“…Contrary to an earlier report on the solution structure of rat apo CRBP-II, suggesting an increased accessibility to the retinol binding cavity due, in part, to the unwinding of helix ␣ II ( 28 ), our NMR results show that the segment F27-V34 does adopt a helical conformation, in agreement with the crystal structures of rat and human apo CRBP-II ( 29,41 ). Apparently, the experimental conditions in the previous NMR study ( 28 ) did not allow the observation of several crucial NOE connectivities, thus pointing to a disordered conformation rather than to a helical fold. Other members of the i-LBP family also featured weak signal intensities of the backbone amides belonging to helix ␣ II, as they frequently either exhibit strong line-broadening or exist as several distinct spin systems ( 21,25,51,53 ).…”