^(15)N NMR studies of biological systems

Nitrogen is widely distributed in biological systems and is often directly involved in biochemical processes of interest. Nitrogen-15 nuclear magnetic resonance (^(15)N NMR) spectroscopy is, therefore, potentially a very valuable technique for the study of biological systems. Within the last several years, a number of exciting, pioneering ^(15)N NMR studies of biomolecules have been reported, and this review will describe several of these in three areas of biochemistry: (1) proteins including proteolytic enzymes and hemoproteins, (2) nucleic acids and nucleotide bases and their interactions in base pairing and drug binding, and (3) in vivo metabolism and cellular dynamics in intact microorganisms and plants.