Segment identification of a ligand binding with a protein receptor using multidimensional T1rho-, diffusion-filtered and diffusion-ordered NOESY experiments.

Multidimensional T1rho-, diffusion-filtered and diffusion-ordered NOESY techniques were applied to identify segments of a ligand binding with a protein receptor. These experiments can easily provide intermolecular NOEs of the complex, which are of great significance for characterizing the binding epitopes of a ligand. This information cannot be obtained by high-throughput 1D NMR experiments, used for determining the binding affinity, although multidimensional NMR experiments require more experiment time. The present results indicate that the current experiments using T1rho- and diffusion-edited techniques are very suitable for identifying segments of a ligand binding with a protein receptor in the drug discovery process.