half height (FWHH). Over several years, high dispersion samples show an increase in the intensity near 750 ppm. These observations are interpreted as an increase of mobile bridging CO on high dispersion Pd surfaces of particles which resulted from smoothing of the metal particle surfaces in the presence of CO.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.31 no.12
• /
• pp.3521-3524
• /
• 2010

MTH1880 is a hypothetical protein derived from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, thermophilic methanogen. The solution structure determined by NMR spectroscopy showed that it has a novel $\alpha+\beta$-fold with a highly acidic ligand binding pocket. Since MTH1880 maintains its ultra-stable structural characteristics at both high temperature and pressure, it has been considered as an excellent model for studying protein folding. To initiate the structural and folding study of MTH1880 in proving its unusual stability, we performed the site directed mutagenesis and biochemical analysis of MTH1880 mutants. Data from circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy suggest that the point mutations perturbed the structural stability of protein even though the secondary structure is retained. This study will provide the useful information in understanding the role of participating residues during folding-unfolding process and our result will be used in designing further folding experiments for hyper-thermopile proteins like MTH1880.