The conformation of a neuropeptide, substance P (SP), in isotropic (q = 0.5) acidic bicelles was investigated using two-dimensional NMR techniques. By the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) cross peaks between SP and long-chain lipid molecules SP was probed to bind on the flat surface of the disc-like bicelles. Structural analysis of NMR data indicated that the helical conformation of SP extended to the C-terminal region of Leu10 as well as in the mid-region from Pro4 to Phe8. As compared with the conformations of SP bound on the sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) or the dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles with curved surfaces, the surface curvature of the membrane mimics was found to be one of the major factors inducing the biologically relevant conformation of SP. The negative surface charge of the membrane is also a key factor inducing both the binding of SP on the membrane and its biologically active structure.

Active site mapping has been done for Δ 5 -3-ketosteroid isomerase (KSI) by analyses of paramagnetic effect on 1 H- 15N HSQC spectra using 4-hydroxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy (HyTEMPO) and an intermediate analog (equilenin). Our result revealed that residues in hydrophobic cavity of KSI, particularly active site region, mainly experienced a high line-broadening effect of NMR signal with HyTEMPO, while they experienced full recovery of a lineshape upon the addition of equilenin. The mapped region was very similar to the active site of KSI as described by the crystal structure. These observations indicate that a combined use of paramagnetic reagent and substrate (or analog) could rapidly identify the residues in potential active site of KSI, and can be applied to the analysis of both active site and function in unknown protein.