Pseudocontact chemical shifts in RNA via LCT

The proposed research aims at the establishment of a novel approach to advance the structural biology of nucleic acids by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In collaboration with the group of Daniel Häussinger at the University of Basel we want to develop a method to selectively attach so called DOTA tags to ribonucleic acids (RNA). In these DOTA tags rare earth metal ions, such as thulium or dysprosium, are immobilized and the attachment of these modifiers unlocks an important source of information the pseudo contact shift (PCS) - to address the high resolution 3D structure but also the dynamics in RNA. We will combine state of the art chemical synthesis and NMR spectroscopy to further close the methodological gap between protein and nucleic acid magnetic resonance.