NMR study of thymulin, a lymphocyte differentiating thymic nonapeptide. Conformational states of free peptide in solution.

The nonapeptide less than Glu-Ala-Lys-Ser-Gln-Gly-Gly-Ser-Asn (formerly called serum thymic factor) is a factor produced by the thymic epithelium, which needs a zinc ion to express its immunoregulatory properties. We report here on 1H and 13C NMR investigation of the conformational properties of the free peptide in aqueous medium and in dimethyl sulfoxide-d6 solution by a combination of homo- and heteronuclear one- and two-dimensional experiments. The various resonances have been assigned in a straightforward manner on the basis of 1H,1H COSY spectroscopy for the recognition of the proton spin systems; two-dimensional NOESY spectra with the correlation peaks across amide bonds and for the amino acid sequence assignment; amide bonds and for the amino acid sequence assignment; 13C,1H COSY experiments using selective polarization transfer from 1H- to 13C-nucleus via the 13C,1H long-range couplings for the attribution of the carboxyl and carbonyl groups; and 13C,1H COSY experiments with selective polarization transfer via the 13C,1H direct couplings for the assignment of all the aliphatic carbons. Other experiments such as pH-dependent chemical shifts, combined use of multiple and selective proton-decoupled 1H and 13C NMR spectra, the temperature and the concentration dependence of the proton shifts of the amide resonances, the solvent dependences of peptide carbonyl carbon resonances, and comparison of the spectra with three different analogues were performed. In aqueous solution, the data are compatible with the assumption of a highly mobile dynamic equilibrium among different conformations, whereas in dimethyl sulfoxide-d6, a more rigid structure is found involving three internal hydrogen bonds. These observations provide an insight into the conformational tendencies of this peptidic hormone in two different media.