Fluorescence study on the interaction between apoCopC and cupric

Conformational study of intermediate in the unfolding of PcoC

PcoC is a small soluble protein and is considered as a kind of copper carrier in the periplasm. The PcoC protein from E. coli possesses a β-barrel fold with two metal-binding sites of Cu²⁺ and Cu⁺. In this work, different spectroscopic techniques were adopted to clarify the stability of PcoC and metals' binding property. As demonstrated in results, Ag⁺ and Cu²⁺ are capable of binding with PcoC in a proportion of 1:1. The constant for PcoC and Cu²⁺ was (7.27 ± 0.21) × 10¹³ L/mol. In addition, we have explored how the cofactors affect the PcoC stability, finding that Cu²⁺ coordination affects both protein stability and unfolding pathway. The intermediate appeared during PcoC-Cu²⁺ unfolding. Further, the intermediate could be formed as CTAB interacted with PcoC. As found, the intermediate's C-terminal structure was unfolded, whereas the N-terminal was almost unaffected. Furthermore, the capability of the different unfolding degree protein with Cu²⁺ also indicated that the N-terminal exhibited a strong stability. Based on the anisotropy decay, tryptophan moved at a higher concentration of urea, also showing that the N-terminal was highly stable. In addition, the steered molecular dynamics simulations were performed, showing the rigidness of the N-terminal.

Study on the interaction between pyridoxal and CopC by multi-spectroscopy and docking methods

The interaction between pyridoxal hydrochloride (HQ) and apoCopC was investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence spectroscopy, three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime, TNS fluorescence and docking methods. FTIR, CD, TNS fluorescence and fluorescence lifetime experiments suggested that the apoCopC conformation was altered by HQ with an increase in the random coil content and a reduction in the β-sheet content. In addition, the data from fluorescence spectroscopy, 3D fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular docking revealed that the binding site of HQ was located in the hydrophobic area of apoCopC, and a redshift of the HQ fluorescence spectra was observed. Furthermore, ITC and fluorescence quenching data manifested that the binding ratio of HQ and apoCopC was 1:1, and the forming constant was calculated to be (7.06 ± 0.21) × 10⁵ M^-1. The thermodynamic parameters ΔH and ΔS suggested that the formation of a CopC-HQ complex depended on the hydrophobic force. Furthermore, the average binding distance between tryptophan in apoCopC and HQ was determined by means of Förster non-radioactive resonance energy transfer and molecular docking. The results agreed well with each other. As a redox switch in the modulation of copper, the interaction of apoCopC with small molecules will affect the action of the redox switch. These findings could provide useful information to illustrate the copper regulation mechanism.

Study on the interaction between curcumin and CopC by spectroscopic and docking methods

Curcumin is a widely studied polyphenolic compound which has a variety of biological activity as anti-inflammatory and antitumor drugs. Recent research reported that copper chaperone binding with small molecular may relate to the treatment of cancer. In this work, the interaction between curcumin and CopC has been investigated in detail by means of UV-vis absorption, FTIR, CD, fluorescence spectroscopic and molecular docking methods The results showed that the CopC conformation was altered by curcumin with reduction of β-sheet and increase of random coil. Furthermore, curcumin can form a host-guest inclusion supramolecular complex with curcumin, and the forming constant had been calculated to be (2.85±0.21)×10⁵M^-1. In addition, the binding ability between Cu²⁺ and curcumin was less than that between Cu²⁺ and CopC. Moreover, the binding of curcumin with Cu²⁺ has an effect on the binding ability between curcumin and CopC. The thermodynamic parameters ΔH and ΔS at different temperatures were obtained. The formation of CopC-curcumin complex depended on the hydrophobic force, and the binding average distance between CopC and curcumin was determined. What's more, the binding site of curcumin to CopC was shown vividly by an automated public domain software package ArgusLab 4.0.1.

The stability and the metal ions binding properties of mutant A85M of CopC

In this work, the mutant A85M of CopC was obtained. The stability of mutant A85M of CopC and the binding properties of metal ions were clarified through various spectroscopic techniques. The binding capacity of A85M to metal ions was measured by fluorescence spectroscopy and UV differential absorbance. The results suggested that Cu(2+) can bind with A85M in 1:1 form, and the constant of A85M was nearly the same as that of CopC. Ag(+) can occupy the Cu(+) binding site located at C-terminal, and the binding constant was (2.64±0.48)×10(6)L/mol. Hg(2+) not only can occupy the Cu(+) binding site located at C-terminal, but also can occupy the Cu(2+) binding site located at N-terminal. The stability of A85M was measured by chemical unfolding experiment. The intermediate was observed in the unfolding pathway of A85M-Cu(2+) induced by urea. In addition, the interaction of SDS with A85M also can result in the formation of the intermediate. The effect of metal ions on the stability of intermediate suggested that the C terminal region of intermediate was unfolded and the N terminal region suffered few effects. Compared with CopC, the stability of A85M was decreased. The main reason was the lower stability of N terminal region. The results of molecular dynamic simulation suggested that when the alanine at 85 site was mutated to methionine, the hydrophobic almost unchanged, but the distance between the phenylalanine at 25 site and tryptophan at 83 site increased because of the spatial effect. And it made the stacking interaction of aromatic rings decreased, which was the main reason for the decreasing stability of N terminal region for A85M.

Spectral studies on the interaction between HSSC and apoCopC

The interaction between HSSC (SSC = salicylaldehyde semicarbazone anion) and apoCopC has been investigated in detail by means of UV, fluorescence and fluorescence lifetime measurement in 10 mM Hepes buffer, at pH 7.4, 25°C. The results suggested that HSSC can form a novel supramolecular system with apoCopC, which can form a 1:1 host-guest inclusion supramolecular complex with HSSC, and the forming constant had been calculated to be (8.83±0.32)×10(5) M(-1). It suggested the strong inclusion ability of apoCopC to the guest molecules. In addition, the stoichiometric ratio of Cu(2+) and HSSC was 1:1, which was the same as Cu(2+) and apoCopC. However, the binding ability between Cu(2+) and HSSC was much weaker than that between Cu(2+) and apoCopC. Moreover, the binding ability of HSSC with Cu(2+) has an effect on the binding ability between HSSC and apoCopC, and vice versa. The reason attributed to this effect was that the formation of hydrogen bond between Met46 in apoCopC and the phenolic hydroxyl of HSSC participated in the copper coordination. Furthermore, it was also found that HSSC quench the fluorescence of apoCopC by the static quenching process and the number of binding site was calculated. The thermodynamic parameters ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG° at different temperatures were obtained. The formation of apoCopC-HSSC complex depended on the cooperation of the van der Waals force and hydrogen bond, and the binding average distance between apoCopC and HSSC was determined. What is more, the binding site of HSSC to apoCopC was shown vividly by an automated public domain software package ArgusLab 4.0.1.

Conformational stability of CopC and roles of residues Tyr79 and Trp83

CopC is a periplasmic copper Chaperone protein that has a β-barrel fold and two metal-binding sites distinct for Cu(II) and Cu(I). In the article, four mutants (Y79F, Y79W, Y79WW83L, Y79WW83F) were obtained by site-directed mutagenesis. The far-UV CD spectra of the proteins were similar, suggesting that mutations did not bring any significant changes in secondary structures. Meanwhile the effects of mutations on the protein's function were manifested by Cu(II) binding. Fluorescence lifetime measurement and quenching of tryptophan fluorescence by acrylamide and KI showed that the microenvironment around Trp83 was more hydrophobic than that around Tyr79 in apoCopC. Unfolding experiments induced by guanidinium chloride (GdnHCl), urea provided the conformational stability of each protein. The Δ<ΔG(0) element > obtained using the model of structural elements was used to show the role of Tyr79 and Trp83. On the one hand, the <ΔG(0) element > induced by urea for Y79F, Y79W have a loss of 6.51, 2.03 kJ/mol, respectively, compared with apoCopC, proving that replacement of Tyr79 by Phe or Trp all decreased the protein stability, meaning that the hydrogen bonds interactions between Tyr79 and Thr75 played an important role in stabilizing apoCopC. On the other hand, the <ΔG(0) element > induced by urea for Y79WW83L have a loss of 11.44 kJ/mol, but for Y79WW83F did a raise of 1.82 kJ/mol compared with Y79W. The replacement of Trp83 by Phe and Leu yields opposite effects on protein stability, which suggested that the aromatic ring of Trp83 was important in maintaining the hydrophobic core of apoCopC.

Fluorescence spectra study the perturbations of CopC native fold by 2-p-toluidinynaphthalene-6-sulfonate

2-p-Toluidinynaphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS) was discovered to perturb native fold of CopC protein and to induce loss of biological activity to some extent which was dependent on TNS concentration. Hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions were revealed to account for the perturbation by comparison with some analogy. TNS, with far low concentration of 10(-5) to 10(-4)M, is presented as a denaturant. So TNS should be deliberated in detecting macromolecular conformation change as single evidence at higher concentration.

The effect of Trp83 mutant on the properties of CopC

CopC, a protein involved in copper resistance, is essentially constituted by two sheets forming a Greek key beta barrel motif. The aromatic ring of Trp83, sandwiched between the two beta sheets, has numerous contacts with residues in strands beta and stabilizes the protein fold. In the paper Trp83 was mutated to Leu to study the effect of this mutation on CopC by means of fluorescence spectra and UV spectra. The experiments indicate that the mutation bind Cu(2+) with a decreased formation constant of 3.95 x 10(11) M(-1) in 20 mM PB buffer at pH 7.0; mutagenesis make hydrophobic region to be exposed to an extent. Compared with the wild, thermal stability of the mutant was shown to decrease by stronger fluorescence of TNS at 80 degrees C. The important role of aromatic residue in structure is exhibited.