Diffusional Encounter Rate Constants for Xanthone and 2-Naphthoic Acid by Flash Photolysis Experiments and Brownian Dynamics Simulations: Substantial Effects of Polarizability of the Triplet State.

Diffusional encounter rate constants, for xanthone and 2-naphthoic acid molecules in their triplet states with xanthone or 2-naphthoic acid molecules in their triplet or singlet states, were determined using nanosecond laser flash photolysis spectroscopy. Simultaneously, Brownian dynamics simulations were used to compute these rate constants for assumed models of encountering molecules. Altogether, a global fit to transient absorption progress curves, reporting populations of triplet state xanthone and triplet state 2-naphthoic acid molecules, allowed us to determine six diffusional encounter rate constants from our experiments. The most important result of this study is the detection of substantial effects of the electric polarizability of molecules in their triplet state, visible for xanthone triplet and 2-naphthoic acid ground states, a homo triplet-triplet annihilation of 2-naphthoic acid, and a hetero triplet-triplet annihilation for xanthone and 2-naphthoic acid.

Kinetics of binding the mRNA cap analogues to the translation initiation factor eIF4E under second-order reaction conditions.

The kinetics of binding of five analogues of the 5'-mRNA cap, differing in size and electric charge, to the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4E, at 20 degrees C, pH 7.2, and ionic strength of 150 mM, were measured, after mixing solutions of comparable concentrations of the reagents, in a stopped-flow spectrofluorimeter. The registered stopped-flow signals were fitted using an efficient software package, called Dyna Fit, based on a numerical solution of the kinetic rate equations for assumed reaction mechanisms. One-, two-, and three-step binding models were considered. The quality of fits for these models were compared using two statistical criteria: Akaike's Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion. Based on resulting probabilities of the models, it was concluded that for all investigated ligands a one-step binding model has essentially no support in the experimental observations. Our conclusions were also analysed from the perspective of kinetic transients obtained for cap-eIF4E systems under the so called pseudo-first order reaction condition, which result in the linear correlation of the observed association rate constant with ligand concentration. The existence of such a linear correlation is usually considered as proof of a one-step binding mechanism. The kinetic and optical parameters, derived from fitting a two-step cap-binding model with the DynaFit, were used to simulate kinetic transients under pseudo-first order reaction conditions. It appeared that the observed association rate constants derived from these simulated transients are also linearly correlated with the ligand concentration. This indicated that these linear dependencies are not sufficient to conclude a one-step binding.

Towards the mechanism of trimeric purine nucleoside phosphorylases: stopped-flow studies of binding of multisubstrate analogue inhibitor - 2-amino-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]-6-sulfanylpurine.

The binding of multisubstrate analogue inhibitor - 2-amino-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]-6-sulfanylpurine (PME-6-thio-Gua) to purine nucleoside phosphorylase from Cellulomonas sp. at 20 degrees C, in 20 mM Hepes buffer with ionic strength adjusted to 50 mM using KCl, at several pH values between 6.5 and 8.2, was investigated using a stopped-flow spectrofluorimeter. The kinetic transients registered after mixing a protein solution with ligand solutions of different concentrations were simultaneously fitted by several association reaction models using nonlinear least-squares procedure based on numerical integration of the chemical kinetic equations appropriate for given model. It is concluded that binding of a PME-6-thio-Gua molecule by each of the binding sites is sufficiently well described by one-step process, with a model assuming interacting binding sites being more probable than a model assuming independent sites. The association rate constants derived from experimental data, assuming one step binding and independent sites, are decreasing with an increase in pH, changing from 30 to 6 microM(-1)s(-1) per binding site. The dissociation rate constants are in the range of 1-3 s(-1), and they are rather insensitive of changes in pH. Interestingly, for each pH value, the one-step binding model with interacting sites results in the association rate constant per site 1.5-4 times smaller for the binding of the first ligand molecule than that for the binding of the second one. Decrease of association constants with pH indicate that the enzyme does not prefer binding of the naturally occurring anionic form of the 6-thioguanine ring (pK(a) 8.7) resulting from a dissociation of N(1)-H. This finding supports the mechanism in which hydrogen bond interaction of N(1)-H with Glu204 (Glu 201 in mammalian PNPs) is crucial in the catalytic process. Results obtained also indicate that, in contrast to transition-state analogues, for which binding is followed by a conformational change, binding of multisubstrate analogue inhibitors to trimeric PNPs is a one-step process.

Stopped-flow studies of guanine binding by calf spleen purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

The binding of guanine to calf spleen purine nucleoside phosphorylase at 20 degrees C, in 20 mM Hepes-NaOH buffer, pH 7.0, at several ionic strength between 5 and 150 mM was investigated using a stopped-flow spectrofluorimeter. The kinetic transients registered after mixing a protein solution with ligand solutions of different concentrations were simultaneously fitted by several association reaction models using nonlinear least-squares procedure based on numerical integration of the chemical kinetic equations appropriate for given model. It is concluded that binding of a guanine molecule by each of the binding sites is a two-step process and that symmetrical trimeric calf spleen purine nucleoside phosphorylase represents a system of (identical) interacting binding sites. The interaction is visible through relations between the rate constants and non-additivity of changes in "molar" fluorescence for different forms of PNP-guanine complexes. It is also probable that electrostatic effects in guanine binding are weak, which indicates that it is the neutral form of the ligand which is bound and dissociated by PNP molecule.

Effects of solute-solvent proton exchange on polypeptide chain dynamics: a constant-pH molecular dynamics study.

A method for performing implicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations at constant pH was applied to a pentapeptide acetyl-Ala-Asp-Ala-Lys-Ala-amide at pH 4. As a reference, molecular dynamics simulations were done for the same peptide with two variants of its fixed protonation patterns expected to dominate at pH 4, i.e., with a protonated and a deprotonated side chain of the Asp residue and the protonated Lys residue in both cases. The dynamic trajectories of the peptide were used to discuss the problem of the significance of the solute-solvent proton exchange phenomena for the dynamics and structural distributions of the polypeptide chain. The Asp-Lys distance was used as a probe of the overall molecular structure of the investigated pentapeptide. To characterize the dynamics, distributions of the "waiting" times for a transition from a "short" distance conformation to a "long" distance conformation were constructed, based on the generated molecular dynamics trajectories. We show that the relaxation time for the transitions, derived from the constant-pH simulations, is very close to the relaxation time characterizing a permanently protonated molecule, although the average protonation probability of the short-distance conformation is close to zero. However, the distribution of the Asp-Lys distances obtained from constant-pH simulations cannot be reproduced as a linear combination of the distributions resulting from the simulations with fixed protonation states.

Effects of pH on kinetics of binding of mRNA-cap analogs by translation initiation factor eIF4E.

Stopped-flow spectrofluorimetry and a theoretical method for predicting protonation equilibria in polyelectrolytes were combined in an analysis of the pH dependence of the kinetics of binding of analogues of the 5'-mRNA cap to the cap binding protein eIF4E. The computer simulations and available experimental data indicate that there are two titratable groups in the binding site of the protein and two titratable groups on the ligands directly involved in the binding, in addition to stacking interactions described by other groups. The observed pH dependencies of the rate constants obtained from the stopped-flow experiments are consistent with this finding. In particular, it is concluded that binding of both forms of the cap analogs regarding protonation at the N1 position of the guanine ring is efficient, and the shift to a predominantly protonated form of the ring takes place after formation of the complex.

Prediction of secondary ionization of the phosphate group in phosphotyrosine peptides.

A computational approach, based on a continuum molecular electrostatics model, for the calculation of the pK(a) values of secondary ionization of the phosphate group in phenyl phosphate derivatives is described. The method uses the ESP atomic charges of the mono-anionic and di-anionic forms of the ionizable phosphate group, computed with the use of the density functional method, and applies a new concept of the model group, being the reference state for the pK(a) calculations. Both conformational flexibility and tautomeric degrees of freedom are taken into account in the calculations. The method was parameterized using experimentally available pK(a) values of four derivatives of phenyl phosphates, and phosphotyrosine. Subsequently this parameterization was used to predict pK(a) of the phosphate group in a short peptide Gly-Gly-Tyr(P)-Ala, and in a longer peptide consisting of 12 residues, the latter in water, and in a complex with a protein-phospholipase. The agreement between the computed and the experimental pK(a) values is better than +/-0.3 pH units for the optimized solute dielectric constant of 11-13. This approach is promising and its extension to other phospho-amino acids is in progress.

A procedure for analysis of stopped-flow transients for protein-ligand association.

A method for extracting kinetic and optical parameters from progress curves for protein-ligand association, obtained by stopped-flow experiments, is described. The method is limited to one-step and two-step association kinetics, but it allows concentration of protein and offset of the signals to be adjustable parameters during an interactive non-linear least-squares fitting procedure. The method is tested on simulated pseudo-experimental data and applied to progress curves obtained in a stopped-flow spectrofluorimeter, for association of the translation initiation factor eIF4E with 7-methyl-GDP, an analog of 5'-end of mRNA.

Stopped-flow and Brownian dynamics studies of electrostatic effects in the kinetics of binding of 7-methyl-GpppG to the protein eIF4E.

The kinetics of binding 7-methyl-GpppG, an analogue of the 5'-mRNA cap, to the cap-binding protein eIF4E, at 20 degrees C, in 50 mM Hepes-KOH buffer, pH 7.2, and 50, 150 and 350 mM KCl, was measured using a stopped-flow spectrofluorometer, and was simulated by means of a Brownian dynamics method. For most of the stopped-flow measurements a single bimolecular step is an inadequate description of the binding mechanism and an additional step is required to accommodate the kinetic data. The rate constants derived from assumed one-step and two-step binding models were determined. The forward rate constants towards the complex formation decrease, and the reverse rate constants increase, with increasing ionic strength. The association rate constants derived from the stopped-flow measurements and the computed diffusional encounter rate constants agree, indicating that the first observed step can be viewed as a diffusionally controlled encounter of the protein and the ligand. Moreover, comparison of experimental and computed bimolecular association rate constants indicate that the experimentally observed decrease of the rate constants with the increasing ionic strength is caused by two factors. The first is less effective steering of the ligand towards the binding site at higher ionic strengths, and the second is that for higher ionic strengths the ligand must be closer to the binding site to induce the fluorescence quenching.

Poisson-Boltzmann model studies of molecular electrostatic properties of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase.

Protonation equilibria of residues important in the catalytic mechanism of a protein kinase were analyzed on the basis of the Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatic model along with a cluster-based treatment of the multiple titration state problem. Calculations were based upon crystallographic structures of the mammalian cAMP-dependent protein kinase, one representing the so called closed form of the enzyme and the other representing an open conformation. It was predicted that at pH 7 the preferred form of the phosphate group at the catalytically essential threonine 197 (P-Thr197) in the closed form is dianionic, whereas in the open form a monoanionic ionization state is preferred. This dianionic state of P-Thr197, in the closed form, is stabilized by interactions with ionizable residues His87, Arg165, and Lys189. Our calculations predict that the hydroxyl of the Ser residue in the peptide substrate is very difficult to ionize, both in the closed and open structures of the complex. Also, the supposed catalytic base, Asp166, does not seem to have a pK(a) appropriate to remove the hydroxyl group proton of the peptide substrate. However, when Ser of the peptide substrate is forced to remain ionized, the predicted pK(a) of Asp166 increases strongly, which suggests that the Asp residue is a likely candidate to attract the proton if the Ser residue becomes deprotonated, possibly during some structural change preceding formation of the transition state. Finally, in accord with suggestions made on the basis of the pH-dependence of kinase kinetics, our calculations predict that Glu230 and His87 are the residues responsible for the molecular pK(a) values of 6.2 and 8.5, observed in the experiment.