The spectral studies on the effect of Glu 101 to the metal binding characteristic of Euplotes octocarinatus centrin

Calcium-induced human centrin 1 self-assembly and double-regulating the binding with peptide R18-Sfi1p

Centrin is a member of the EF-hand super-family that plays pivotal role in the centrosome duplication and separation. In the present paper, we characterized the properties of metal ions as well as peptide R18-Sfi1p binding to human centrin 1 (HsCen1) by fluorescence spectra and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Four metal ions binding sites on HsCen1 were identified through ITC experiments. The conditional binding constants of the EF-hand domain on HsCen1 with Ca²⁺ were quantitatively calculated. In reversible manner, Ca²⁺ can induce HsCen1 self-assembly. In addition, HsCen1 bound with peptide R18-Sfi1p in calcium-dependent with middle-affinity. Phosphorylation at Ser170 weakened interaction HsCen1 with the substrate and removal calcium ions further weakened interactions of the two molecules. Hence, we inferred that centrin initiating downstream peptides may be a double-regulated process by calcium and phosphorylation. These results are of significance for understanding the relationship between PTM and metal regulation.

Role of four conserved aspartic acid residues of EF-loops in the metal ion binding and in the self-assembly of ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus centrin

Ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus centrin (EoCen) is an EF-hand calcium-binding protein closely related to the prototypical calcium sensor protein calmodulin. Four mutants (D37K, D73K, D110K and D146K) were created firstly to elucidate the importance of the first aspartic acid residues (Asp37, Asp73, Asp110 and Asp146) in the beginning of the four EF-loops of EoCen. Aromatic-sensitized Tb³⁺ fluorescence indicates that the aspartic acid residues are very important for the metal-binding of EoCen, except for Asp73 (in EF-loop II). Resonance light scattering (RLS) measurements for different metal ions (Ca²⁺ and Tb³⁺) binding proteins suggest that the order of four conserved aspartic acid residues for contributing to the self-assembly of EoCen is Asp37 > Asp146 > Asp110 > Asp73. Cross-linking experiment also exhibits that Asp37 and Asp146 play critical role in the self-assembly of EoCen. Asp37, in site I, which is located in the N-terminal domain, plays the most important role in the metal ion-dependent self-assembly of EoCen, and there is cooperativity between N-terminal and C-terminal domain (especially the site IV). In addition, the dependence of Tb³⁺ induced self-assembly of EoCen and the mutants on various factors, including ionic strength and pH, were characterized using RLS. Finally, 2-p-toluidinylnaphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS) binding, ionic strength and pH control experiments indicate that in the process of EoCen self-assembly, molecular interactions are mediated by both electrostatic and hydrophobic forces, and the hydrophobic interaction has the important status.

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.

Characterization of melittin binding to Euplotes octocarinatus centrin

In the presence of 1.0mM Ca2+, the interaction between Euplotes octocarinatus centrin (EoCen) and melittin (ME) was studied by means of fluorescence spectra. In 0.1M N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N-2-ethanesulfonic acid (Hepes) and 150mM NaCl at pH 7.4, fluorescence peak of ME was observed at about 353nm indicating that micro-environment of Tryptophan (Trp) residue in ME was hydrophilic. With the addition of 3.2x10(-4)M calcium saturated EoCen (holoEoCen), the peak of ME was blue-shifted to 339nm, which may be resulted from micro-environmental changes of the peptide. At the same time, fluorescence emission of ME was increased significantly suggesting that new complex of ME-holoEoCen was formed under the experimental conditions. Based on the fluorescence titration curves, the 1:1 stoichiometric ratio of holoEoCen to ME was confirmed. In addition, the conditional binding constant of holoEoCen with ME was calculated to be logKME-holoEoCen=6.59+/-0.14.