Hydrogen bonding. 47. Characterization of the ethylene glycol-heptane partition system: hydrogen bond acidity and basicity of peptides.

Twelve measured ethylene glycol-heptane partition coefficients, Peh, have been combined with 20 measured literature values and 44 indirectly determined values to give a set of 76 values. Excluding one value for benzamide, the log Peh values are correlated through our general solvation equation, log Peh = 0.336 - 0.075R2 - 1. 201pi2H - 3.786 Sigmaalpha2H - 2.201 Sigmabeta2H + 2.085Vx with r2 = 0.966, sd = 0.28, and F = 386. The solute descriptor R2 is the excess molar refraction, pi2H is the dipolarity/polarizability, Sigmaalpha2H and Sigmabeta2H are the overall hydrogen bond acidity and basicity, and Vx is the McGowan volume. The log Peh equation has then been used to obtain descriptors for eleven peptides, all of which are end-protected. It is shown that for these end-protected peptides, hydrogen bond basicity makes a greater contribution to log Peh than does hydrogen bond acidity.

Multiwavelength spectrophotometric determination of acid dissociation constants: Part III. Resolution of multi-protic ionization systems.

A multiwavelength spectrophotometric (WApH) titration method was applied to study several multi-protic histamine H2-receptor antagonists which involved four acid dissociation constants (pKa values) over the pH range of 2-10. Specifically, UV absorption spectra of the drug solution were acquired in the course of a pH-metric titration using an optical device based on a fibre optics dip probe, a light source and a diode array detector. Target factor analysis was utilized to deduce the pKa values from the spectral data recorded at different pH. It was noted that some of the pKa values were within mid pH range which were difficult to obtain because of insufficient absorption spectra acquired in the un-buffered region of the titration curve. With the aid of the WApH technique coupled with an optically transparent buffer, all pKa values have been successfully determined and were in excellent agreement with those measured using a conventional pH-metric method.

Conformation of the cytoplasmic domain of phospholamban by NMR and CD.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy have been used to characterize the conformation of the putative cytoplasmic domain of phospholamban (PLB), an oligomeric membrane-bound protein which regulates the activity of the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-dependent ATPase. In aqueous solution the 25-residue peptide adopts a number of rapidly interconverting conformers with no secondary structural type obviously predominating. However, in trifluoroethanol (TFE) the conformation, while still highly dynamic, is characterized by a high proportion of helical structures. Evidence for this is provided by alpha CH chemical shifts and low NH chemical shift temperature coefficients, small NH-alpha CH intraresidue scalar coupling constants, a substantial number of distinctive interresidue nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs) [dNN(i, i + 1), d alpha N(i, i + 3), d alpha beta(i, i + 3) and d alpha N(i, i + 4)] and characteristic CD bands at 190 (positive), 206 (negative) and 222 nm (negative). The helicity is interrupted around Pro-21. The activity of PLB is regulated by phosphorylation at either Ser-16 or Thr-17. CD shows that phosphorylation at Ser-16 by the cAMP-activated protein kinase causes about an 11% decrease in alpha-helical content in TFE.

Purification and secondary structural analysis of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1.

In connective tissue diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, the matrix metalloproteinases are the primary enzymes involved in tissue degradation. Tissue inhibitor metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) is a specific inhibitor of these enzymes, which is thought to regulate their action in vivo. The structure and function of TIMP-1 may therefore be important as the basis for the rational design of therapeutic agents. This paper describes a simple and effective method for the purification of sufficient quantities of TIMP-1 for spectroscopic studies. Circular dichroism (CD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy have, together, showed TIMP-1 to be mostly in a beta-sheet conformation, with significant amounts of alpha-helix and beta-turn. Two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy indicated a correspondingly high proportion of beta-sheet. CD and FTIR have also shown TIMP-1 to have high thermostability.

An electrophysiological and spectroscopic study of the properties and structure of biological calcium channels. Investigations of a model ion channel.

The N- and C-terminally protected peptide N-acetyl-Asp-Phe-Ala-Asn-Arg-Val-Leu-Leu-Ser-Leu-Phe-Thr-Ile-Glu-Met-Leu -Leu-Lys-Met-Leu-NH2, closely based on the sequence of the putative S2 membrane spanning helix of domain II of the dihydropyridine receptor calcium channel of the T-system of skeletal muscle, residues 465-486 (Tanabe et al. (1987) Nature 328, 313-318) has been synthesised. Conductance measurements in planar lipid bilayers show that the peptide is capable of inducing the transmembrane passage of calcium and barium ions, in preference to monovalent cations. No anion conductance is observed. 1H-NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that in an amphilic solvent, methanol, the peptide forms highly stable structures characterised by very slow exchange with solvent of peptide N-H protons. Double-quantum filtered phase-sensitive COSY shows that, on the basis of NH-CH alpha scalar coupling constants, most peptide torsion angles are appropriate to an overall alpha-helical conformation; the presence of some alpha-helix is also supported by CD measurements. Most side-chain connectivities have been identified in a DIPSI-TOCSY experiment. This evidence has been used to construct a low-resolution model of the ion-conducting channel of the muscle T-system dihydropyridine receptor from the sequences of the four homologous putative channel-lining stretches. It is characterised by an association of acidic residues at the putative extra-membranous face of the channel, followed by a predominantly hydrophobic band. The next prominent feature of the model is an ordered array of four acidic residues (glutamates 100, 478, 846 and 1164), followed by four lysines (104, 482, 850 and 1168) which may play a gating role.

Binding of a calcium sensitizer, bepridil, to cardiac troponin C. A fluorescence stopped-flow kinetic, circular dichroism, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance study.

Stopped-flow fluorescence kinetic measurements, circular dichroism (CD), and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy at 360 MHz have been used to study the interaction of the calcium-channel blocker and calmodulin antagonist bepridil with cardiac troponin C (cTnC) in the presence of calcium. The kinetic data show that bepridil reduces the rate of calcium release only from the low affinity, calcium-specific site and not from the two high affinity calcium/magnesium sites. CD measurements indicate that drug binding leads to a small increase in the alpha-helical content of the complex. 1H NMR shows that the protein binds one equivalent of bepridil, with a dissociation constant of approximately 20 microM, only when the low affinity calcium site is occupied. Exchange is fast or intermediate on the chemical shift time scale. Drug binding is shown to be largely localized in the N-terminal domain, containing the low affinity calcium site, by observing the shifting and broadening of several resonances associated with that domain. These include assigned aromatic signals together with methionyl and other methyl signals. Observation of intermolecular nuclear Overhauser effects was precluded by extensive spectral overlap. Consideration of the data from the three techniques permitted a model of the bepridil-cTnC complex to be constructed, using the model of cTnC derived from the x-ray structure of calmodulin (MacLachlan L. K., Reid, D. G., and Carter, N. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 9754-9763). Binding of bepridil to a prominent hydrophobic depression in the N-terminal domain can be invoked to explain many of the induced changes in the spectral and kinetic properties of the protein. The implications of the model for the calcium sensitizing action of bepridil are discussed.