Concentration dependence of chaperone-like activities of α-crystallin, αB-crystallin and proline

A thermal after-effect of UV irradiation of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b

Different test systems are used to characterize the anti-aggregation efficiency of molecular chaperone proteins and of low-molecular-weight chemical chaperones. Test systems based on aggregation of UV-irradiated protein are of special interest because they allow studying the protective action of different agents at physiological temperatures. The kinetics of UV-irradiated glycogen phosphorylase b (UV-Phb) from rabbit skeletal muscle was studied at 37°C using dynamic light scattering in a wide range of protein concentrations. It has been shown that the order of aggregation with respect to the protein is equal to unity. A conclusion has been made that the rate-limiting stage of the overall process of aggregation is heat-induced structural reorganization of a UV-Phb molecule, which contains concealed damage.

Anti-aggregation activity of small heat shock proteins under crowded conditions

It is becoming evident that small heat shock proteins (sHsps) are important players of protein homeostasis system. Their ability to bind misfolded proteins may play a crucial role in preventing protein aggregation in cells. The remarkable structural plasticity of sHsps is considered to underlie the mechanism of their activity. However, all our knowledge of the anti-aggregation functioning of sHsps is based on data obtained in vitro in media greatly different from the cellular highly crowded milieu. The present review highlights available data on the effect of crowding on the anti-aggregation activity of sHsps. There is some evidence that crowding affects conformation and dynamics of sHsps oligomers as well as their anti-aggregation properties. Crowding stimulates association of sHsp-client protein complexes into large-sized aggregates thus diminishing the apparent anti-aggregation activity of sHsps. Nevertheless, it is also shown that complexes between suboligomers (dissociated forms) of sHsps and client proteins may be stabilized and exist for longer period of time under crowded conditions. Moreover, crowding may retard the initial stages of aggregation which correspond to the formation of sHsp-containing nuclei and their clusters. Thus, dissociation of sHsps into suboligomers appears to be an important feature for the anti-aggregation activity of sHsps in crowded media.

Kinetic regime of dithiothreitol-induced aggregation of bovine serum albumin

A search for agents, which are capable of effectively suppressing protein aggregation, and elaboration of the appropriate test systems, are among important problems of modern biochemistry and biotechnology. One such test system is based on dithiothreitol (DTT)-induced aggregation of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Study of the kinetics of DTT-induced aggregation of BSA by asymmetric flow field flow fractionation showed that a decrease in the portion of the non-aggregated protein in time followed the exponential law, the rate constant of the first order remaining unchanged at varying protein concentration (0.1M Na-phosphate buffer, pH 7.0; 45 °C). The obtained results indicate that the rate-limiting stage of the general aggregation process is that of unfolding of the protein molecule. When studying the kinetics of DTT-induced aggregation of BSA by dynamic light scattering, we proposed to use parameter K(LS) as a measure of the initial rate of aggregation. Parameter K(LS) corresponds to the initial slope of the dependence of (I-I0)(0.5) on time (I0 and I are the initial and current values of the light scattering intensity, respectively). The K(LS) value has been applied to estimate anti-aggregation activity of chemical chaperones (arginine, its derivatives and proline).

Quantification of anti-aggregation activity of chaperones: a test-system based on dithiothreitol-induced aggregation of bovine serum albumin

The methodology for quantification of the anti-aggregation activity of protein and chemical chaperones has been elaborated. The applicability of this methodology was demonstrated using a test-system based on dithiothreitol-induced aggregation of bovine serum albumin at 45°C as an example. Methods for calculating the initial rate of bovine serum albumin aggregation (v agg) have been discussed. The comparison of the dependences of v agg on concentrations of intact and cross-linked α-crystallin allowed us to make a conclusion that a non-linear character of the dependence of v agg on concentration of intact α-crystallin was due to the dynamic mobility of the quaternary structure of α-crystallin and polydispersity of the α-crystallin-target protein complexes. To characterize the anti-aggregation activity of the chemical chaperones (arginine, arginine ethyl ester, arginine amide and proline), the semi-saturation concentration [L]0.5 was used. Among the chemical chaperones studied, arginine ethyl ester and arginine amide reveal the highest anti-aggregation activity ([L]0.5 = 53 and 58 mM, respectively).