Monitoring the Tanford transition in beta-lactoglobulin by 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate and mass spectrometry

Native mass spectrometry for the investigation of protein structural (dis)order

A central challenge in structural biology is represented by dynamic and heterogeneous systems, as typically represented by proteins in solution, with the extreme case of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) [1-3]. These proteins lack a specific three-dimensional structure and have poorly organized secondary structure. For these reasons, they escape structural characterization by conventional biophysical methods. The investigation of these systems requires description of conformational ensembles, rather than of unique, defined structures or bundles of largely superimposable structures. Mass spectrometry (MS) has become a central tool in this field, offering a variety of complementary approaches to generate structural information on either folded or disordered proteins [4-6]. Two main categories of methods can be recognized. On one side, conformation-dependent reactions (such as cross-linking, covalent labeling, H/D exchange) are exploited to label molecules in solution, followed by the characterization of the labeling products by denaturing MS [7-11]. On the other side, non-denaturing ("native") MS can be used to directly explore the different conformational components in terms of geometry and structural compactness [12-16]. All these approaches have in common the capability to conjugate protein structure investigation with the peculiar analytical power of MS measurements, offering the possibility of assessing species distributions for folding and binding equilibria and the combination of both. These methods can be combined with characterization of noncovalent complexes [17, 18] and post-translational modifications [19-23]. This review focuses on the application of native MS to protein structure and dynamics investigation, with a general methodological section, followed by examples on specific proteins from our laboratory.

Interactions of β-Lactoglobulin with Bovine Submaxillary Mucin vs. Porcine Gastric Mucin: The Role of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Residues as Studied by Fluorescence Spectroscopy

The aim of this study was to investigate binding interactions between β-lactoglobulin (BLG) and two different mucins, bovine submaxillary mucins (BSM) and porcine gastric mucin (PGM), using intrinsic and extrinsic fluorescence spectroscopies. Intrinsic fluorescence spectra showed an enhanced decrease of fluorescence intensity of BLG at all pH conditions when BLG was mixed with PGM rather than with BSM. We propose that, unlike BSM, the tertiary structure of PGM changes and the hydrophobic regions are exposed at pH 3 due to protonation of negatively charged residues. Results suggest that PGM also facilitated the structural unfolding of BLG and its binding with PGM by a hydrophobic interaction, especially at acidic pH, which was further supported by extrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy. Hydrophobic interaction is suggested as the dominant interaction mechanism between BLG and PGM at pH 3, whereas electrostatic interaction is the dominant one between BLG and BSM.

Exploring the heat-induced structural changes of β-lactoglobulin -linoleic acid complex by fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular modeling techniques

Linoleic acid (LA) is the precursor of bioactive oxidized linoleic acid metabolites and arachidonic acid, therefore is essential for human growth and plays an important role in good health in general. Because of the low water solubility and sensitivity to oxidation, new ways of LA delivery without compromising the sensory attributes of the enriched products are to be identified. The major whey protein, β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg), is a natural carrier for hydrophobic molecules. The thermal induced changes of the β-Lg-LA complex were investigated in the temperature range from 25 to 85 °C using fluorescence spectroscopy techniques in combination with molecular modeling study and the results were compared with those obtained for β-Lg. Experimental results indicated that, regardless of LA binding, the polypeptide chain rearrangements at temperatures higher than 75 °C lead to higher exposure of hydrophobic residues causing the increase of fluorescence intensity. Phase diagram indicated an all or none transition between two conformations. The LA surface involved in the interaction with β-Lg was about 497 Ǻ(2), indicating a good affinity between those two components even at high temperatures. Results obtained in this study provide important details about heat-induced changes in the conformation of β-Lg-LA complex. The thermal treatment at high temperature does not affect the LA binding and carrier functions of β-Lg.

An induced folding process characterizes the partial-loss of function mutant LptAI36D in its interactions with ligands

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an essential glycolipid of the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria with a tripartite structure: lipid A, oligosaccharide core and O antigen. Seven essential LPS-transport proteins (LptABCDEFG) move LPS to the cell surface. Lpt proteins are linked by structural homology, featuring a β-jellyroll domain that mediates protein-protein interactions and LPS binding. Analysis of LptA-LPS interaction by fluorescence spectroscopy is used here to evaluate the contribution of each LPS moiety in protein-ligand interactions, comparing the wild-type (wt) protein to the I36D mutant. In addition to a crucial role of lipid A, an unexpected contribution emerges for the core region in recognition and binding of Lpt proteins.

Characterization of β2-microglobulin conformational intermediates associated to different fibrillation conditions

β2-Microglobulin (β2m) is the light chain of the class-I major histocompatibility complex, being also the causing agent of dialysis-related amyloidosis, which results from its accumulation as amyloid material in the skeletal joints. This study describes conformational properties of β2m under two distinct, in vitro amyloidogenic conditions: neutral pH in the presence of 20% 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) and acidic pH in the absence of TFE. Species distribution analysis by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is combined with information obtained by ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS), fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. It is shown that β2m populates quite different conformational ensembles under the two conditions, but both ensembles display a minor fraction of the population in a partially folded state. In spite of similar compactness, these two partially folded forms display different conformations: helical secondary structure is predominant in the species at pH 7.4, 20% TFE, while the low-pH form is mainly random coil. As temperature is increased, the TFE intermediate looses helical structure becoming more similar to the low-pH intermediate. The existence of different conformational ensembles may rationalize the different aggregation propensity displayed by β2m under the two fibrillation conditions analyzed here.

Bound fatty acids modulate the sensitivity of bovine β-lactoglobulin to chemical and physical denaturation

Fatty acids are the natural ligands associated with the bovine milk lipocalin, β-lactoglobulin (BLG), and were identified by means of mass spectrometry. The naturally bound ligands were found to contribute to the stability of the proteins toward denaturation by both temperature and chaotropes. To assess the nature of the structural regions involved in this stabilization, the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the stability of various structural regions of the proteins were studied in the presence of bound palmitate, which is the most abundant natural ligand. Binding of a single palmitate molecule was found to affect not only the stability of the calyx region, where palmitate is bound, but also that of the region at the hydrophobic interface between the barrel itself and the long helix in the protein structure, where the thiol group of Cys121 is buried. This region is known to be essential for the stability of the BLG dimer and is relevant to the generation of "reactive monomers" that are involved in covalent and noncovalent polymerization of BLG and in the formation of covalent adducts with other milk proteins.