Nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of the state of water in protein solution.

The line width of the NMR signal of water protons in solutions of native actomyosin and actomyosin denatured by heat, acetone or urea was measured over the temperature range from -10 degrees to below the freezing point. The line widths of the water band which increased exponentially with decreasing temperature were compared with each other and also with those of the corresponding control solution without actomyosin. The line broadening observed for native actomyosin solution on lowering the temperature was significantly smaller than that for heat-denatured actomyosin solution. This difference implies that this signal is sensitive to conformational perturbations of the protein. In addition, the temperature dependence of the line width for heat-, acetone-, or urea-denatured actomyosin solution was similar to that for the corresponding control solution. These phenomena can be interpreted in terms of the state of water associated with the hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues. Similar NMR studies of actomyosin solution containing dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or dimethylformamide (DMF) showed that DMSO and DMF prevent the formation of ice crystals until about -70 degrees, suggesting that the cryoprotective effects of DMSO and DMF are due to the change in the state of water described above. These differences in temperature dependence between the sample and control solutions are well-correlated with the viscosity of the solution. This correlation is useful for elucidation of the mechanism of the protein denaturation.