Effect of acidic pH on the protein carmin from safflower seed (Carthamus tinctorius)

Interaction of 5,7-dihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavone with a multisubunit protein, carmin: thermodynamics and kinetics of interaction

Acacetin (5,7-dihydroxy-4'-methoxy flavone) is a flavone intrinsically present in the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius. Carmin is a multimeric, high molecular weight protein from the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius. The association constant of interaction of acacetin and carmin is maximum at 37.2 degrees C with a value of (3.96 +/- 0.61) x 10(4) M-1 as measured by fluorescence quenching. Acacetin has at least two binding sites on carmin. The interaction follows pseudo-first-order kinetics with a reaction rate constant of 3.4 +/- 0.4 s-1. The titration calorimetric data suggest that binding sites for acacetin and its structural analogue, biochanin A, are conserved. The interaction does not affect the association-dissociation equilibrium of the protein. Also, the binding does not induce any significant conformational changes in the protein as monitored by circular dichroic spectra. Biochanin A (5, 7-dihydroxy-4'-methoxyisoflavone), a structural analogue, interacts with carmin with an association constant of (9.33 +/- 1.44) x 10(4) M-1 at 36.9 degrees C. This indicates that the stereochemistry of the ligand plays an important role in the binding process of flavone to protein. Interaction studies of chemically modified lysyl and tryptophanyl groups separately, and lysyl and tryptophanyl groups sequentially, in the protein carmin with the ligands reveal the involvement of tryptophanyl residues in the binding process and show that it is predominantly an entropically driven hydrophobic interaction.

Association of proteins in acidic solutions--a case study with beta-globulin

The investigation of the effect of acid pH on the structure of beta-globulin indicated several transitions as a function of pH. Upon reducing the pH from 7.0, the beta-globulin molecule underwent an expansion due to hydration up to pH 5.0, and a further increase in H+ concentration resulted in unfolding. This is a single step cooperative denaturation as indicated by the viscosity profile. At extreme acid pH values (below pH 2.0) the protein associates or folds to a different conformational motif as shown by blue shift of ultraviolet fluorescence emission maximum and decrease in reduced viscosity values by more than 30% due to an entropically driven hydrophobic interaction. The conformational analysis of beta-globulin showed a decrease up to pH 3.0, followed by an increase in the ordered structure at low pH values indicating that the low pH values stabilized this new conformation. These results are discussed in view of the molten globule structure of proteins.