On-Cell NMR Contributions to Membrane Receptor Binding Characterization

NMR spectroscopy has matured into a powerful tool to characterize interactions between biological molecules at atomic resolution, most importantly even under near to native (physiological) conditions. The field of in-cell NMR aims to study proteins and nucleic acids inside living cells. However, cells interrogate their environment and are continuously modulated by external stimuli. Cell signaling processes are often initialized by membrane receptors on the cell surface; therefore, characterizing their interactions at atomic resolution by NMR, hereafter referred as on-cell NMR, can provide valuable mechanistic information. This review aims to summarize recent on-cell NMR tools that give information about the binding site and the affinity of membrane receptors to their ligands together with potential applications to in vivo drug screening systems.

Automated summary

NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for characterizing interactions between biological molecules at atomic resolution, even under near native conditions. In-cell NMR studies proteins and nucleic acids inside living cells, which are continuously modulated by external stimuli; characterizing interactions between membrane receptors and ligands at atomic resolution through on-cell NMR can provide valuable mechanistic information. Recent on-cell NMR tools summarize in this review can provide information on binding sites, affinity of membrane receptors to ligands, and their potential applications in in vivo drug screening systems.