Liquid crystalline phase of G-tetrad DNA for NMR study of detergent-solubilized proteins

The liquid crystalline phase consisting of the potassium salt of the dinucleotide d(GpG) is compatible with detergents commonly used for solubilizing membrane proteins, including dodecylphosphocholine, the lysolipid 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, and small bicelles consisting of dihexanoyl phosphatidylcholine and dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine. The chiral nematic liquid crystalline phase of d(GpG) consists of long columns of stacked G-tetrad structures and carry a net negative charge. For water-soluble systems, the protein alignment induced by d(GpG) is very similar to that observed for liquid crystalline Pf1 bacteriophage, but of opposite sign. Alignment of the detergent-solubilized fusion domain of hemagglutinin is demonstrated to be homogenous and stable, resulting in high quality NMR spectra suitable for the measurement of residual dipolar couplings.