Diffraction and NMR studies of proteins: an uneasy alliance

Structure of alpha-chymotrypsin refined at 1.68 A resolution

Diffraction data for alpha-chymotrypsin crystals at -10 degrees C were measured at 1.68 A resolution and refined by restrained structure-factor least-squares refinement. The two independent chymotrypsin molecules in the crystallographic asymmetric unit were refined independently. The overall structure of alpha-chymotrypsin is little changed from published co-ordinates. The root-mean-square shift of C alpha co-ordinates is 0.42 A, co-ordinates for the two molecules showing a root-mean-square difference of 0.19 A. Certain regions with high disorder (residues 9 to 14, 73 to 79) remain difficult to interpret and several side-chains are disordered. Some water molecule positions have been changed. The absence of the tosyl group has made a significant difference to the refined structure at the active site. This now agrees closely with other enzymes of the trypsin family that have been refined at high resolution. There is a strong hydrogen bond between N epsilon 2 (His57) and O gamma (Ser195) in the free enzyme, in line with the published description of the charge relay system.

Nuclear magnetic resonance and neutron diffraction studies of the complex of ribonuclease A with uridine vanadate, a transition-state analogue

The complex of ribonuclease A (RNase A) with uridine vanadate (U-V), a transition-state analogue, has been studied with 51V and proton NMR spectroscopy in solution and by neutron diffraction in the crystalline state. Upon the addition of aliquots of U-V at pH 6.6, the C epsilon-H resonances of the two active-site histidine residues 119 and 12 decrease in intensity while four new resonances appear. Above pH 8 and below pH 5, these four resonances decrease in intensity as the complex dissociates. These four resonances are assigned to His-119 and His-12 in protonated and unprotonated forms in the RNase-U-V complex. These resonances do not titrate or change in relative area in the pH range 5-8, indicating a slow protonation process, and the extent of protonation remains constant with ca. 58% of His-12 and ca. 26% of His-119 being protonated. The results of diffraction studies show that both His-12 and His-119 occupy well-defined positions in the RNase-U-V complex and that both are protonated. However, while the classic interpretation of the mechanism of action of RNase based on the proposal of Findlay et al. [Findlay, D., Herries, D. G., Mathias, A. P., Rabin, B. R., & Ross, C. A. (1962) Biochem. J. 85, 152-153] requires both His-12 and His-119 to be in axial positions relative to the pentacoordinate transition state, in the diffraction structure His-12 is found to be in an equatorial position, while Lys-41 is close to an axial position. Hydrogen exchange data show that the mobility and accessibility of amides in the RNase-U-V complex do not significantly differ from what was observed in the native enzyme. The results of both proton NMR in solution and neutron diffraction in the crystal are compared and interpreted in terms of the mechanism of action of RNase.

Structure of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. Results of joint neutron and X-ray refinement of crystal form II

The structure of form II crystals of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor has been investigated by joint refinement of X-ray and neutron data. Crystallographic R factors for the final model were 0.200 for the X-ray data extending to 1 A resolution and 0.197 for the 1.8 A neutron data. This model was strongly restrained, with 0.020 A root-mean-square (r.m.s.) departure of bond lengths from their ideal values and 0.019 A r.m.s. departure of planar groups from planarity. The resulting structure was very similar to that of crystal form I (r.m.s. deviation for main chain atoms was 0.40 A); nevertheless larger deviations were observed in particular regions of the chain. Twenty out of 63 ordered water molecules occupy similar positions (deviation less than 1 A) in both models. Eleven amide hydrogens were found to be protected from exchange after three months of soaking the crystals in deuterated mother liquor at pH 8.2. Their locations were in excellent agreement with the results obtained by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance, but the rates of exchange are much lower in the crystalline state.