Biochemical and aggregation analysis of Bence Jones proteins from different light chain diseases

Deposition of immunoglobulin light chains is a result of clonal proliferation of monoclonal plasma cells that secrete free immunoglobulin light chains, also called Bence Jones proteins (Bence Jones proteins). These Bence Jones proteins are present in circulation in large amounts and excreted in urine in various light chain diseases such as light chain amyloidosis (AL), light chain deposition disease (LCDD) and multiple myeloma (MM). BJP from patients with AL, LCDD and MM were purified from their urine and studies were performed to determine their secondary structure, thermodynamic stability and aggregate formation kinetics. Our results show that LCDD and MM proteins have the lowest free energy of folding while all proteins show similar melting temperatures. Incubation of the BJP at their melting temperature produced morphologically different aggregates: amyloid fibrils from the AL proteins, amorphous aggregates from the LCDD proteins and large spherical species from the MM proteins. The aggregates formed under in vitro conditions suggested that the various proteins derived from patients with different light chain diseases might follow different aggregation pathways

Extrinsic Fluorescent Dyes as Tools for Protein Characterization

Noncovalent, extrinsic fluorescent dyes are applied in various fields of protein analysis, e.g. to characterize folding intermediates, measure surface hydrophobicity, and detect aggregation or fibrillation. The main underlying mechanisms, which explain the fluorescence properties of many extrinsic dyes, are solvent relaxation processes and (twisted) intramolecular charge transfer reactions, which are affected by the environment and by interactions of the dyes with proteins. In recent time, the use of extrinsic fluorescent dyes such as ANS, Bis-ANS, Nile Red, Thioflavin T and others has increased, because of their versatility, sensitivity and suitability for high-throughput screening. The intention of this review is to give an overview of available extrinsic dyes, explain their spectral properties, and show illustrative examples of their various applications in protein characterization

Two Slow Stages in Refolding of Bovine Carbonic Anhydrase B are Due to Proline Isomerization

Kinetics of refolding of bovine carbonic anhydrase B have been studied by the “double-jump” technique (i.e. the dependence of protein refolding on delay time in the unfolded state after fast unfolding). It is shown that two stages (the slow with a relaxation time of t1/2 ≈ 120 s and the superslow with t1/2 ≈ 600 s) observed during refolding of bovine carbonic anhydrase B are due to trans-cis isomerization of proline residues. The dependences of rate constants of these processes on temperature and on the final denaturant concentration were measured. Activation energies of both processes are the same, Ea = 18(±2) kcal/mol. The rate constants of protein refolding do not depend on the final concentration of urea under native conditions. In addition, the rate of isomerization of essential proline residues in the “molten globule” intermediate state of bovine carbonic anhydrase was measured and found to be equal to that for unstructural polypeptides. The effect of several proline residues on carbonic anhydrase refolding is discussed

‘All-or-none’ Mechanism of the Molten Globule Unfolding

The Gdm-HCl-induced unfolding of bovine carbonic anhydrase B and S. aureus β-lactamase was studied at 4°C by a variety of methods. With the use of FPLC it has been shown that within the transition from the molten globule to the unfolded state the distribution function of molecular dimensions is bimodal. This means that equilibrium intermediates between the molten globule and the unfolded states are absent, i.e. the molten globule unfolding follows the ‘all-or-none’ mechanism

Study of the “Molten Globule” Intermediate State in Protein Folding by a Hydrophobic Fluorescent Probe

Binding of the hydrophobia fluorescent probe, 1-anilino-naphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS), to synthetic polypeptides and proteins with a different structural organization has been studied. It has been shown that ANS has a much stronger affinity to the protein “molten globule” state, with a pronounced secondary structure and compactness, but without a tightly packed tertiary structure as compared with its affinity to the native and coil-like proteins, or to coil-like, α-helical, or β-structural hydrophilic homopolypeptides. The possibility of using ANS for the study of equilibrium and kinetic molten globule intermediates is demonstrated, with carbonic anhydrase, β-lactamase, and α-lactalbumin as examples

Effect of self-association on the structural organization of partially folded proteins: inactivated actin

The propensity to associate or aggregate is one of the characteristic properties of many nonnative proteins. The aggregation of proteins is responsible for a number of human diseases and is a significant problem in biotechnology. Despite this, little is currently known about the effect of self-association on the structural properties and conformational stability of partially folded protein molecules. G-actin is shown to form equilibrium unfolding intermediate in the vicinity of 1.5 M guanidinium chloride (GdmCl). Refolding from the GdmCl unfolded state is terminated at the stage of formation of the same intermediate state. An analogous form, known as inactivated actin, can be obtained by heat treatment, or at moderate urea concentration, or by the release of Ca(2+). In all cases actin forms specific associates comprising partially folded protein molecules. The structural properties and conformational stability of inactivated actin were studied over a wide range of protein concentrations, and it was established that the process of self-association is rather specific. We have also shown that inactivated actin, being denatured, is characterized by a relatively rigid microenvironment of aromatic residues and exhibits a considerable limitation in the internal mobility of tryptophans. This means that specific self-association can play an important structure-forming role for the partially folded protein molecules