NMR toolbox for protein studies

Pavel Srb

Institute of organic chemistry and biochemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Flemingovo nam. 2, 166 10 Praha 6

We are witnessing a silent revolution in application of the NMR spectroscopy to biological questions. NMR together and X-ray crystallography complement each other in structural studies of proteins and their complexes. I will briefly cover basic principles of NMR relevant for biomolecular studies, quickly moving to examples of handiness of NMR for projects involving proteins and  protein interactions with either small or bigger molecules. NMR spectroscopy can not compete with crystallography in speed and straightness but, unlike it, often, using very simple experiments, can answer specific questions about protein interactions with proteins, nucleic acids or drugs. Especially, when it comes to more specific questions and the  structure is not the ultimate goal.