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 < scott.horow...@du.edu> 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
   <https://udenver.zoom.us/my/scotthorowitz>**

   Email: scott.horow...@du.edu

   Office: Room 561   Lab: Room 505


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   *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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