Denaturation and proteolytic digestion of porcine low-density lipoprotein in aqueous guanidine hydrochloride solutions.

The denaturation of porcine low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in aqueous guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) was studied by flotation velocity experiments, optical rotatory dispersion and fluorescence spectroscopy. The denaturation of LDL occurred between 2 and 4M GuGCl, where small sigmoidal changes in iptical rotation and fluorescence intensity were noted. The hydrated density of the native LDL was 1.036g/cm-3 and this remained constant upon denaturation in 4M GuHCl. The slope of the flotation coefficient-solvent density curve was 35 per cent less for denatured LDL than for the native LDL. Since there is no indication of splitting of LDL in 4M GuHCl, it is natural to interpret the result in terms of an increase of the translational frictional coefficient by 50 per cent. The observed changes in optical rotation, fluorescence intensity and flotation coefficient in 4M GuHCl were readily reversed and native LDL was recovered after removal of GuHCl by dialysis. Proteolytic treatment of denatured LDL produced digested LDL which had a hydrated density of 1.021g/cm-3 corresponding to the loss of 30 per cent of apo-LDL. The digested LDL behaved like a compact, globular particle in aqueous NaCl solution and in 4M GuHCl. These results can best be interpreted by a model of the LDL particle in which approximately 30 per cent of apo-LDL is exposed to the solvent, such that it can be reversibly denatured by GuHCl and at the same time is easily avalable to proteolytic enzymes, whereas the rest of apo-LDL is tightly associated with lipids and possibly buried inside the lipid moiety. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the digested LDL revealed four major peptide fragments with sizes ranging from 70,000 to 100,000 daltons. We believe that the method and results described in this paper will have meaningful applications in the study of membrane proteins.