Eline Koers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Eline Koers

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012

Thiamin diphosphate, the vitamin B1 coenzyme, plays critical roles in fundamental metabolic pathw... more Thiamin diphosphate, the vitamin B1 coenzyme, plays critical roles in fundamental metabolic pathways that require acyl carbanion equivalents. Studies on chemical models and enzymes had suggested that these carbanions are resonance-stabilized as enamines. A crystal structure of this intermediate in pyruvate oxidase at 1.1 Å resolution now challenges this paradigm by revealing that the enamine does not accumulate. Instead, the intermediate samples between the ketone and the carbanion both interlocked in a tautomeric equilibrium. Formation of the keto tautomer is associated with a loss of aromaticity of the cofactor. The alternate confinement of electrons to neighboring atoms rather than π-conjugation seems to be of importance for the enzyme-catalyzed, redox-coupled acyl transfer to phosphate, which requires a dramatic inversion of polarity of the reacting substrate carbon in two subsequent catalytic steps. The ability to oscillate between a nucleophilic (carbanion) and an electrophilic (ketone) substrate center highlights a hitherto unrecognized versatility of the thiamin cofactor. It remains to be studied whether formation of the keto tautomer is a general feature of all thiamin enzymes, as it could provide for stable storage of the carbanion state, or whether this feature represents a specific trait of thiamin oxidases. In addition, the protonation state of the two-electron reduced flavin cofactor can be fully assigned, demonstrating the power of high-resolution cryocrystallography for elucidation of enzymatic mechanisms.

Chemistry - A European Journal, 2015

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has been shown to greatly enhance spectroscopic sensitivity, c... more Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has been shown to greatly enhance spectroscopic sensitivity, creating novel opportunities for NMR studies on complex and large molecular assemblies in life and material sciences. In such applications, however, site-specificity and spectroscopic resolution become critical factors that are usually difficult to control by current DNP-based approaches. We have examined in detail the effect of directly attaching mono- or biradicals to induce local paramagnetic relaxation effects and, at the same time, to produce sizable DNP enhancements. Using a membrane-embedded ion channel as an example, we varied the degree of paramagnetic labeling and the location of the DNP probes. Our results show that the creation of local spin clusters can generate sizable DNP enhancements while preserving the intrinsic benefits of paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE)-based NMR approaches. DNP using chemical labeling may hence provide an attractive route to introduce molecular specificity into DNP studies in life science applications and beyond.

Journal of Biomolecular NMR, 2014

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has become a powerful method to enhance spectroscopic sensitiv... more Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has become a powerful method to enhance spectroscopic sensitivity in the context of magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We show that, compared to DNP at lower field (400 MHz/263 GHz), high field DNP (800 MHz/527 GHz) can significantly enhance spectral resolution and allows exploitation of the paramagnetic relaxation properties of DNP polarizing agents as direct structural probes under magic angle spinning conditions. Applied to a membrane-embedded K ? channel, this approach allowed us to refine the membrane-embedded channel structure and revealed conformational substates that are present during two different stages of the channel gating cycle. High-field DNP thus offers atomic insight into the role of molecular plasticity during the course of biomolecular function in a complex cellular environment.

Angewandte Chemie, 2014

ABSTRACT A novel catalyst material for the selective dehydrogenation of propane is presented. The... more ABSTRACT A novel catalyst material for the selective dehydrogenation of propane is presented. The catalyst consists of 1000 ppm Pt, 3 wt% Ga, and 0.25 wt% K supported on alumina. We observed a synergy between Ga and Pt, resulting in a highly active and stable catalyst. Additionally, we propose a bifunctional active phase, in which coordinately unsaturated Ga(3+) species are the active species and where Pt functions as a promoter. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012

A peek inside: Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhances the spectroscopic sensitivity of solid... more A peek inside: Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhances the spectroscopic sensitivity of solid-state NMR measurements of uniformly (13C,15N)-labeled preparations of Escherichia coli cells by more than an order of magnitude (see picture; MW=microwaves, ε=enhancement factor). The major molecular components in the cells can be characterized in this way.

Applied Magnetic Resonance, 2012

ABSTRACT Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)/solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectros... more ABSTRACT Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)/solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy bears great potential for the investigation of membrane-associated polypeptides which can often be produced only in small amounts and which need to be ‘diluted’ in lipid bilayer environments to adopt or maintain their functional structure. Here we present investigations using biradicals, such as TOTAPOL and bTbK, for solid-state NMR signal enhancement using DNP in the context of lipid membranes. By transferring polarization from electron to nuclear spins using microwave irradiation signal enhancement factors of up to 13 are obtained with TOTAPOL and up to 17 with bTbK. The possible reasons why these factors are below those obtained in glassy samples of bulk solvents (40–60 under similar conditions) are evaluated and discussed. In order to further ameliorate the enhancement factors the physico-chemical characteristics of TEMPOL, TOTAPOL, bTbK, and bCTbK, such as their partitioning between hydrophilic and hydrophobic solvents or their stability under different environmental conditions are presented. Finally, having provided proof-of-concept that DNP/solid-state NMR measurements can be performed with oriented membrane samples work in progress is presented on the development of a flat-coil probe for DNP/solid-state NMR experiments on oriented membranes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012

Thiamin diphosphate, the vitamin B1 coenzyme, plays critical roles in fundamental metabolic pathw... more Thiamin diphosphate, the vitamin B1 coenzyme, plays critical roles in fundamental metabolic pathways that require acyl carbanion equivalents. Studies on chemical models and enzymes had suggested that these carbanions are resonance-stabilized as enamines. A crystal structure of this intermediate in pyruvate oxidase at 1.1 Å resolution now challenges this paradigm by revealing that the enamine does not accumulate. Instead, the intermediate samples between the ketone and the carbanion both interlocked in a tautomeric equilibrium. Formation of the keto tautomer is associated with a loss of aromaticity of the cofactor. The alternate confinement of electrons to neighboring atoms rather than π-conjugation seems to be of importance for the enzyme-catalyzed, redox-coupled acyl transfer to phosphate, which requires a dramatic inversion of polarity of the reacting substrate carbon in two subsequent catalytic steps. The ability to oscillate between a nucleophilic (carbanion) and an electrophilic (ketone) substrate center highlights a hitherto unrecognized versatility of the thiamin cofactor. It remains to be studied whether formation of the keto tautomer is a general feature of all thiamin enzymes, as it could provide for stable storage of the carbanion state, or whether this feature represents a specific trait of thiamin oxidases. In addition, the protonation state of the two-electron reduced flavin cofactor can be fully assigned, demonstrating the power of high-resolution cryocrystallography for elucidation of enzymatic mechanisms.

Chemistry - A European Journal, 2015

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has been shown to greatly enhance spectroscopic sensitivity, c... more Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has been shown to greatly enhance spectroscopic sensitivity, creating novel opportunities for NMR studies on complex and large molecular assemblies in life and material sciences. In such applications, however, site-specificity and spectroscopic resolution become critical factors that are usually difficult to control by current DNP-based approaches. We have examined in detail the effect of directly attaching mono- or biradicals to induce local paramagnetic relaxation effects and, at the same time, to produce sizable DNP enhancements. Using a membrane-embedded ion channel as an example, we varied the degree of paramagnetic labeling and the location of the DNP probes. Our results show that the creation of local spin clusters can generate sizable DNP enhancements while preserving the intrinsic benefits of paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE)-based NMR approaches. DNP using chemical labeling may hence provide an attractive route to introduce molecular specificity into DNP studies in life science applications and beyond.

Journal of Biomolecular NMR, 2014

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has become a powerful method to enhance spectroscopic sensitiv... more Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has become a powerful method to enhance spectroscopic sensitivity in the context of magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We show that, compared to DNP at lower field (400 MHz/263 GHz), high field DNP (800 MHz/527 GHz) can significantly enhance spectral resolution and allows exploitation of the paramagnetic relaxation properties of DNP polarizing agents as direct structural probes under magic angle spinning conditions. Applied to a membrane-embedded K ? channel, this approach allowed us to refine the membrane-embedded channel structure and revealed conformational substates that are present during two different stages of the channel gating cycle. High-field DNP thus offers atomic insight into the role of molecular plasticity during the course of biomolecular function in a complex cellular environment.

Angewandte Chemie, 2014

ABSTRACT A novel catalyst material for the selective dehydrogenation of propane is presented. The... more ABSTRACT A novel catalyst material for the selective dehydrogenation of propane is presented. The catalyst consists of 1000 ppm Pt, 3 wt% Ga, and 0.25 wt% K supported on alumina. We observed a synergy between Ga and Pt, resulting in a highly active and stable catalyst. Additionally, we propose a bifunctional active phase, in which coordinately unsaturated Ga(3+) species are the active species and where Pt functions as a promoter. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012

A peek inside: Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhances the spectroscopic sensitivity of solid... more A peek inside: Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhances the spectroscopic sensitivity of solid-state NMR measurements of uniformly (13C,15N)-labeled preparations of Escherichia coli cells by more than an order of magnitude (see picture; MW=microwaves, ε=enhancement factor). The major molecular components in the cells can be characterized in this way.

Applied Magnetic Resonance, 2012

ABSTRACT Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)/solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectros... more ABSTRACT Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)/solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy bears great potential for the investigation of membrane-associated polypeptides which can often be produced only in small amounts and which need to be ‘diluted’ in lipid bilayer environments to adopt or maintain their functional structure. Here we present investigations using biradicals, such as TOTAPOL and bTbK, for solid-state NMR signal enhancement using DNP in the context of lipid membranes. By transferring polarization from electron to nuclear spins using microwave irradiation signal enhancement factors of up to 13 are obtained with TOTAPOL and up to 17 with bTbK. The possible reasons why these factors are below those obtained in glassy samples of bulk solvents (40–60 under similar conditions) are evaluated and discussed. In order to further ameliorate the enhancement factors the physico-chemical characteristics of TEMPOL, TOTAPOL, bTbK, and bCTbK, such as their partitioning between hydrophilic and hydrophobic solvents or their stability under different environmental conditions are presented. Finally, having provided proof-of-concept that DNP/solid-state NMR measurements can be performed with oriented membrane samples work in progress is presented on the development of a flat-coil probe for DNP/solid-state NMR experiments on oriented membranes.