Amino acid substitutions affecting protein dynamics in eglin C do not affect heat capacity change upon unfolding.
The heat capacity change upon unfolding (deltaC(p)) is a thermodynamic parameter that defines the temperature dependence of the thermodynamic stability of proteins; however, physical basis of the heat capacity change is not completely understood. Although empirical surface area-based calculations can predict heat capacity changes reasonably well, accumulating evidence suggests that changes in hydration of those surfaces is not the only parameter contributing to the observed heat capacity changes upon unfolding. Because packing density in the protein interior is similar to that observed in organic crystals, we hypothesized that changes in protein dynamics resulting in increased rigidity of the protein structure might contribute to the observed heat capacity change upon unfolding. Using differential scanning calorimetry we characterized the thermodynamic behavior of a serine protease inhibitor eglin C and two eglin C variants with altered native state dynamics, as determined by NMR. We found no evidence of changes in deltaC(p) in either of the variants, suggesting that changes in rigidity do not contribute to the heat capacity change upon unfolding in this model system.
Gribenko
Alexey V
AV
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA.
Keiffer
Timothy R
TR
Makhatadze
George I
GI
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D006358:Hot Temperature; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics
D000596:Amino Acids; D011506:Proteins; C028656:eglin proteinase inhibitors