title: Alpha-lactalbumin tertiary structure changes on hydrophobic interaction chromatography surfaces.
abstract: Hydrogen exchange (HX) detected by mass spectrometry (MS) was used to analyze the structure of calcium-free alpha-lactalbumin, a model protein with marginal stability. Two chromatographic peaks were observed from samples of pure protein eluted from SOURCE phenyl hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) media. Whole-protein HX measurements showed that the less-retained peak had solvent exposure similar to native protein in the absence of the HIC surface while the retained protein was nearly, although not fully, solvent exposed. The formation of these two peaks was kinetically limited. The protein also refolded successfully following elution. In addition, proteolytic fragmentation was used to analyze HX at the peptide level. This approach revealed that helix C was the most stable region of alpha-lactalbumin under native conditions and in the flow-through peak. Helix C also formed the core of residual native structure in the partially unfolded protein in the retained peak. The results suggest that residues that are most solvent accessible under native conditions may be those most likely to unfold upon adsorption.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22904-4741, USA.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tibbs Jones
authors.forename: Erik J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Fernandez
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D007768:Lactalbumin / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D007768:Lactalbumin