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Dynamics of Nucleic Acids at Room Temperature Revealed by Pulsed EPR Spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Gränz Markus,
Erlenbach Nicole,
Spindler Philipp,
Gophane Dnyaneshwar B.,
Stelzl Lukas S.,
Sigurdsson Snorri Th.,
Prisner Thomas F.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201803682
Subject(s) - electron paramagnetic resonance , nitroxide mediated radical polymerization , biomolecule , pulsed epr , chemical physics , dipole , chemistry , relaxation (psychology) , site directed spin labeling , nuclear magnetic resonance , atmospheric temperature range , dynamics (music) , spectroscopy , spin label , materials science , nanotechnology , physics , spin echo , magnetic resonance imaging , thermodynamics , acoustics , polymer , psychology , social psychology , radical polymerization , quantum mechanics , radiology , medicine , organic chemistry , copolymer
The investigation of the structure and conformational dynamics of biomolecules under physiological conditions is challenging for structural biology. Although pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (like PELDOR) techniques provide long‐range distance and orientation information with high accuracy, such studies are usually performed at cryogenic temperatures. At room temperature (RT) PELDOR studies are seemingly impossible due to short electronic relaxation times and loss of dipolar interactions through rotational averaging. We incorporated the rigid nitroxide spin label Ç into a DNA duplex and immobilized the sample on a solid support to overcome this limitation. This enabled orientation‐selective PELDOR measurements at RT. A comparison with data recorded at 50 K revealed averaging of internal dynamics, which occur on the ns time range at RT. Thus, our approach adds a new method to study structural and dynamical processes at physiological temperature in the <10 μs time range with atomistic resolution.