Extending the NMR spatial resolution limit for RNA by motional couplings

Experimental resolution of distinct dynamical processes in molecules can prove impossible when they are correlated to one another. In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, couplings between internal and overall motions lead to intractable complexity, depriving insights into functionally important motions. Here we demonstrate that motional couplings can be used to anchor NMR frames of reference onto different parts of an RNA molecule, thus extending the spatial resolution limit for dynamical characterization.