Proton exchange as a relaxation mechanism for T1 in the rotating frame in native and immobilized protein solutions.

T1 relaxation in the rotating frame (T1rho) is a sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast for acute brain insults. Biophysical mechanisms affecting T1rho relaxation rate (R1rho) and R1rho dispersion (dependency of R1rho on the spin-lock field) were studied in protein solutions by varying their chemical environment and pH in native, heat-denatured, and glutaraldehyde (GA) cross-linked samples. Low pH strongly reduced R1rho in heat-denatured phantoms displaying proton resonances from a number of side-chain chemical groups in high-resolution 1H NMR spectra. At pH of 5.5, R1rho dispersion was completely absent. In contrast, in the GA-treated phantoms with very few NMR visible side chain groups, acidic pH showed virtually no effect on R1rho. The present data point to a crucial role of proton exchange on R1rho and R1rho dispersion in immobilized protein solution mimicking tissue relaxation properties.     

Transfer RNA structure by carbon NMR: C2 of adenine, uracil and cytosine.

Fourier transform 13C NMR spectra of E. coli tRNA enriched on 13C in either position 2 of adenine (60 atom % 13C) or in position 2 of uracil (82%) and cytosine (63%) were taken at 25.16 MHz over the temperature range 10 degrees - 76 degrees. For C2 of adenine the peak as initially 5 ppm wide, but narrowed to 0.5 ppm as the molecule unfolded. C2 of uracil displayed behavior similar to that of adenine while the cytosine peak, initially relatively narrow at low temperature, sharpened less dramatically. Comparison of spectra at 26.16 MHz and 67.9 MHz showed that the peak widths for folded tRNA were determined largely by chemical shift non-equivalence. T2 T2 measurements suggested that intrinsic line widths of most cytosine C2 peaks were 4 Hz and 2-3 Hz for uracil. Adenine C2 with a directly bonded proton had resonances of about 40 Hz line width. T1 values were measured for C2 of adenine and the ribose carbons of tRNA. Consideration of dipolar relaxation and chemical shift anisotrophy led to a calculated rotational correlation time of 1.6 +/- 0.4 x 10(-8) sec for the adenines and 1.3 +/- 0.3 x 10(-8) sec for the ribose carbons.     

Solid state NMR and X-ray diffraction studies of alpha-D-galacturonic acid monohydrate

Crystalline alpha-D-galacturonic acid monohydrate has been studied by 13C CPMAS NMR and X-ray crystallography. The molecular dynamics were investigated by evaluating 13C spin-lattice relaxation in the rotating frame (T1rho) and chemical-shift-anisotropy properties of each carbon. Only limited molecular motions can be detected in the low frequency (< 10(4) Hz) range by 13C relaxation time measurements (T1rho) and changes of chemical shift anisotropy properties as a function of temperature. X-ray analysis (at both ambient temperature and 150 K) shows that the acid has the usual chair-shaped, pyranose ring conformation, and that the acid and water molecules are linked, through all their O-H groups, in an extensively hydrogen-bonded lattice.     

Low-frequency motion in membranes. The effect of cholesterol and proteins

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation techniques have been used to study the effect of lipid-protein interactions on the dynamics of membrane lipids. Proton enhanced (PE) 13C-NMR measurements are reported for the methylene chain resonances in red blood cell membranes and their lipid extracts. For comparison similar measurements have been made of phospholipid dispersions containing cholesterol and the polypeptide gramicidin A+. It is found that the spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating reference frame (T1 rho) is far more sensitive to protein, gramicidin A+ or cholesterol content than is the laboratory frame relaxation time (T1). Based on this data it is concluded that the addition of the second component to a lipid bilayer produces a low-frequency motion in the region of 10(5) to 10(7) Hz within the membrane lipid. The T1 rho for the superimposed resonance peaks derived from all parts of the phospholipid chain are all influenced in the same manner suggesting that the low frequency motion involves collective movements of large segments of the hydrocarbon chain. Because of the molecular co-operativity implied in this type of motion and the greater sensitivity of T1 rho to the effects of lipid-protein interactions generally, it is proposed that these low-frequency perturbations are felt at a greater distance from the protein than those at higher frequencies which dominate T1.     

Use of relaxation-edited one-dimensional and two dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to improve detection of small metabolites in blood plasma

The 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of biological samples, such as blood plasma and tissues, are information rich but data complex owing to superposition of the resonances from a multitude of different chemical entities in multiple-phase compartments, hampering detection and subsequent resonance assignments. To overcome these problems, several spectral-editing NMR experiments are described here, combining spin-relaxation filters (based on T(1), T(rho), and T(2)) with both one-dimensional and two-dimensional (2D) NMR spectroscopy. These techniques enable the separation of NMR resonances based on their relaxation times and allow simplification of the complex spectra. In this paper, the approach is exemplified using a control human blood plasma, which is a complex mixture of proteins, lipoproteins, and small-molecule metabolites. In the case of T(1rho)- and T(2)-edited 2D NMR experiments, a "flip-back" pulse was introduced after the relaxation editing to make the phase cycling of the "relaxation filter" and the 2D NMR part independent, thus enabling easy implementation of the phase-sensitive 2D NMR experiments. These methods also permit much higher receiver gains to be used to reduce digitization error, in particular, for the small resonances, which are sometimes vitally important for metabonomics studies. Both pulse sequences and experimental results are discussed for T(1)-, T(1rho)-, and T(2)-filtered COSY, T(2)-filtered phase-sensitive DQF-COSY, and T(1), T(1rho)-, and T(2)-filtered TOCSY NMR.     

Proton NMR T1, T2, and T1 rho relaxation studies of native and reconstituted sarcoplasmic reticulum and phospholipid vesicles.

The phospholipids protons of native and reconstituted sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membrane vesicles yield well-resolved nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. Resonance area measurements, guided by the line shape theory of Bloom and co-workers, imply that we are observing a large fraction of the lipid intensity and that the protein does not appear to reduce the percent of the signal that is well resolved. We have measured the spin-lattice (T1) and spin-spin (T2) relaxation rates of the choline, methylene, and terminal methyl protons at 360 MHz and the spin-lattice relaxation rate in the rotating frame (T1 rho) at 100 MHz. Both the T1 and T2 relaxation rates are single exponential processes for all of the resonances if the residual water proton signal is thoroughly eliminated by selective saturation. The T1 and T2 relaxation rates increase as the protein concentration increases, and T2 rate decrease with increasing temperature. This implies that the protein is reducing both high frequency (e.g., trans-gauche methylene isomerizations) and low frequency (e.g., large amplitude, chain wagging) lipid motions, from the center of the bilayer to the surface. It is possible that spin diffusion contributes to the effect of protein on lipid T1's although some of the protein-induced T1 change is due to motional effects. The T2 relaxation times are observed to be near 1 ms for the membranes with highest protein concentration and approximately 10 ms for the lipids devoid of protein. This result, combined with the observation that the T2 rates are monophasic, suggests that at least two lipid environments exist in the presence of protein, and that the lipids are exchanging between these environments at a rate greater than 1/T2 or 10(3) s-1. The choline resonance yields single exponential T1 rho relaxation in the presence and absence of protein, whereas the other resonances measured exhibit biexponential relaxation. Protein significantly increases the single T1 rho relaxation rate of the choline peak while primarily increasing the T1 rho relaxation rate of the more slowly relaxing component of the methylene and methyl resonances.     

Detection and characterization of hyperfine-shifted resonances in the proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of Anabaena 7120 ferredoxin at high magnetic fields

This paper presents previously unobserved signals in the 1H NMR spectra of oxidized and reduced [2Fe-2S]-ferredoxin from Anabaena 7120 detected at 400, 500, and 600 MHz. The signals shifted to low field exhibited longitudinal relaxation (T1) values in the range of 100-400 microseconds and line widths in the range of 1-10 kHz (at 400 MHz), and the chemical shifts of all signals showed strong temperature dependence. Although the line widths were smaller at lower magnetic fields, the resolution was better at higher magnetic fields. In the oxidized state, a broad signal was detected at 37 ppm, which corresponds to at least 6 protons, and whose chemical shift exhibits positive temperature dependence. This signal also was found in oxidized ferredoxin reconstituted in 2H2O, which excludes the signal as arising from solvent-exchangeable amide protons. In the reduced state, four signals detected between 90 and 140 ppm exhibited negative temperature dependence. These consisted of two pairs of signals, each pair having one component with half the linewidth of the other. On the basis of their chemical shifts, linewidths, longitudinal relaxation properties, and temperature dependence we assigned these resonances to four of the beta hydrogens of the ligated cysteines. Two solvent-exchangeable hyperfine-shifted signals were found in the reduced state; these are located upfield of the diamagnetic region. The low-field hyperfine resonances of half-reduced ferredoxin in the presence of sodium dithionite showed a self electron transfer exchange rate that was slow on the NMR scale as observed earlier (Chan, T., and Markley, J. L. (1983) Biochemistry 22, 5982-5987), but the exchange rate was accelerated in the presence of methyl viologen.     

Interactions of diastereomeric tripeptides of lysyl-5-fluorotryptophyllysine with DNA. 1. Optical and 19F NMR studies of native DNA complexes

Lysyl-5-fluoro-L-tryptophyllysine and lysyl-5-fluoro-D-tryptophyllysine were synthesized, and their interactions with double-stranded DNA were investigated as a model for protein-nucleic acid interactions. The binding to DNA was studied by monitoring various 19F NMR parameters, the fluorescence, and the optical absorbance in thermal denaturation. The 19F resonance of the L-Trp peptide shifts upfield in the presence of DNA, and that of the D-Trp peptide shifts downfield with DNA present. The influence of ionic strength on the binding of each peptide to DNA and the fluorescence quenching titration of each with DNA indicate that electrostatic bonding (approximately 2 per peptide-DNA complex) dominates the binding in each case and accounts for the similar binding constants determined from the fluorescence quenching, i.e., 7.7 X 10(4) M-1 for the L-Trp complex and 6.2 X 10(-1) for the D-Trp complex. The 19F NMR chemical shift, line width, 19F[1H] nuclear Overhauser effect, and spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) changes all indicate that the aromatic moiety of the L-Trp complex, but not that of the D-Trp complex, is stacked between the bases of DNA. The relative increases in DNA melting temperature caused by binding of the tripeptide diastereomers are also consistent with stacking in the case of the L-Trp peptide. The magnitude of the changes and the susceptibility of the 19F NMR chemical shift to altering the solvent isotope (H2O vs. D2O) suggest that the L-Trp ring is not intercalated in the classical sense but is partially inserted between the bases of one strand of the double helix.     

Molecular motion and conformation of cholesteryl esters in reconstituted high density lipoprotein by deuterium magnetic resonance

Reconstituted high density lipoprotein has been prepared by sonication and preparative ultracentrifugation of mixtures containing the apoprotein of high density lipoprotein, egg phosphatidylcholine, cholesteryl oleate, and acyl chain deuterated cholesteryl palmitate in aqueous buffer. The resulting structures have a size and chemical composition very similar to native high density lipoprotein. Deuterium NMR spectra and longitudinal relaxation times were obtained at approximately 25 degrees C. The variation of the 2H NMR line width with chain position is consistent with an average conformation such that the ester acyl chain is extended. In addition, 2H NMR line widths and longitudinal relaxation times indicate that the ester acyl chains possess significant mobility.     

(13)C cross-polarization/magic angle spinning NMR studies of alpha-elastin preparations show retention of overall structure and reduction of mobility with a decreased number of cross-links

High-resolution solid-state (13)C NMR spectra are presented for samples of alpha-elastin prepared from the aorta of normal and copper-deficient pigs. Chemical shifts of the various peaks indicate that both the normal and undercross-linked peptides have similar overall structures. However, (13)C T(1), (13)C T(1 rho), and (1)H T(1 rho) measurements indicate that the alpha-elastin peptides obtained from the abnormal elastic fibers samples exhibit altered mobilities, particularly in their side chains. Results from spectra taken with a range of contact times and from dipolar dephasing experiments are consistent with conclusions reached with the relaxation measurements. Namely, the loss of function associated with the undercross-linked sample is correlated to a small but measurable difference in relative mobility.     

Magic angle spinning carbon-13 NMR of tobacco mosaic virus. An application of the high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy to very large biological systems.

Magic angle spinning 13C NMR was used to study tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in solution. Well-resolved 13C NMR spectra were obtained, in which several carbon resonances of amino acids of the TMV coat protein subunits that are not observable by conventional high-resolution NMR spectroscopy can be designed. RNA resonance were absent, however, in the magic angle spinning 13C NMR spectra. Since three different binding sites are available for each nucleotide of the RNA, this is probably due to a line broadening caused by distributions of isotropic chemical shift values. In 13C-enriched TM 13C-13C dipolar interactions also gave rise to line broadening. By suitable pulse techniques that discriminate carbon resonances on the basis of their T1 and T1 rho values, it was possible to select particular groups of carbon nuclei with characteristic motional properties. Magic angle spinning 13C NMR spectra obtained with these pulse techniques are extremely well resolved.     

Lateral diffusion of the phospholipid molecule in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers. An investigation using nuclear spin--lattice relaxation in the rotating frame

Measurements of the proton NMR spin--lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame (T 1rho) have permitted the explicit determination of the lateral diffusion coefficient of phospholipid molecules in the lamellar mesophase of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine at temperatures above the phase-transition temperature. The experimentally observed temperature and frequency dependence of T 1rho for the dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine protons suggest that intermolecular dipole--dipole relaxation contributions are important. Proton T 1rho experiments involving dilution with deuterated dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine support the premise that intermolecular dipolar interactions are significant and, concomitantly, that lateral diffusion is the motion modulating that interaction. The lateral diffusion coefficient is determined directly from the dependence of the rotating frame spin--lattice relaxation rate (1/T 1rho) on the strength of the applied radiofrequency field in the spin-locking experiment. A series of experiments with varying concentrations of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine in the lamellar mesophase indicates that the lateral diffusion coefficient varies as a function of phospholipid concentration.     

NMR relaxation properties of 77Se-labeled proteins

A 77Se-containing moiety has been attached to cysteine residues in bovine hemoglobin, reduced ribonuclease A, and glutathione by reaction with [77Se]6,6'-diselenobis(3-nitrobenzoic acid). The resultant species contain Se-S linkages that have 77Se NMR absorptions in the range range of 568-580 ppm. Spectra have been recorded at 4.7 and 9.7 tesla (T). For labeled hemoglobin a line width of 250 Hz is seen at 4.7 T and 1000 Hz at 9.4 T. This quadrupling of line width with doubling of observational field strength is consistent with exclusive relaxation by the chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) mechanism. These line widths are greater than expected for a molecule the size of hemoglobin and indicate some aggregation at the high concentrations used. Upon dissociation and partial unfolding of the hemoglobin subunits, the line widths of the selenium resonance decrease to 35 and 120 Hz at 4.7 and 9.4 T, respectively. The spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) for the dissociated hemoglobin at 9.4 T was found to be 220 ms. Together with a value of 377 ms for the spin-spin relaxation time (T2), determined from the line width, an estimate of the CSA was made. This gave a value of 890 ppm, which is in accord with other values for Se(II) linked only by single bonds. When this value for the CSA is used, together with the CSA contribution to the line width, in estimating a correlation time for seleno(3-nitrobenzoic acid) (SeNB)-labeled glutathione, a value of 4 x 10(-11) s is obtained. For SeNB-labeled denatured ribonuclease, four distinct resonances are resolvable at 4.7 T and five resonances at 9.4 T. From T1 values for these resonances and the value of 890 ppm for the CSA, an appropriate correlation time of 0.1 ns was determined, which should result in 77Se resonances of 0.2-1.0 Hz at 4.7 and 9.4 T, respectively. Much greater apparent line widths are observed, which are attributed to microheterogeneity resulting from formation of inter- and intramolecular disulfide linkages. It is concluded that when there are no complications from protein aggregation or chemical exchange, the CSA values anticipated to exist in glutathione peroxidase or other selenoproteins should result in resonances with line widths in the range from 27 to 170 Hz, depending on field strength. These resonances should therefore be observable in the intact protein, if 77Se-enriched material is available.     

In situ 19F NMR studies of an E. coli membrane protein

In this report, (19)F spin incorporation in a specific site of a specific membrane protein in E. coli was accomplished via trifluoromethyl-phenylalanine ((19) F-tfmF). Site-specific (19)F chemical shifts and longitudinal relaxation times of diacylglycerol kinase (DAGK), an E. coli membrane protein, were measured in its native membrane using in situ magic angle spinning (MAS) solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Comparing with solution NMR data of the purified DAGK in detergent micelles, the in situ MAS-NMR data illustrated that (19)F chemical shift values of residues at different membrane protein locations were influenced by interactions between membrane proteins and their surrounding lipid or lipid mimic environments, while (19)F side chain longitudinal relaxation values were probably affected by different interactions of DAGK with planar lipid bilayer versus globular detergent micelles.     

Regulatory role of sphingomyelin metabolites in hypoxia-induced vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation

The rotating frame nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation rate R(1rho) in the blood and cell lysate was studied at 4.7T to provide reference values for in vivo modeling and to address the mechanisms contributing to net relaxation. A strong dependence on oxygenation, hematocrit, and spin lock field strength B(1) (0.2-1.6G) was observed in whole blood, whereas in lysate the effects were severely attenuated. The results were further compared to transverse relaxation rate R(2). A good agreement in low-field asymptotes of these two relaxation rates was found. R(1rho) field dispersion was fitted to Lorenzian line shape and resulted in correlation times around 40 micros. The dispersion behavior was related to motional properties of intracellular hemoglobin and effects of susceptibility shift interface across the cell membrane induced by compartmentalization of Hb into cells in blood.     

Hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of Clostridium pasteurianum rubredoxin: previously unobserved signals

Previously unobserved signals were located in the 470-MHz 1H NMR spectra of oxidized and reduced rubredoxin (Rd) from Clostridium pasteurianum. When the protein was oxidized, some of the resonances broadened beyond detection. Longitudinal relaxation (T1) measurements identified a number of these peaks as arising from residues close to the paramagnetic iron; these resonances exhibited short T1 values attributable to the dominant electron-nuclear dipolar relaxation mechanism. The chemical shifts of these peaks were not strongly dependent on the oxidation state of the protein, although relative ratios of line widths of several peaks in the spectra of oxidized and reduced Rd suggested localized conformational changes of the protein as a result of oxidation. Furthermore, spectra of the oxidized protein collected in the range 8-60 degrees C revealed no appreciable changes in the chemical shifts of these peaks with temperature. These results seem to point out a negligible dipolar contribution, due to either magnetic anisotropy or zero field splitting, to the observed shifts in the spectrum of oxidized Rd. Resonances were assigned to tyrosine-11 or phenylalanine-49 (but not to either specifically) on the basis of their T1 values and the X-ray diffraction data of the protein molecule [Watenpaugh, K. D., Sieker, L. C., Herriott, J. R., & Jensen, L. H. (1973) Acta Crystallogr., Sect. B: Struct. Crystallogr. Cryst. Chem. B29, 943-956; and a further refinement deposited with the Protein Data Bank]. An upfield-shifted peak at about -1.1 ppm in the spectra of both oxidized and reduced Rd was assigned to a methyl group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Optimizing <Superscript>19</Superscript>F NMR protein spectroscopy by fractional biosynthetic labeling

In protein NMR experiments which employ nonnative labeling, incomplete enrichment is often associated with inhomogeneous line broadening due to the presence of multiple labeled species. We investigate the merits of fractional enrichment strategies using a monofluorinated phenylalanine species, where resolution is dramatically improved over that achieved by complete enrichment. In NMR studies of calmodulin, a 148 residue calcium binding protein, ¹⁹F and ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC spectra reveal a significant extent of line broadening and the appearance of minor conformers in the presence of complete (>95%) 3-fluorophenylalanine labeling. The effects of varying levels of enrichment of 3-fluorophenylalanine (i.e. between 3 and >95%) were further studied by ¹⁹F and ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC spectra,¹⁵N T₁ and T₂ relaxation measurements, ¹⁹F T₂ relaxation, translational diffusion and heat denaturation experiments via circular dichroism. Our results show that while several properties, including translational diffusion and thermal stability show little variation between non-fluorinated and >95% ¹⁹F labeled samples, ¹⁹F and ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC spectra show significant improvements in line widths and resolution at or below 76% enrichment. Moreover, high levels of fluorination (>80%) appear to increase protein disorder as evidenced by backbone ¹⁵N dynamics. In this study, reasonable signal to noise can be achieved between 60–76% ¹⁹F enrichment, without any detectable perturbations from labeling.     

Deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance studies of bile salt/phosphatidylcholine mixed micelles

Mixed micelles of deoxycholate (DOC) and 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) have been prepared in which the POPC was specifically deuterated in the 2-, 6-, 10-, or 16-position of the palmitoyl chain or in the N-methyl position of the choline head group. The deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (2H NMR) spectrum of each of these specifically deuterated mixed micelles consists of a singlet whose line width depends upon the position of deuteration. Spin-spin relaxation times indicate a gradient of mobility along the POPC palmitoyl chain in the mixed micelle, with a large increase in mobility on going from the 10- to the 16-position. Spin-lattice relaxation times (T1's) demonstrate a similar gradient of mobility. Both trends in NMR relaxation behavior are consistent with a bilayer arrangement for the solubilized POPC. 2H T1 times for DOC/POPC micelles are significantly shorter than those measured in other bilayer systems, indicating unusually tight phospholipid acyl chain packing in the mixed micelle.     

19F NMR studies of solvent exposure and peptide binding to an SH3 domain

(19)F NMR was used to study topological features of the SH3 domain of Fyn tyrosine kinase for both the free protein and a complex formed with a binding peptide. Metafluorinated tyrosine was biosynthetically incorporated into each of 5 residues of the G48M mutant of the SH3 domain (i.e. residues 8, 10, 49 and 54 in addition to a single residue in the linker region to the C-terminal polyhistidine tag). Distinct (19)F NMR resonances were observed and subsequently assigned after separately introducing single phenylalanine mutations. (19)F NMR chemical shifts were dependent on protein concentration above 0.6 mM, suggestive of dimerization via the binding site in the vicinity of the tyrosine side chains. (19)F NMR spectra of Fyn SH3 were also obtained as a function of concentration of a small peptide (2-hydroxynicotinic-NH)-Arg-Ala-Leu-Pro-Pro-Leu-Pro-diaminopropionic acid -NH(2), known to interact with the canonical polyproline II (PPII) helix binding site of the SH3 domain. Based on the (19)F chemical shifts of Tyr8, Tyr49, and Tyr54, as a function of peptide concentration, an equilibrium dissociation constant of 18 +/- 4 microM was obtained. Analysis of the line widths suggested an average exchange rate, k(ex), associated with the peptide-protein two-site exchange, of 5200 +/- 600 s(-1) at a peptide concentration where 96% of the FynSH3 protein was assumed to be bound. The extent of solvent exposure of the fluorine labels was studied by a combination of solvent isotope shifts and paramagnetic effects from dissolved oxygen. Tyr54, Tyr49, Tyr10, and Tyr8, in addition to the Tyr on the C-terminal tag, appear to be fully exposed to the solvent at the metafluoro position in the absence of binding peptide. Tyr54 and, to some extent, Tyr10 become protected from the solvent in the peptide bound state, consistent with known structural data on SH3-domain peptide complexes. These results show the potential utility of (19)F-metafluorotyrosine to probe protein-protein interactions in conjunction with paramagnetic contrast agents.     

Orientation dependence of NMR relaxation time, T(1rho), in lipid bilayers

The orientation dependence of the low frequency NMR relaxation time, T(1rho), of protons in aligned phospholipid bilayers was measured using 13C cross polarisation and direct proton experiments. The contribution of intra- and inter-molecular interactions to proton T(1rho) was determined by using dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) with one hydrocarbon chain deuterated and dispersed in perdeuterated DMPC. The results indicated that intramolecular motions on the kHz timescale were the major cause of T(1rho) relaxation in phospholipid bilayers.