NMR Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about NMR, including details on nuclear magnetic resonance, structural determination, techniques.

Analysis of internal motions of interleukin-13 variant associated with severe bronchial asthma using (15)N NMR relaxation measurements.

Yoshida Y, Ohkuri T, Takeda C, Kuroki R, Izuhara K, Imoto T, Ueda T

Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.

The single nucleotide polymorphism interleukin-13 (IL-13) R110Q is associated with severe bronchial asthma because its lower affinity leads to the augmentation of local IL-13 concentration, resulting in an increase in the signal transduction via IL-13R. Since the mutation site does not directly bind to IL-13Ralpha2, we carried out NMR relaxation analyses of the wild-type IL-13 and IL-13-R110Q in order to examine whether the R110Q mutation affects the internal motions in IL-13 molecules. The results showed that the internal motion in the micro- to millisecond time scale on helix D, which is suggested to be important for the interaction between IL-13 and IL-13Ralpha2, is increased in IL-13-R110Q compared with that in the wild-type IL-13. It therefore appears that the difference in the internal motions on helix D between the wild-type IL-13 and IL-13-R110Q may be involved in their affinity differences with IL-13Ralpha2.

Published 15 May 2007 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 358(1): 292-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 NMR Research Today. All Rights Reserved.