title: Folding and conformational studies on SCR1-3 domains of human complement receptor 1.
abstract: Short consensus repeats SCR3 and SCR1-3 are soluble recombinant proteins, consisting of the third and first three N-terminal domains of complement receptor 1, respectively, which retain some anti-complement activity. The conformational stabilities and folding/unfolding of SCR3 and SCR1-3 have been studied using circular dichroism and equilibrium and pre-equilibrium fluorescence spectroscopy. Denaturation by guanidinium hydrochloride (GdnHCl) is rapid and completely reversible. Reduction of disulphide bridges in the folded proteins by beta-mercaptoethanol leads to an increase in fluorescence intensity. The fluorescence intensity of the folded proteins is approximately 7.5% of that of the respective unfolded proteins. The data can be approximated to a two-state transition between native and denatured forms of the proteins. SCR3 has a conformational stability in water of 12-13 kJ/mol whereas that of SCR1-3 is 19.5-19.9 kJ/mol depending upon the technique utilized. The heat capacity change associated with the unfolding of SCR1-3 was obtained by a series of GdnHCl unfolding experiments over a range of temperatures and was found to be 6.6 kJ/K.mol or 33.8 J/K.mol(residue). The refolding process of SCR3 was found to be simple, described by a single exponential equation, whereas that of SCR1-3 was found to be complex and could be fitted to a double exponential equation indicating the presence of folding intermediates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, Southampton University, Hampshire, UK.
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dodd
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Mossakowska
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Gore
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D019791:Guanidine; D006146:Guanidines / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D017510:Protein Folding; D011951:Receptors, Complement / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D006146:Guanidines; D011951:Receptors, Complement; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019791:Guanidine