Apo-metallothionein-3 cooperatively forms tightly compact structures under physiological conditions.

Metallothioneins (MTs) are essential mammalian metal chaperones. MT isoform 1 (MT1) is expressed in the kidneys and isoform 3 (MT3) is expressed in nervous tissue. For MTs, the solution-based NMR structure was determined for metal-bound MT1 and MT2, and only one X-ray diffraction structure on a crystallized mixed metal-bound MT2 has been reported. The structure of solution-based metalated MT3 is partially known using NMR methods; however, little is known about the fluxional de novo apo-MT3 because the structure cannot be determined by traditional methods. Here, we used cysteine modification coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, denaturing reactions with guanidinium chloride, stopped-flow methods measuring cysteine modification and metalation, and ion mobility mass spectrometry to reveal that apo-MT3 adopts a compact structure under physiological conditions and an extended structure under denaturing conditions, with no intermediates. Compared with apo-MT1, we found that this compact apo-MT3 binds to a cysteine modifier more cooperatively at equilibrium and 0.5 times the rate, providing quantitative evidence that many of the 20 cysteines of apo-MT3 are less accessible than those of apo-MT1. In addition, this compact apo-MT3 can be identified as a distinct population using ion mobility mass spectrometry. Furthermore, proposed structural models can be calculated using molecular dynamics methods. Collectively, these findings provide support for MT3 acting as a noninducible regulator of the nervous system compared with MT1 as an inducible scavenger of trace metals and toxic metals in the kidneys.