SOLID-STATE MAGIC-ANGLE-SPINNING P-31-NMR STUDIES OF NATIVE CASEIN MICELLES

Solid-state magic-angle spinning P-31-NMR spectroscopy was used to characterize the structure and composition of native casein micelles. The features of the magic-angle spinning P-31-NMR spectra, including overlapping resonances from mobile/immobile phosphorylated serine residues and inorganic calcium phosphates, have been determined using different experimental techniques and assigned by comparison with spectra of the presumed constituents within the casein micelle. Comparison with P-31-NMR spectra of alpha(s1)-, alpha(s2)-, and beta-caseins in dissolved and freeze-dried forms demonstrated that a major fraction of the phosphoserines in these proteins was in an immobilized state within the micelle. Likewise, from P-31-NMR spectra of the C-terminal part of kappa-casein, it was shown that this region of the micelle has a considerable conformational mobility. Finally, magic-angle spinning P-31-NMR spectra for a series of inorganic calcium phosphates and mineralized bone tissue revealed that the micellar inorganic calcium phosphates exhibit structural similarities to hydroxyapatite and hence resemble mineralized bone tissue.