title: Ribosomal Protein P2 from apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is intrinsically a molten globule.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondii is an apicomplexan parasite, which causes toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma P2 (TgP2) is a ribosomal protein and exists as supramolecular assembly with other proteins in the ribosome. It is also shown that TgP2 is involved in some extra ribosomal functions. However, till date the protein has evaded structural characterization by any of the known techniques. In this background, we report here a systematic study using a variety of biophysical techniques and NMR, under different conditions of pH and temperature, and deduce that TgP2 consists of only helices and unstructured regions, is a monomer at low pH but forms multimers at higher pH, and has intrinsically a molten globule structure. The C-terminal half is flexible and the helices are concentrated in the N-terminal half of the chain. The dynamism inherent to the molten globule structure may have functional implications for its extra-ribosomal functions. which is contrast to that of human P2.
authors: Department of Chemical sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.
authors: Pushpa
authors: P
authors: Mishra
authors: UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai University Campus, Mumbai, India.
authors: Sinjan
authors: S
authors: Choudhary
authors: Department of Chemical sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India; UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai University Campus, Mumbai, India. Electronic address: hosur@tifr.res.in.
authors: Ramakrishna V
authors: RV
authors: Hosur
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010750:Phosphoproteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; C031937:phosphoprotein P2, ribosomal
keywords: Apicomplexa; Molten globule; NMR; Toxoplasma gondii P2 (TgP2)