As Joel has suggested before, alphafold on an IDP would be interesting and 
would seem like a zero-cost starting point - perhaps one you have tried already.

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-------- Original Message --------
On 15 Aug 2021, 15:53, Scott Horowitz wrote:

> Hi Sorin,
>
> I hate to say it, but this is a really tough and expensive one. Solving a 
> true conformational ensemble of one IDP of decent size (~>70 residues) at 
> something like decent resolution is hard, and not that many labs actually do 
> it (it's usually a different set of NMR techniques than solving folding 
> proteins, and that knowledge is even somewhat specialized even within the NMR 
> community). Solving a co-structural ensemble of two IDPs that bind is even 
> harder, and I'm hard pressed to remember a single case right now where it's 
> been done (probably has, but very rarely). Assuming they express really well 
> and produce decent spectra, it is in theory doable, but I'd assume multiple 
> years of work by a very good student or postdoc from a lab that specializes 
> in this and many thousands of dollars (I'd very roughly assume ~$10k in 
> materials costs alone) would be required for that co-structure.
>
> The SAXS route is certainly less expensive and faster if it works and gets 
> you the info you need, but it certainly will be low-res. I'm not as familiar 
> with it, but if you can differentially label the proteins, the neutron 
> equivalent of SAXS might also help with the co-structural ensemble to 
> differentiate which protein is where in the resulting blob.
>
> Scott
>
> [Scott Horowitz, Ph.D.]
>
> Assistant Professor
>
> Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
>
> Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging
>
> University of Denver
>
> ECS Building
>
> 2155 E. Wesley Ave
>
> Denver, CO 80208
>
> Phone: 303-871-4326
>
> Fax: 303-871-7915
>
> Zoom Room: https://udenver.zoom.us/my/scotthorowitz
>
> Email: scott.horow...@du.edu
>
> Office: Room 561 Lab: Room 505
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of Roopa Thapar 
> <0000070a21fba45f-dmarc-requ...@jiscmail.ac.uk>
> Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2021 8:20 AM
> To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [ccp4bb] biomolecular NMR for IDPs
>
> [External Email From]: owner-ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk
>
> Hello Sorin,
>
> 1. The cost of getting NMR data on the IDPs you propose depends upon the 
> expression levels of the protein/s as you will need to label with 15N and 13C 
> - and depending upon your overall yields per liter of E.coli culture, this 
> can add up. In addition you will need to run triple resonance experiments - 
> so you should look into the hourly charge to access the NMR spectrometers 
> where you are located. Moreover, you need to account for time required for 
> optimization of solution conditions to collect the NMR data as the sample 
> needs to be homogenous (as in no aggregation) at millimolar or hundreds of 
> micromolar concentration. As Ethan Merritt suggested, it would be a good idea 
> to use SAXS first as it requires very little sample, no isotope labeling, and 
> you can try to narrow down the solution conditions that would be best suited 
> for NMR. The Kratky plots, Rg values under different solution conditions can 
> give very useful information about conformational states and ensembles 
> populated by IDPs. However, although NMR tends to be more expensive than 
> other techniques but is perfect for IDPs as you point out you can get residue 
> specific information. A combined NMR/SAXS approach has proven to be very 
> useful to validate computational models.
>
> 2. In general, CROs are much more expensive particularly for generating 
> isotopically labeled samples - it is cost-prohibitive for academic labs. 
> Genscript is one CRO that will express proteins, but I am not sure if they 
> will make isotopically labeled proteins for NMR.
>
> 3. The amount of protein needed depends upon the size of the molecule. You 
> will need at least 2-3 samples that are differentially labeled with 15N, 13C 
> (also since you want data on the free and bound forms of the complex) at 0.5 
> - 1 mM depending upon the size of the molecule which relates to the 
> complexity of the NMR spectrum due to number of resonances and the relaxation 
> times. The total volume required for each sample is between 280 ul - 600 ul, 
> depending upon which type of instrumentation and NMR probes you have access 
> to.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Best regards,
> Roopa
>
> On Saturday, August 14, 2021, 04:12:58 PM CDT, Sorin Draga 
> <sor.dr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> I do realize that this is not a NMR focused group, but I do hope that there 
> are a few spectroscopists lurking around that could possibly answer a few 
> questions (I am more of a modeler/computationalist):
>
> The problem: I have two intrinsically disordered proteins that are known to 
> interact (let's call them 1 and 2). I would like to get structural 
> information (a conformational ensemble) for 1 and for the "complex" (1+2). 
> Further down the line (depending on whether this is possible) I would also 
> like to evaluate potential small molecule inhibitors for the said complex. 
> Both 1 and 2 are <200 aminoacids long.
>
> The questions:
>
> 1. Could the cost of determining the "structure" for 1 and 1+2 be estimated? 
> To be more precise, I am looking for a ball-park figure on how much a NMR 
> measurement would cost in this case.
> 2. Could anyone recommend a good group/CRO that could provide such a service 
> and not have an astronomical cost?
> 3. Any other suggestions/thoughts that you think might be worth mentioning 
> (minimum quantity of protein necessary, purity, type of NMR etc)
> Many thanks for your help and time!
> Cheers!
> Sorin
>
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