We describe a protocol for detecting electron spin-spin interactions between a radical and a metal ion in a protein or protein complex by saturation-recovery electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). This protocol can be used with a protein containing an endogenous metal center and either an endogenous or synthetic radical species. We suggest a two-step approach whereby dipole-dipole or exchange interactions are first detected by continuous-wave EPR experiments and then quantified by saturation-recovery EPR. The latter measurements make it possible to measure long distances to within a few Å ngstroms. The protocol for making distance measurements by saturation-recovery EPR will take approximately 6 days to complete.
INTRODUCTIONThe techniques that first come to mind when thinking about protein structure determination are usually solution-state NMR or X-ray crystallography. However, a complete protein structure is not always available or necessary to answer some of the most interesting biophysical questions. Sometimes, the measurement of one distance (or a few) is sufficient to establish the plausibility of a mechanism or corroborate a proposed structure. If a protein or protein complex contains a metal-binding site and a radical species, the magnetic interaction between the unpaired electrons at these two sites can be detected and quantified by saturation-recovery EPR and the resulting data used to measure distances of B10-40 Å (refs. 1,2). Enzymes with multiple redox-active cofactors such as photosystem II (PSII) and ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) are obvious targets for this methodology 3,4 . Indeed, in these systems, saturation-recovery EPR may also be used to measure exchange couplings between redox partners 4 . However, saturation-recovery EPR can also be used to measure distances between an endogenous metal-binding site and a strategically placed spin label to yield structural information 5 .Long distances in macromolecules have been successfully measured using fluorescence resonance energy transfer [6][7][8] and by pulsed EPR methods such as double quantum coherence, ''2 + 1,'' and DEER sequences that use a pair of spin labels (radicals) [9][10][11] . Distance measurement by saturation recovery has an advantage over these other methods when the protein contains an endogenous paramagnetic metal center in that the protein has a built-in ''label.'' The other label, that is, the radical, may be either endogenous or introduced through spin-labeling methods [12][13][14] . Additionally, in the case where the paramagnetic metal center is itself of interest, the radical can serve as a reporter of its magnetic properties. For example, in our experiments with the B2 subunit of RNR, the stable tyrosine radical was used to determine the exchange coupling within the dinuclear iron center 4 .As pulsed EPR instruments are not yet as common as pulsed (Fourier-transform) NMR instruments, we recommend that the investigator first attempts to detect the presence of electron spinspin interactions using the more common continuous...