title: Hydrophobic core variant ubiquitin forms a molten globule conformation at acidic pH.
abstract: The conformational properties of hydrophobic core variant ubiquitin (Val26 to Ala mutation) in an acidic solution were studied. The intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence emission spectrum, far-UV and near-UV circular dichroic spectra, the fluorescence emission spectrum of 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonic acid in the presence of V26A ubiquitin, and urea-induced unfolding measurements indicate this variant ubiquitin to be in the partially folded molten globule conformation in solution at pH 2. The folding kinetics from molten globule to the native state was nearly identical to those from the unfolded state to the native state. This observation suggests that the equilibrium molten globule state of hydrophobic core variant ubiquitin is an on-pathway folding intermediate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Kangnung National University, Gangneung 210-702, Korea. spark9@kangnung.ac.kr
authors.forename: Soon-Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D020673:Protein Renaturation; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D025801:Ubiquitin