Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Biochemistry. 2011 May 3;50(17):3441-50. doi: 10.1021/bi101965d. Epub 2011 Apr 7.
During denaturant-induced equilibrium (un)folding of wild-type apoflavodoxin from Azotobacter vinelandii, a molten globule-like folding intermediate is formed. This wild-type protein contains three tryptophans. In this study, we use a general approach to analyze time-resolved fluorescence and steady-state fluorescence data that are obtained upon denaturant-induced unfolding of a single-tryptophan-containing variant of apoflavodoxin [i.e., W74/F128/F167 (WFF) apoflavodoxin]. The experimental data are assembled in matrices, and subsequent singular-value decomposition of these matrices (i.e., based on either steady-state or time-resolved fluorescence data) shows the presence of three significant, and independent, components. Consequently, to further analyze the denaturation trajectories, we use a three-state protein folding model in which a folding intermediate and native and unfolded protein molecules take part. Using a global analysis procedure, we determine the relative concentrations of the species involved and show that the stability of WFF apoflavodoxin against global unfolding is ∼4.1 kcal/mol. Analysis of time-resolved anisotropy data of WFF apoflavodoxin unfolding reveals the remarkable observation that W74 is equally well fixed within both the native protein and the molten globule-like folding intermediate. Slight differences between the direct environments of W74 in the folding intermediate and native protein cause different rotameric populations of the indole in both folding species as fluorescence lifetime analysis reveals. Importantly, thermodynamic analyses of the spectral denaturation trajectories of the double-tryptophan-containing protein variants WWF apoflavodoxin and WFW apoflavodoxin show that these variants are significantly more stable (5.9 kcal/mol and 6.8 kcal/mol, respectively) than WFF apoflavodoxin (4.1 kcal/mol) Hence, tryptophan residues contribute considerably to the 10.5 kcal/mol thermodynamic stability of native wild-type apoflavodoxin.
在野生型来自固氮菌的脱辅基黄素蛋白的变性诱导平衡(去)折叠过程中,会形成一种类似无规卷曲的折叠中间体。这种野生型蛋白含有三个色氨酸。在这项研究中,我们使用一种通用方法来分析时间分辨荧光和稳态荧光数据,这些数据是在脱辅基黄素蛋白的一个单色氨酸变异体[即 W74/F128/F167 (WFF) 黄素蛋白]的变性诱导去折叠过程中获得的。实验数据被组装成矩阵,随后对这些矩阵进行奇异值分解(即基于稳态或时间分辨荧光数据),显示存在三个显著的、独立的成分。因此,为了进一步分析变性轨迹,我们使用一个三态蛋白质折叠模型,其中包含折叠中间体、天然和去折叠的蛋白质分子。使用全局分析程序,我们确定了所涉及物种的相对浓度,并表明 WFF 黄素蛋白对整体展开的稳定性约为 4.1 kcal/mol。对 WFF 黄素蛋白展开的时间分辨各向异性数据的分析揭示了一个显著的观察结果,即 W74 在天然蛋白和类似无规卷曲的折叠中间体中都同样被固定。荧光寿命分析显示,W74 在折叠中间体和天然蛋白中的直接环境略有不同,导致这两种折叠物种中吲哚的构象种群不同。重要的是,对含有两个色氨酸的 WWF 黄素蛋白和 WFW 黄素蛋白变体的光谱变性轨迹的热力学分析表明,这些变体比 WFF 黄素蛋白(4.1 kcal/mol)分别稳定 5.9 kcal/mol 和 6.8 kcal/mol。因此,色氨酸残基对天然野生型黄素蛋白的 10.5 kcal/mol 热力学稳定性有很大贡献。