title: Quantitative description of the interaction between folate and the folate-binding protein from cow's milk.
abstract: A detailed study has been carried out on the dependence of folate binding on the concentration of FBP (folate-binding protein) at pH 5.0, conditions selected to prevent complications arising from the pre-existing self-association of the acceptor. In contrast with the mandatory requirement that reversible interaction of ligand with a single acceptor site should exhibit a unique, rectangular hyperbolic binding curve, results obtained by ultrafiltration for the FBP-folate system required description in terms of (i) a sigmoidal relationship between concentrations of bound and free folate and (ii) an inverse dependence of affinity on FBP concentration. These findings have been attributed to the difficulties in determining the free ligand concentration in the FBP-folate mixtures for which reaction is essentially stoichiometric. This explanation also accounts for the similar published behaviour of the FBP-folate system at neutral pH, which had been attributed erroneously to acceptor self-association, a phenomenon incompatible with the experimental findings because of its prediction of a greater affinity for folate with increasing FBP concentration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. p.nixon@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Nixon
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Donald J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Winzor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002417:Cattle; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008892:Milk; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008970:Molecular Weight; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry; D011485:Protein Binding; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D008894:Milk Proteins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D005492:Folic Acid