title: Ligand-induced structural changes in maltose binding proteins measured by atomic force microscopy.
abstract: We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) based force-compression measurements to probe the ligand-induced functional conformational changes in surface-immobilized dicysteine-terminated maltose binding proteins (dicys-MBPs). The proteins are immobilized at well-defined locations directly on Au substrates using the previously reported technique of nanografting. By measuring the difference between the ligand-free and ligand-bound mechanical work performed by the AFM-tip during the protein compression, we determine the open-closed transition energy for dicys-MBPs to be DeltaE0 = (8 +/- 4) Kcal/mol. We also compare the binding kinetics of two different ligands (maltose and maltotriose) to dicys-MBPs by performing AFM-friction measurements. We show that our results are consistent with a simple model for the surface-immobilized dicys-MBPs: the protein consists of two rigid lateral lobes connected by a hinge-loaded spring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. cstaii@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Staii
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Giacinto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scoles
mesh_terms: D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008024:Ligands; D058619:Maltose-Binding Proteins; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008024:Ligands; D058619:Maltose-Binding Proteins