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Song SJ, Diao HP, Moon B, Yun A, Hwang I. The B1 Domain of Streptococcal Protein G Serves as a Multi-Functional Tag for Recombinant Protein Production in Plants. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:878677. [PMID: 35548280 PMCID: PMC9083265 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.878677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Plants have long been considered a cost-effective platform for recombinant production. A recently recognized additional advantage includes the low risk of contamination of human pathogens, such as viruses and bacterial endotoxins. Indeed, a great advance has been made in developing plants as a "factory" to produce recombinant proteins to use for biopharmaceutical purposes. However, there is still a need to develop new tools for recombinant protein production in plants. In this study, we provide data showing that the B1 domain of Streptococcal protein G (GB1) can be a multi-functional domain of recombinant proteins in plants. N-terminal fusion of the GB1 domain increased the expression level of various target proteins ranging from 1.3- to 3.1-fold at the protein level depending on the target proteins. GB1 fusion led to the stabilization of the fusion proteins. Furthermore, the direct detection of GB1-fusion proteins by the secondary anti-IgG antibody eliminated the use of the primary antibody for western blot analysis. Based on these data, we propose that the small GB1 domain can be used as a versatile tag for recombinant protein production in plants.
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2
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Wang R, Liu M, Wang H, Xia J, Li H. GB Tags: Small Covalent Peptide Tags Based on Protein Fragment Reconstitution. Bioconjug Chem 2021; 32:1926-1934. [PMID: 34329559 DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.1c00325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Developing peptide tags that can bind target proteins covalently under mild conditions is of great importance for a myriad of applications, ranging from chemical biology to biotechnology. Here we report the development of a small covalent peptide tag system, termed as GB tags, that can covalently label the target protein with high specificity and high yield under oxidizing conditions. The GB tags consist of a pair of short peptides, GN and GC (GN contains 45 residues and GC contains 19 residues). GN and GC, which are split from a parent protein GB1, can undergo protein fragment reconstitution to reconstitute the folded structure of the parent protein spontaneously. The engineered cysteines in GN and GC can readily form a disulfide bond oxidized by air oxygen after protein reconstitution. Using thermally stable variants of GB1, we identified two pairs of GB tags that display improved thermodynamic stability and binding affinity. They can serve as efficient covalent peptide tags for various applications, including specific labeling of mammalian cell surface receptors. We anticipate that these new GB tags will find applications in biochemical labeling as well as biomaterials, such as protein hydrogels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruidi Wang
- Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.,State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China
| | - Miao Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SRC, P. R. China
| | - Han Wang
- Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
| | - Jiang Xia
- Department of Chemistry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SRC, P. R. China
| | - Hongbin Li
- Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
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3
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Bogetti X, Ghosh S, Gamble Jarvi A, Wang J, Saxena S. Molecular Dynamics Simulations Based on Newly Developed Force Field Parameters for Cu 2+ Spin Labels Provide Insights into Double-Histidine-Based Double Electron-Electron Resonance. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:2788-2797. [PMID: 32181671 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c00739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in combination with the recently developed double-histidine (dHis)-based Cu2+ spin labeling has provided valuable insights into protein structure and conformational dynamics. To relate sparse distance constraints measured by EPR to protein fluctuations in solution, modeling techniques are needed. In this work, we have developed force field parameters for Cu2+-nitrilotriacetic and Cu2+-iminodiacetic acid spin labels. We employed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to capture the atomic-level details of dHis-labeled protein fluctuations. The interspin distances extracted from 200 ns MD trajectories show good agreement with the experimental results. The MD simulations also illustrate the dramatic rigidity of the Cu2+ labels compared to the standard nitroxide spin label. Further, the relative orientations between spin-labeled sites were measured to provide insight into the use of double electron-electron resonance (DEER) methods for such labels. The relative mean angles, as well as the standard deviations of the relative angles, agree well in general with the spectral simulations published previously. The fluctuations of relative orientations help rationalize why orientation selectivity effects are minimal at X-band frequencies, but observable at the Q-band for such labels. In summary, the results show that by combining the experimental results with MD simulations precise information about protein conformations as well as flexibility can be obtained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaowei Bogetti
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Shreya Ghosh
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Austin Gamble Jarvi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Junmei Wang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206, United States
| | - Sunil Saxena
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
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4
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Wang R, Li J, Li X, Guo J, Liu J, Li H. Engineering protein polymers of ultrahigh molecular weight via supramolecular polymerization: towards mimicking the giant muscle protein titin. Chem Sci 2019; 10:9277-9284. [PMID: 32055313 PMCID: PMC7003960 DOI: 10.1039/c9sc02128k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Utilizing protein fragment reconstitution of a small protein GB1, we developed an efficient, supramolecular polymerization strategy to engineer protein polymers with ultrahigh molecular weight that mimic the giant muscle protein titin.
The giant muscle protein titin is the largest protein in cells and responsible for the passive elasticity of muscles. Titin, made of hundreds of individually folded globular domains, is a protein polymer with folded globular domains as its macromonomers. Due to titin's ultrahigh molecular weight, it has been challenging to engineer high molecular weight artificial protein polymers that mimic titin. Taking advantage of protein fragment reconstitution (PFR) of a small protein GB1, which can be reconstituted from its two split fragments GN and GC, here we report the development of an efficient, PFR-based supramolecular polymerization strategy to engineer protein polymers with ultrahigh molecular weight. We found that the engineered bifunctional protein macromonomers (GC-macromonomer-GN) can undergo supramolecular polymerization, in a way similar to condensation polymerization, via the reconstitution of GN and GC to produce protein polymers with ultrahigh molecular weight (with an average molecular weight of 0.5 MDa). Such high molecular weight linear protein polymers closely mimic titin and provide protein polymer building blocks for the construction of biomaterials with improved physical and mechanical properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruidi Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials , College of Chemistry , Jilin University , Changchun 130012 , P. R. China.,Department of Chemistry , The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z1 , Canada .
| | - Jiayu Li
- Department of Chemistry , The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z1 , Canada .
| | - Xiumei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials , College of Chemistry , Jilin University , Changchun 130012 , P. R. China
| | - Jin Guo
- Department of Chemistry , The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z1 , Canada .
| | - Junqiu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials , College of Chemistry , Jilin University , Changchun 130012 , P. R. China
| | - Hongbin Li
- Department of Chemistry , The University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z1 , Canada .
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5
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Du T, Buenbrazo N, Kell L, Rahmani S, Sim L, Withers SG, DeFrees S, Wakarchuk W. A Bacterial Expression Platform for Production of Therapeutic Proteins Containing Human-like O-Linked Glycans. Cell Chem Biol 2019; 26:203-212.e5. [PMID: 30503285 DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Revised: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 10/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
We have developed an Escherichia coli strain for the in vivo production of O-glycosylated proteins. This was achieved using a dual plasmid approach: one encoding a therapeutic protein target, and a second encoding the enzymatic machinery required for O-glycosylation. The latter plasmid encodes human polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyl transferase as well as a β1,3-galactosyl transferase and UDP-Glc(NAc)-4-epimerase, both from Campylobacter jejuni, and a disulfide bond isomerase of bacterial or human origin. The effectiveness of this two-plasmid synthetic operon system has been tested on three proteins with therapeutic potential: the native and an engineered version of the naturally O-glycosylated human interferon α-2b, as well as human growth hormone with one engineered site of glycosylation. Having established proof of principle for the addition of the core-1 glycan onto proteins, we are now developing this system as a platform for producing and modifying human protein therapeutics with more complex O-glycan structures in E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Du
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Nakita Buenbrazo
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Laura Kell
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Sadia Rahmani
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Lyann Sim
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
| | - Stephen G Withers
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
| | - Shawn DeFrees
- La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company, San Diego, CA 92121, USA
| | - Warren Wakarchuk
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada.
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6
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Gamble Jarvi A, Ranguelova K, Ghosh S, Weber RT, Saxena S. On the Use of Q-Band Double Electron–Electron Resonance To Resolve the Relative Orientations of Two Double Histidine-Bound Cu2+ Ions in a Protein. J Phys Chem B 2018; 122:10669-10677. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b07727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Austin Gamble Jarvi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Kalina Ranguelova
- Bruker BioSpin, Inc., EPR Division, 15 Fortune Drive, Billerica, Massachusetts 01821, United States
| | - Shreya Ghosh
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Ralph T. Weber
- Bruker BioSpin, Inc., EPR Division, 15 Fortune Drive, Billerica, Massachusetts 01821, United States
| | - Sunil Saxena
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
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7
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Collins JC, Bedford JT, Greene LH. Elucidating the Key Determinants of Structure, Folding, and Stability for the ( 4β+ α ) Conformation of the B1 Domain of Protein G Using Bioinformatics Approaches. IEEE Trans Nanobioscience 2016; 15:140-7. [PMID: 27071185 DOI: 10.1109/tnb.2016.2546247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The B1 domain of protein G (GB1) is a small, 56 amino acid bacterial immunoglobulin-binding protein with a 4β+ α fold. Architecturally, it is composed of a two-layer sandwich consisting of a four-stranded β -sheet that packs against an α -helix. Using several bioinformatics approaches, we investigated which residues may be key determinants of this fold. We identified nine structurally conserved amino acids using a conservation analysis and propose they are critical to forming and stabilizing the fold. The nine conserved residues form a predominantly hydrophobic nucleus within the core of GB1. A network analysis of all the long-range interactions in the structure of GB1 in concert with a betweenness centrality analysis revealed the relative significance of each conserved amino acid residue based on the number and location of the interactions. This bioinformatics analysis provides an important foundation for the design and interpretation of both computational and experimental work which may be helpful in solving the protein folding problem.
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8
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Liu J, Liao C, Zhou J. Multiscale simulations of protein G B1 adsorbed on charged self-assembled monolayers. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2013; 29:11366-11374. [PMID: 23947739 DOI: 10.1021/la401171v] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The orientation of an antibody plays an important role in the development of immunosensors. Protein G is an antibody binding protein, which specifically targets the Fc fragment of an antibody. In this work, the orientation of prototypical and mutated protein G B1 adsorbed on positively and negatively charged self-assembled monolayers was studied by parallel tempering Monte Carlo and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Both methods present generally similar orientation distributions of protein G B1 for each kind of surface. The root-mean-square deviation, DSSP, gyration radius, eccentricity, dipole moment, and superimposed structures of protein G B1 were analyzed. Moreover, the orientation of binding antibody was also predicted in this work. Simulation results show that with the same orientation trends, the mutant exhibits narrower orientation distributions than does the prototype, which was mainly caused by the stronger dipole of the mutant. Both kinds of proteins adsorbed on charged surfaces were induced by the competition of electrostatic interaction and vdW interaction; the electrostatic interaction energy dominated the adsorption behavior. The protein adsorption was also largely affected by the distribution of charged residues within the proteins. Thus, the prototype could adsorb on a negatively charged surface, although it keeps a net charge of -4 e. The mutant has imperfect opposite orientation when it adsorbed on oppositely charged surfaces. For the mutant on a carboxyl-functionalized self-assembled monolayer (COOH-SAM), the orientation was the same as that inferred by experiments. While for the mutant on amine-functionalized self-assembled monolayer (NH2-SAM), the orientation was induced by the competition between attractive interactions (led by ASP40 and GLU56) and repulsive interactions (led by LYS10); thus, the perfect opposite orientation could not be obtained. On both surfaces, the adsorbed protein could retain its native conformation. The desired orientation of protein G B1, which would increase the efficiency of binding antibodies, could be obtained on a negatively charged surface adsorbed with the prototype. Further, we deduced that with the packing density of 12,076 protein G B1 domain per μm(2), the efficiency of the binding IgG would be maximized. The simulation results could be applied to control the orientation of protein G B1 in experiments and to provide a better understanding to maximize the efficiency of antibody binding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Liu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab for Green Chemical Product Technology, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510640, People's Republic of China
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9
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Cunningham TF, McGoff MS, Sengupta I, Jaroniec CP, Horne WS, Saxena S. High-resolution structure of a protein spin-label in a solvent-exposed β-sheet and comparison with DEER spectroscopy. Biochemistry 2012; 51:6350-9. [PMID: 22809334 DOI: 10.1021/bi300328w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
X-ray crystallography has been a useful tool in the development of site-directed spin labeling by resolving rotamers of the nitroxide spin-label side chain in a variety of α-helical environments. In this work, the crystal structure of a doubly spin-labeled N8C/K28C mutant of the B1 immunoglobulin-binding domain of protein G (GB1) was solved. The double mutant formed a domain-swapped dimer under crystallization conditions. Two rotameric states of the spin-label were resolved at the solvent-exposed α-helical site, at residue 28; these are in good agreement with rotamers previously reported for helical structures. The second site, at residue 8 on an interior β-strand, shows the presence of three distinct solvent-exposed side-chain rotamers. One of these rotamers is rarely observed within crystal structures of R1 sites and suggests that the H(α) and S(δ) hydrogen bond that is common to α-helical sites is absent at this interior β-strand residue. Variable temperature continuous wave (CW) experiments of the β-strand site showed two distinct components that were correlated to the rotameric states observed in crystallography. Interestingly, the CW data at room temperature could be fit without the use of an order parameter, which is consistent with the lack of the H(α) and S(δ) interaction. Additionally, double electron electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy was performed on the GB1 double mutant in its monomeric form and yielded a most probable interspin distance of 25 ± 1 Å. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the measured DEER distance, the rotamers observed in the crystal structure of the domain-swapped GB1 dimer were modeled into a high-resolution structure of the wild type monomeric GB1. The distances generated in the resulting GB1 structural models match the most probable DEER distance within ~2 Å. The results are interesting as they indicate by direct experimental measurement that the rotameric states of R1 found in this crystal provide a very close match to the most probable distance measured by DEER.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy F Cunningham
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, 219 Parkman Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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10
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Xu Y, Du D, Oyola R. Infrared study of the stability and folding kinetics of a series of β-hairpin peptides with a common NPDG turn. J Phys Chem B 2011; 115:15332-8. [PMID: 22136248 DOI: 10.1021/jp2046867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The thermal stability and folding kinetics of a series of 15-residue β-hairpins with a common Type I [3:5] NPDG turn were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and laser-induced temperature jump (T-jump) with infrared detection, respectively. Mutations at positions 3, 5, or 13 in the peptide sequence SEXYXNPDGTWTXTE, where X represents the position of mutation, were performed to study the roles of hydrophobic interactions in determining the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of β-hairpin folding. The thermal stability studies show a broad thermal folding/unfolding transition for all the peptides. T-jump studies indicate that these β-hairpin peptides fold in less than 2 μs. In addition, both folding and unfolding rate constants decrease with increasing strength of hydrophobic interactions. Kinetically, the hydrophobic interactions have more significant influence on the unfolding rate than the folding rate. Φ-value analysis indicates that the hydrophobic interactions between the side chains are mainly formed at the latter part of the transition-state region during the folding process. In summary, the results suggest that the formation of the native structure of these β-hairpins depends on the correct topology of the hydrophobic cluster. Besides the formation of the turn region as a key process for folding as suggested by previous studies, a hydrophobic collapse process may also play a crucial role during β-hairpin folding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Xu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
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11
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Lindman S, Bauer MC, Lund M, Diehl C, Mulder FAA, Akke M, Linse S. pK(a) values for the unfolded state under native conditions explain the pH-dependent stability of PGB1. Biophys J 2011; 99:3365-73. [PMID: 21081085 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2010.08.078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2010] [Revised: 08/24/2010] [Accepted: 08/27/2010] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the role of electrostatics in protein stability requires knowledge of these interactions in both the folded and unfolded states. Electrostatic interactions can be probed experimentally by characterizing ionization equilibria of titrating groups, parameterized as pK(a) values. However, pK(a) values of the unfolded state are rarely accessible under native conditions, where the unfolded state has a very low population. Here, we report pK(a) values under nondenaturing conditions for two unfolded fragments of the protein G B1 domain that mimic the unfolded state of the intact protein. pK(a) values were determined for carboxyl groups by monitoring their pH-dependent (13)C chemical shifts. Monte Carlo simulations using a Gaussian chain model provide corrections for changes in electrostatic interactions that arise from fragmentation of the protein. Most pK(a) values for the unfolded state agree well with model values, but some residues show significant perturbations that can be rationalized by local electrostatic interactions. The pH-dependent stability was calculated from the experimental pK(a) values of the folded and unfolded states and compared to experimental stability data. The use of experimental pK(a) values for the unfolded state results in significantly improved agreement with experimental data, as compared to calculations based on model data alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stina Lindman
- Center for Molecular Protein Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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12
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In vivo protein stabilization based on fragment complementation and a split GFP system. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010; 107:19826-31. [PMID: 21041669 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1005689107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Protein stabilization was achieved through in vivo screening based on the thermodynamic linkage between protein folding and fragment complementation. The split GFP system was found suitable to derive protein variants with enhanced stability due to the correlation between effects of mutations on the stability of the intact chain and the effects of the same mutations on the affinity between fragments of the chain. PGB1 mutants with higher affinity between fragments 1 to 40 and 41 to 56 were obtained by in vivo screening of a library of the 1 to 40 fragments against wild-type 41 to 56 fragments. Colonies were ranked based on the intensity of green fluorescence emerging from assembly and folding of the fused GFP fragments. The DNA from the brightest fluorescent colonies was sequenced, and intact mutant PGB1s corresponding to the top three sequences were expressed, purified, and analyzed for stability toward thermal denaturation. The protein sequence derived from the top fluorescent colony was found to yield a 12 °C increase in the thermal denaturation midpoint and a free energy of stabilization of -8.7 kJ/mol at 25 °C. The stability rank order of the three mutant proteins follows the fluorescence rank order in the split GFP system. The variants are stabilized through increased hydrophobic effect, which raises the free energy of the unfolded more than the folded state; as well as substitutions, which lower the free energy of the folded more than the unfolded state; optimized van der Waals interactions; helix stabilization; improved hydrogen bonding network; and reduced electrostatic repulsion in the folded state.
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