The ubiquitin NMR resource

We describe the ubiquitin NMR resource (http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/bsm/nmr/ubq), which evolved from the need to teach postgraduate students, within our laboratory, the process of obtaining sequence specific resonance assignments. Ubiquitin was chosen as a model protein, because it is commercially available and high quality NMR spectra can be acquired in a relatively short period of time. The data in this resource can be used as a practical demonstration of obtaining sequence specific resonance assignments, which provides an introduction to triple resonance NMR experiments and how the structures of the individual amino acid types give rise to different ranges of Cα and Cβ chemical shifts. From the assignment of the backbone resonances a comparison of the chemical shifts of the Cα, Cβ and CO resonances to random coil values allows for a straightforward prediction of the secondary structure content. All the software used in the resource for processing and spectral analysis is freely available from the Internet.