Abstract
Finding the dynamics of an entire macromolecule is a complex problem as the model-free parameter values are intricately linked to the Brownian rotational diffusion of the molecule, mathematically through the autocorrelation function of the motion and statistically through model selection. The solution to this problem was formulated using set theory as an element of the universal set [formula: see text]-the union of all model-free spaces (d'Auvergne EJ and Gooley PR (2007) Mol BioSyst 3(7), 483-494). The current procedure commonly used to find the universal solution is to initially estimate the diffusion tensor parameters, to optimise the model-free parameters of numerous models, and then to choose the best model via model selection. The global model is then optimised and the procedure repeated until convergence. In this paper a new methodology is presented which takes a different approach to this diffusion seeded model-free paradigm. Rather than starting with the diffusion tensor this iterative protocol begins by optimising the model-free parameters in the absence of any global model parameters, selecting between all the model-free models, and finally optimising the diffusion tensor. The new model-free optimisation protocol will be validated using synthetic data from Schurr JM et al. (1994) J Magn Reson B 105(3), 211-224 and the relaxation data of the bacteriorhodopsin (1-36)BR fragment from Orekhov VY (1999) J Biomol NMR 14(4), 345-356. To demonstrate the importance of this new procedure the NMR relaxation data of the Olfactory Marker Protein (OMP) of Gitti R et al. (2005) Biochem 44(28), 9673-9679 is reanalysed. The result is that the dynamics for certain secondary structural elements is very different from those originally reported.