Roles of molecular chaperones in cytoplasmic protein folding.

Newly synthesized polypeptide chains must fold and assemble into unique three-dimensional structures in order to become functionally active. In many cases productive folding depends on assistance from molecular chaperones, which act in preventing off-pathway reactions during folding that lead to aggregation. The inherent tendency of incompletely folded polypeptide chains to aggregate is thought to be strongly enhanced$L in vivo *I$Lby the high macromolecular concentration of the cellular solution, resulting in crowding effects, and by the close proximity of nascent polypeptide chains during synthesis on polyribosomes. The major classes of chaperones acting in cytoplasmic protein folding are the Hsp70s and the chaperonins. Hsp70 chaperones shield the hydrophobic regions of nascent and incompletely folded chains, whereas the chaperonins provide a sequestered environment in which folding can proceed unimpaired by intermolecular interactions between non-native polypeptides. These two principles of chaperone action can function in a coordinated manner to ensure the efficient folding of a subset of cytoplasmic proteins.

DSC studies of the conformational stability of barstar wild-type.

The temperature induced unfolding of barstar wild-type of bacillus amyloliquefaciens (90 residues) has been characterized by differential scanning microcalorimetry. The process has been found to be reversible in the pH range from 6.4 to 8.3 in the absence of oxygen. It has been clearly shown by a ratio of delta HvH/delta Hcal near 1 that denaturation follows a two-state mechanism. For comparison, the C82A mutant was also studied. This mutant exhibits similar reversibility, but has a slightly lower transition temperature. The transition enthalpy of barstar wt (303 kJ mol-1) exceeds that of the C82A mutant (276 kJ mol-1) by approximately 10%. The heat capacity changes show a similar difference, delta Cp being 5.3 +/- 1 kJ mol-1 K-1 for the wild-type and 3.6 +/- 1 kJ mol-1 K-1 for the C82A mutant. The extrapolated stability parameters at 25 degrees C are delta G0 = 23.5 +/- 2 kJ mol-1 for barstar wt and delta G0 = 25.5 +/- 2 kJ mol-1 for the C82A mutant.

Thermodynamics of the complex protein unfolding reaction of barstar.

The complex unfolding reaction of barstar has been characterized by studying the apparent rate of unfolding, monitored by intrinsic Trp fluorescence, as a function of temperature and guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) concentration. The kinetics of unfolding and folding of wild-type (wt) barstar at 5 degrees C were first studied in detail. It is shown that when unfolding is carried out using concentrations of GdnHCl in the posttransition zone of unfolding, the change in fluorescence that accompanies unfolding occurs in two phases: 30% of the change occurs in a burst phase that is complete within 4 ms, and 70% of the change occurs in a fast phase that is complete within 2 s. In contrast, when the protein is unfolded at 25 degrees C, no burst-phase change in fluorescence is observed. To confirm that a burst-phase change in fluorescence indeed accompanies unfolding at low temperature, unfolding studies were also carried out on a marginally destabilized mutant form of barstar for which the burst-phase change in fluorescence is shown to be as high as 70%. These results confirm a previous report [Nath et al., (1996), Nat. Struct. Biol. 3, 920-923], in which the detection of a burst-phase change in circular dichroism at 222 nm during unfolding at 25 degrees C led to the inclusion of a rapidly formed kinetic intermediate, IU, on the unfolding pathway. To characterize thermodynamically the unfolding pathway, apparent unfolding rates were then measured at six different concentrations of GdnHCl in the range 2.6 to 5.0 M, at five different temperatures from 5 to 46 degrees C. The subsequent analysis was done on the basis of the observation that a preequilibrium between the fully folded state (F) and IU gets established rapidly before further unfolding to the completely unfolded state (U). The results indicate that IU has a specific heat capacity similar to that of F and therefore suggest that IU is as compact as F, with practically no exposure of the hydrophobic core. On the other hand, the transition state of unfolding has a 45% greater heat capacity than F, indicating that significant hydration of the hydrophobic core occurs only after the rate-limiting step of unfolding.

Initial hydrophobic collapse in the folding of barstar.

Two models are commonly used to describe the poorly understood earliest steps of protein folding. The framework model stresses very early formation of nascent secondary structures, which coalesce into a compact, molten, globule-like form from which tertiary structure slowly develops. The hydrophobic collapse model gives overriding precedence to a nonspecific collapse of the polypeptide chain which facilitates subsequent formation of specific secondary and tertiary structure. Here we report our analysis of the earliest observable events of the major folding pathway of barstar, a small protein. We compare the kinetics of folding using circular dichroism at 222 nm and 270 nm, intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence, fluorescence of the hydrophobic dye 8-anilino-1-naphthalene-sulphonic acid on binding, and restoration of tryptophan-dansyl fluorescence energy transfer as structure-monitoring probes. We show that the polypeptide chain rapidly collapses (within 4 ms) to a compact globule with a solvent-accessible hydrophobic core, but with no optically active secondary or tertiary structure. Thus the earliest event of the major folding pathway of barstar is a nonspecific hydrophobic collapse that does not involve concomitant secondary structure formation.

Thermodynamics of denaturation of barstar: evidence for cold denaturation and evaluation of the interaction with guanidine hydrochloride.

Isothermal guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl)-induced denaturation curves obtained at 14 different temperatures in the range 273-323 K have been used in conjunction with thermally-induced denaturation curves obtained in the presence of 15 different concentrations of GdnHCl to characterize the thermodynamics of cold and heat denaturation of barstar. The linear free energy model has been used to determine the excess changes in free energy, enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity that occur on denaturation. The stability of barstar in water decreases as the temperature is decreased from 300 to 273 K. This decrease in stability is not accompanied by a change in structure as monitored by measurement of the mean residue ellipticities at both 222 and 275 nm. When GdnHCl is present at concentrations between 1.2 and 2.0 M, the decrease in stability with decrease in temperature is however so large that the protein undergoes cold denaturation. The structural transition accompanying the cold denaturation process has been monitored by measuring the mean residue ellipticity at 222 nm. The temperature dependence of the change in free energy, obtained in the presence of 10 different concentrations of GdnHCl in the range 0.2-2.0 M, shows a decrease in stability with a decrease as well as an increase in temperature from 300 K. Values of the thermodynamic parameters governing the cold and the heart denaturation of barstar have been obtained with high precision by analysis of these bell-shaped stability curves. The change in heat capacity accompanying the unfolding reaction, delta Cp, has a value of 1460 +/- 70 cal mol-1 K-1 in water. The dependencies of the changes in enthalpy, entropy, free energy, and heat capacity on GdnHCl concentration have been analyzed on the basis of the linear free energy model. The changes in enthalpy (delta Hi) and entropy (delta Si), which occur on preferential binding of GdnHCl to the unfolded state, vis-a-vis the folded state, both have a negative value at low temperatures. With an increase in temperature delta Hi makes a less favorable contribution, while delta Si makes a more favorable contribution to the change in free energy (delta Gi) due to this interaction. The change in heat capacity (delta CPi) that occurs on preferential interaction of GdnHCl with the unfolded form has a value of only 53 +/- 36 cal mol-1 K-1 M-1. The data validate the linear free energy model that is commonly used to analyze protein stability.

Quantitative analysis of the kinetics of denaturation and renaturation of barstar in the folding transition zone.

The fluorescence-monitored kinetics of folding and unfolding of barstar by guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) in the folding transition zone, at pH 7, 25 degrees C, have been quantitatively analyzed using a 3-state mechanism: U(S)<-->UF<-->N. U(S) and UF are slow-refolding and fast-refolding unfolded forms of barstar, and N is the native protein. U(S) and UF probably differ in possessing trans and cis conformations, respectively, of the Tyr 47-Pro 48 bond. The 3-state model could be used because the kinetics of folding and unfolding of barstar show 2 phases, a fast phase and a slow phase, and because the relative amplitudes of the 2 phases depend only on the final refolding conditions and not on the initial conditions. Analysis of the observed kinetics according to the 3-state model yields the values of the 4 microscopic rate constants that describe the transitions between the 3 states at different concentrations of GdnHCl. The value of the equilibrium unfolded ratio U(S):UF (K21) and the values of the rate constants of the U(S)-->UF and UF-->U(S) reactions, k12 and k21, respectively, are shown to be independent of the concentration of GdnHCl. K21 has a value of 2.1 +/- 0.1, and k12 and k21 have values of 5.3 x 10(-3) s-1 and 11.2 x 10(-3) s-1, respectively. Double-jump experiments that monitor reactions that are silent to fluorescence monitoring were used to confirm the values of K21, k12, and k21 obtained from the 3-state analysis and thereby the validity of the 3-state model.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)