Most mitochondrial proteins are produced in the cytosol and imported through the translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM) to reach their final destination. Although this protein entry gat...

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the only biophysical technique capable of characterizing nucleic acid structures at atomic resolution under near-physiological liquid-state conditions. Still, it is fundamentally limited by intrinsically low sensitivity, particularly when analyzing high-molecular-weight, low-abundance, or polymorphic targets, such as DNAs (DNA). In this study, we demonstrate that hyperpolarized aqueous buffers generated via dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (dDNP) significantly enhance the 1H NMR signals of multiple DNA motifs. The resonances of labile imino and amino protons of DNAs dissolved in hyperpolarized buffers are enhanced up to ∼200-fold and ∼370-fold, respectively. These intense signals serve a 2-fold purpose: (i) as structural fingerprints of DNA folding topologies and (ii) they enable the direct observation of low-populated folding intermediates in DNA polymorphs, such as G-quadruplexes (G4) and i-motifs (iM), which remain undetectable by standard methods. Thus, our findings establish hyperpolarized NMR as a high-sensitivity method for probing DNA structures and folding intermediates across a wide range of motifs, opening possible avenues in liquid biopsy applications and cell-free DNA.

A combined virtual and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based screening approach identifies small molecules that bind conserved SARS-CoV-2 RNA structures. Diverse compound libraries are screened usin...

Nature Communications - DFT calculations and theory do not support enantiospecificity in NMR J-coupling constants

Abstract. Deoxyguanosine quadruplexes (G4s) form stable non-B-DNA structures that can affect transcription, replication, and genome stability. Depending on

We offer a new labeling approach to introduce isolated 15N−13C−1H spin systems to the side chains of arginine residues. The labeling scheme delivers high-resolution NMR spectra to study large protein....

Protein folding models have achieved groundbreaking results typically via a combination of integrating domain knowledge into the architectural blocks and training pipelines. Nonetheless, given the suc...

Abstract. Recently, a novel tobramycin-responsive riboswitch was developed by a combination of Capture-SELEX and in vivo screening. This riboswitch regulat