Effect of cosolvent on protein stability: a theoretical investigation

A Structure-Based Mechanism for the Denaturing Action of Urea, Guanidinium Ion and Thiocyanate Ion

An exhaustive analysis of all the protein structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank, here performed, has allowed the identification of hundredths of protein-bound urea molecules and the structural characterization of such binding sites. It emerged that, even though urea molecules are largely involved in hydrogen bonds with both backbone and side chains, they are also able to make van der Waals contacts with nonpolar moieties. As similar findings have also been previously reported for guanidinium and thiocyanate, this observation suggests that promiscuity is a general property of protein denaturants. Present data provide strong support for a mechanism based on the protein-denaturant direct interactions with a denaturant binding model to equal and independent sites. In this general framework, our investigations also highlight some interesting insights into the different denaturing power of urea compared to guanidinium/thiocyanate.

Volumetric Strategy for Quantitatively Elucidating a Local Hydration Network around a G-Quadruplex

Hydration around nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, is an important factor not only for the stability of nucleic acids but also for their interaction with binding molecules. Thus, it is necessary to quantitatively elucidate the hydration properties of nucleic acids around a certain structure. In this study, volumetric changes in G-quadruplex (G4) RNA formation were investigated by systematically changing the number of G-quartet stacks under high pressure. The volumetric contribution at the level of each G4 structural unit revealed that the core G4 helix was significantly more dehydrated than the other parts, including the edges of G-quartets and loops. These findings will help in predicting the binding of G4 ligands on the surface of G4, depending on the chemical structure of the ligand and solution environment. Therefore, the preset volumetric parameter provides information that can predict molecular interactions in G4 formations during molecular crowding in cells.

General Counteraction Exerted by Sugars against Denaturants

The conformational stability of globular proteins is strongly influenced by the addition to water of different co-solutes. Some of the latter destabilize the native state, while others stabilize it. It is emerging that stabilizing agents are able to counteract the action of destabilizing agents. We have already provided experimental evidence that this counteraction is a general phenomenon and offered a rationalization. In the present work, we show that four different sugars, namely fructose, glucose, sucrose, and trehalose, counteract the effect of urea, tetramethylurea, sodium perchlorate, guanidinium chloride, and guanidinium thiocyanate despite the chemical and structural differences of those destabilizing agents. The rationalization we provide is as follows: (a) the solvent-excluded volume effect, a purely entropic effect, stabilizes the native state, whose solvent-accessible surface area is smaller than the one of denatured conformations; (b) the magnitude of the solvent-excluded volume effect increases markedly in ternary solutions because the experimental density of such solutions is larger than that of pure water.

Volumetric Interplay between the Conformational States Adopted by Guanine-Rich DNA from the c-MYC Promoter

The kinetic and thermodynamic stabilities of G-quadruplex structures have been extensively studied. In contrast, systematic investigations of the volumetric properties of G-quadruplexes determining their pressure stability are still relatively scarce. The G-rich strand from the promoter region of the c-MYC oncogene (G-strand) is known to adopt a range of conformational states including the duplex, G-quadruplex, and coil states depending on the presence of the complementary C-rich strand (C-strand) and solution conditions. In this work, we report changes in volume, ΔV, and adiabatic compressibility, ΔK_S, accompanying interconversions of G-strand between the G-quadruplex, duplex, and coil conformations in the presence and absence of C-strand. We rationalize these volumetric characteristics in terms of the hydration and intrinsic properties of the DNA in each of the sampled conformational states. We further use our volumetric results in conjunction with the reported data on changes in expansibility, ΔE, and heat capacity, ΔC_P, associated with G-quadruplex-to-coil transitions to construct the pressure-temperature phase diagram describing the stability of the G-quadruplex. The phase diagram is elliptic in shape, resembling the classical elliptic phase diagram of a globular protein, and is distinct from the phase diagram for duplex DNA. The observed similarity of the pressure-temperature phase diagrams of G-quadruplexes and globular proteins stems from their shared structural and hydration features that, in turn, result in the similarity of their volumetric properties. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first pressure-temperature stability diagram reported for a G-quadruplex.

Duplex-tetraplex equilibria in guanine- and cytosine-rich DNA

Noncanonical four-stranded DNA structures, including G-quadruplexes and i-motifs, have been discovered in the cell and are implicated in a variety of genomic regulatory functions. The tendency of a specific guanine- and cytosine-rich region of genomic DNA to adopt a four-stranded conformation depends on its ability to overcome the constraints of duplex base-pairing by undergoing consecutive duplex-to-coil and coil-to-tetraplex transitions. The latter ability is determined by the balance between the free energies of participating ordered and disordered structures. In this review, we present an overview of the literature on the stability of G-quadruplex and i-motif structures and discuss the extent of duplex-tetraplex competition as a function of the sequence context of the DNA and environmental conditions including temperature, pH, salt, molecular crowding, and the presence of G-quadruplex-binding ligands. We outline how the results of in vitro studies can be expanded to understanding duplex-tetraplex equilibria in vivo.

Distinctive behavior and two-dimensional vibrational dynamics of water molecules inside glycine solvation shell

We present a first principles molecular dynamics study of a deuterated aqueous solution of a single glycine moiety to explore the structure, dynamics, and two-dimensional infrared spectra of water molecules found in the solvation shell of glycine.

Stability prediction of canonical and non-canonical structures of nucleic acids in various molecular environments and cells

This review provides the biophysicochemical background and recent advances in stability prediction of canonical and non-canonical structures of nucleic acids in various molecular environments and cells.

Hofmeister Order of Anions on Protein Stability Originates from Lifshitz-van der Waals Dispersion Interaction with the Protein Phase

The mechanism underpinning the Hofmeister order of anions on protein stability and other physical and biological processes has been a mystery since its discovery in 1888. In the present study, we investigated electrostatic and Lifshitz-van der Waals (L-vdW) dispersion (electrodynamic) interactions between Hofmeister salts and four monomeric globular proteins. It is shown that structure-stabilizing salts exerted positive L-vdW pressure, whereas structure-destabilizing salts exerted negative L-vdW pressure on proteins. The relative order of the L-vdW pressure followed the Hofmeister series and it overshadowed the electrostatic pressure at high salt concentrations. The net change in the thermal denaturation temperature (ΔT_d) of proteins in 0.8 M Hofmeister salt solutions followed a linear relationship (r² > 0.8) with the net electrodynamic pressure regardless of the physicochemical differences between proteins. This study also revealed that segregation of anions into structure stabilizers and destabilizers depended on the dielectric susceptibility of the anion in the ultraviolet region: ions having absorbtion spectrum in the ultraviolet region (e.g., Cl^-, Br^-, I^-, and SCN^-) exerted a negative electrodynamic pressure, whereas those with absorbtion spectrum only in the infrared region, for example, SO₄^2-, exerted a positive electrodynamic pressure. The lack of ultraviolet absorption of SO₄^2- ions was because of quenching of ultraviolet radiation by water at below 170 nm.

Counteraction of denaturant-induced protein unfolding is a general property of stabilizing agents

DSC measurements on RNase A at neutral pH show that five stabilizing agents, namely trimethylamine N-oxide, glucose, sucrose, betaine and sodium sulfate, can counteract the destabilizing action of urea, sodium perchlorate, guanidinium chloride and guanidinium thiocyanate. This is an important finding inferring that counteraction has a common physical origin, regardless of the chemical differences among the stabilizing agents and among the destabilizing ones. A rationalization is provided grounded on the following line of reasoning: (a) the decrease in solvent-excluded volume effect is the main stabilizing contribution of the native state; (b) its magnitude increases on increasing the density of the aqueous solution; (c) the density increases significantly in the ternary solutions containing water, a stabilizing agent and a destabilizing one, as indicated by the present experimental data.

Are stabilizing osmolytes preferentially excluded from the protein surface? FTIR and MD studies

Stabilizing osmolytes are not always preferentially excluded and can interact with the protein surface in two ways: indirectly or directly.

Pressure-dependent formation of i-motif and G-quadruplex DNA structures

Pressure is an important physical stimulus that can influence the fate of cells by causing structural changes in biomolecules such as DNA.