title: NMR relaxation studies of the role of conformational entropy in protein stability and ligand binding.
abstract: Recent advances in the measurement and analysis of protein NMR relaxation data have made it possible to characterize the dynamical properties of many backbone and side chain groups. With certain caveats, changes in flexibility that occur upon ligand binding, mutation, or changes in sample conditions can be interpreted in terms of contributions to conformational entropy. Backbone and side chain flexibility can either decrease or increase upon ligand binding. Decreases are often associated with "enthalpy-entropy compensation" and "induced fit" binding, whereas increases in conformational entropy can contribute to stabilization of complexes. In certain cases, conformational entropy appears to play a role in cooperative binding and enzyme catalysis. In addition, variations in conformational entropy and heat capacity may both be important in stabilizing the folded structures of proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-0001, USA. mastone@indiana.edu
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Stone
mesh_terms: D019277:Entropy; D008024:Ligands; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / Q000379:methods*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D011506:Proteins