cytochrome-c-t and methanethiosulfonate

The kinetics of chemically induced folding and unfolding processes in spin-labeled yeast iso-1-cytochrome c were measured by stopped-flow electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Stopped-flow EPR, based on a new dielectric resonator structure [Sienkiewicz, A., Qu, K., & Scholes, C. P. (1994) Rev. Sci. Instrum. 65, 68-74], gives a new temporal component to probing nanosecond molecular tumbling motions that are modulated by macromolecular processes requiring time resolution of milliseconds to seconds. The stopped-flow EPR technique presented in this work is a kinetic technique that has not been previously used with such a time resolution on spin-labeled systems, and it has the potential for application to numerous spin-labeled sites in this and other proteins. The cysteine-specific spin-label, methanethiosulfonate spin-label (MTSSL), was attached to yeast iso-1-cytochrome c at the single naturally occurring cysteine102, and the emphasis for this work was on this disulfide-attached spin-labeled prototype. This probe has the advantage of reflecting the protein tertiary fold, as shown by recent, systematic site-directed spin labeling of T4 lysozyme [Mchaourab, H. S. Lietzow, M. A., Hideg, K., & Hubbell, W. L. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 7692-7704], and protein backbone dynamics, as also shown by model peptide studies [Todd, A. P., & Millhauser, G. L. (1991) Biochemistry 30, 5515-5523]. The C-terminal cytochrome c helix where the label is attached is thought to be critical in the initial steps of protein folding and unfolding. Stopped-flow EPR resolved the monoexponential, guanidinium-induced unfolding process at pH 6.5 with an approximately 20 ms time constant; this experiment required less than 150 microL of 80 microM spin-labeled protein. We observed an approximately 50-fold decrease of this unfolding time from the 1 s range to the 20 ms time range as the guanidinium denaturant concentration was increased from 0.6 to 2.0 M. The more complex refolding kinetics of our labeled cytochrome were studied by stopped-flow EPR at pH 5.0 and 6.5. The spin probe showed a fast kinetic process compatible with the time range over which hydrogen/deuterium amide protection indicates helix formation; this process was monoexponential at pH 5.0. At pH 6.5, there was evidence of an additional slower kinetic phase resolved by stopped-flow EPR and by heme-ligation-sensitive UV-Vis that indicated a slower folding where heme misligation may be involved. Since the disulfide-attached probe

Topics: Circular Dichroism; Cysteine; Cytochrome c Group; Cytochromes c; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; Guanidine; Guanidines; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Kinetics; Mesylates; Models, Molecular; Protein Conformation; Protein Denaturation; Protein Folding; Protein Structure, Secondary; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; Spectrophotometry; Spin Labels; Temperature; Thermodynamics