Review Article

Development and Applications of HDX-NMR and HDX-MS in Protein Structure and Dynamics Research

  • ZHANG Yuanyuan ,
  • WANG Pengcheng ,
  • LI Tao ,
  • HU Rui ,
  • YANG Yunhuang ,
  • LIU Maili
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  • 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological System, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China

Received date: 2025-06-13

  Online published: 2025-09-16

Abstract

Hydrogen-deuterium exchange nuclear magnetic resonance (HDX-NMR) and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) are key techniques for studying protein structure and dynamics, and have been widely applied to analyzing protein conformational changes in recent years. HDX-NMR provides dynamic information at single amino acid resolution by detecting nuclear magnetic resonance signals after exchange, and is suitable for studying slow exchange regions and conformational changes over long time scales. HDX-MS integrates the advantages of hydrogen-deuterium exchange and high-resolution mass spectrometry, enabling the determination of protein solution structures under near-physiological conditions, and is applicable to complex systems such as macromolecular complexes and membrane proteins. Compared with traditional techniques like X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, HDX-MS is characterized by high sensitivity and low sample demand, while HDX-NMR is superior in site resolution and kinetic analysis. Ongoing technological and methodological optimizations are further broadening the application prospects of both techniques in areas such as protein conformational changes and drug screening. This article reviews their principles, procedures, and analytical methods, compares their similarities and differences, discusses their complementarity and integrated applications, and outlines future directions, aiming to provide references for related research.

Cite this article

ZHANG Yuanyuan , WANG Pengcheng , LI Tao , HU Rui , YANG Yunhuang , LIU Maili . Development and Applications of HDX-NMR and HDX-MS in Protein Structure and Dynamics Research[J]. Chinese Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 2025 , 42(4) : 445 -456 . DOI: 10.11938/cjmr20253170

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