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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jan 31.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2011 Jan 30;18(3):392–394. doi: 10.1038/nsmb.1982

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Site-specific 2H NMR relaxation illuminates functional dynamics of retinylidene methyl groups within binding pocket of rhodopsin. (a) Light absorption yields 11-cis to trans isomerization, converting retinal from an inverse agonist to an agonist by a series of intermediates with different time scales. (b–c) Solid-state 2H NMR spectra for dark-state rhodopsin with 11-cis retinal deuterated at C5-, C9-, or C13–C2H3 groups in POPC bilayers (1:50 molar ratio). The 2H NMR lineshapes indicate rapid axial spinning of C–C2H3 groups down to at least −160 °C. (e,f) Partially relaxed 2H NMR spectra for retinylidene C9- and C13–C2H3 groups of rhodopsin in aligned POPC membranes (θ=0°) at −150 °C. (g) Inversion-recovery plots showing site-specific variations in spin-lattice (T1Z) relaxation times for C9- and C13-Me groups at −150 °C.