A Chiral Lanthanide Tag for Stable and Rigid Attachment to Single Cysteine Residues in Proteins for NMR, EPR and Time-Resolved Luminescence Studies

A lanthanide-binding tag site-specifically attached to a protein presents a tool to probe the protein by multiple spectroscopic techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance, electron paramagnetic resonance and time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. Here a new stable chiral Ln(III) tag, referred to as C12, is presented for spontaneous and quantitative reaction with a cysteine residue to generate a stable thioether bond. The synthetic protocol of the tag is relatively straightforward, and the tag is stable for storage and shipping. It displays greatly enhanced reactivity towards selenocysteine, opening a route towards selective tagging of selenocysteine in proteins containing cysteine residues. Loaded with Tb-III or Tm-III ions, the C12 tag readily generates pseudocontact shifts (PCS) in protein NMR spectra. It produces a relatively rigid tether between lanthanide and protein, which is beneficial for interpretation of the PCSs by single magnetic susceptibility anisotropy tensors, and it is suitable for measuring distance distributions in double electron-electron resonance experiments. Upon reaction with cysteine or other thiol compounds, the Tb-III complex exhibits a 100-fold enhancement in luminescence quantum yield, affording a highly sensitive turn-on luminescence probe for time-resolved FRET assays and enzyme reaction monitoring.

Automated summary

The study introduces a new stable chiral Ln(III) tag, known as C12, for site-specific attachment to proteins, enabling protein probing through various spectroscopic techniques. The C12 tag exhibits enhanced reactivity towards selenocysteine, offering a pathway for selectively tagging selenocysteine in proteins containing cysteine residues. With Tb-III or Tm-III ions, the C12 tag can generate pseudocontact shifts in protein NMR spectra, providing a rigid tether between lanthanide and protein for interpretation of the shifts and distance measurements in double electron-electron resonance experiments. Additionally, the Tb-III complex upon reaction with cysteine or thiol compounds shows a significant enhancement in luminescence quantum yield, making it a sensitive luminescence probe for time-resolved FRET assays and enzyme reaction monitoring.