Characterization of Cu2+-binding modes in the prion protein by visible circular dichroism and multivariate curve resolution.

Visible circular dichroism (CD) spectra from the copper(II) titration of the metal-binding region of the prion protein, residues 57-98, were analyzed using the self-modeling curve resolution method multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS). MCR-ALS is a set of mathematical tools for estimating pure component spectra and composition profiles from mixture spectra. Model-free solutions (e.g., soft models) are produced under the assumption that pure component profiles should be nonnegative and unimodal. Optionally, equality constraints can be used when the concentration or spectrum of one or more species is known. MCR-ALS is well suited to complex biochemical systems such as the prion protein which binds multiple copper ions and thus gives rise to titration data consisting of several pure component spectra with overlapped or superimposed absorption bands. Our study reveals the number of binding modes used in the uptake of Cu(2+) by the full metal-binding region of the prion protein and their relative concentration profiles throughout the titration. The presence of a non-CD active binding mode can also be inferred. We show that MCR-ALS analysis can be initialized using empirically generated or mathematically generated pure component spectra. The use of small model peptides allows us to correlate specific Cu(2+)-binding structures to the pure component spectra.

Neutral peptide biradicals formed by dissociative electron transfer.

[reaction: see text] A new method for the generation of transient neutral biradicals in liquid solution is reported. Photoinduced electron transfer in aqueous solution of the structures shown above leads to neutral biradicals with peptide spacers. Exchange interactions were measured using time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) and found to be large for the biradicals possessing two and three glycine residue spacers. These findings are compared to previous results from alkyl-spaced biradicals of similar chain length.

Mechanism for formation of the lightstruck flavor in beer revealed by time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance.

Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) data collected during the photodegradation of iso-a-acids (isohumulones), the principal bittering agents from hops in beer, are presented and discussed, and, from the data, the photophysics leading to free-radical production as the primary step in the photodecomposition of iso-alpha-acids towards the development of "skunky" beer are explained. During laser flash photolysis of iso-alpha-acids at 308 nm in toluene/methylcyclohexane (1:1), TREPR spectra exhibit net emissive signals that are strongly spin polarized by the triplet mechanism of chemically induced electron spin polarization. From two potential photochemically active sites, the TREPR data show that although the first site, an enolized beta-triketone, is the primary light-absorbing chromophore, an uphill intramolecular triplet energy transfer process leads to Norrish type I alpha-cleavage at a second site, an alpha-hydroxycarbonyl. The energy transfer mechanism is supported by additional TREPR experiments with chemically modified hop compounds. Structural parameters (hyperfine coupling constants, g factors, line widths) for the observed free radicals, obtained from computer simulations, are presented and discussed.

Identification of the Cu2+ binding sites in the N-terminal domain of the prion protein by EPR and CD spectroscopy.

Recent evidence indicates that the prion protein (PrP) plays a role in copper metabolism in the central nervous system. The N-terminal region of human PrP contains four sequential copies of the highly conserved octarepeat sequence PHGGGWGQ spanning residues 60-91. This region selectively binds divalent copper ions (Cu(2+)) in vivo. To elucidate the specific mode and site of binding, we have studied a series of Cu(2+)-peptide complexes composed of 1-, 2-, and 4-octarepeats and several sub-octarepeat peptides, by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR, conventional X-band and low-frequency S-band) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. At pH 7.45, two EPR active binding modes are observed where the dominant mode appears to involve coordination of three nitrogens and one oxygen to the copper ion, while in the minor mode two nitrogens and two oxygens coordinate. ESEEM spectra demonstrate that the histidine imidazole contributes one of these nitrogens. The truncated sequence HGGGW gives EPR and CD that are indistinguishable from the dominant binding mode observed for the multi-octarepeat sequences and may therefore comprise the fundamental Cu(2+) binding unit. Both EPR and CD titration experiments demonstrate rigorously a 1:1 Cu(2+)/octarepeat binding stoichiometry regardless of the number of octarepeats in a given peptide sequence. Detailed spin integration of the EPR signals demonstrates that all of the bound Cu(2+) is detected thereby ruling out strong exchange coupling that is often found when there is imidazolate bridging between paramagnetic metal centers. A model consistent with these data is proposed in which Cu(2+) is bound to the nitrogen of the histidine imidazole side chain and to two nitrogens from sequential glycine backbone amides.