Biomedical subjects

Judith M Nocek

Publications and source records attributed to Judith M Nocek.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

NMR spectroscopy can characterize proteins encapsulated in a sol-gel matrix.

Proteins encapsulated within sol-gel matrices (SG) have the potential to fill many scientific and technological roles, but these applications are hindered by the limited means of probing possible structural consequences of encapsulation. We here present the first demonstration that it is possible to obtain high-resolution, solution NMR measurements of proteins encapsulated within a SG matrix. With the aim of determining the breadth of this approach, we have encapsulated three paramagnetic proteins with different overall charges: the highly acidic human Fe3+ cytochrome b5 (cyt b5); the highly basic horse heart cytochrome c (cyt c); and the nearly neutral, sperm whale cyanomet-myoglobin. The encapsulated anionic and neutral proteins (cyt b5; myoglobin) undergo essentially free rotation, but show minor conformational perturbations as revealed by shifts of contact-shifted peaks associated with the heme and nearby amino acids.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Equilibrium/nonequilibrium initial configurations in forward/reverse electron transfer within mixed-metal hemoglobin hybrids.

In a protein-protein electron transfer (ET) photocycle, the "forward" ET reaction is initiated with the excited complex, [3DA], in an equilibrium ensemble of configurations, the majority of which exhibit less than the maximal ET matrix element. In contrast, the charge-separated intermediate complex is formed in a nonequilibrium set of configurations with maximal ET matrix elements and would be expected to return to the ground state with the largest rate constant possible unless conformational interconversion first "breaks the connection" and the complex converts to less-reactive substates. According to this analysis, the forward and back ET reactions should show a differential response to viscosity, and the latter could even show an increased rate constant under conditions which suppress departure from the reactive configuration(s). We now report that the viscosity dependences of forward and back ET rate constants for the photocycle within the [alpha2(Zn),beta2(Fe3+N3-)] mixed-metal hemoglobin hybrid at pH 7 show the anticipated behavior: kf decreases as viscosity increases, but, in sharp contrast, kb increases strongly.

Ferric Compounds↗

PubMed2005

Hopping in the electron-transfer photocycle of the 1:1 complex of Zn-cytochrome c peroxidase with cytochrome c.

The physiological electron-transfer (ET) partners, cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP) and cytochrome c (Cc)1, can be modified to exhibit photoinitiated ET through substitution of Zn (or Mg) for Fe in either partner. Laser excitation of the Zn-porphyrin (ZnP) to its triplet excited state (3ZnP) initiates direct heme-heme ET to the ferriheme center of its partner across the protein-protein interface. This photoinitiated ET produces the charge-separated intermediate, I = [ZnP+CcP, Fe2+Cc], with a metalloporphyrin pi-cation radical (ZnP+) in the donor protein and a ferroheme acceptor protein. I, in general, is thought to return to the ground state by a thermal ET process that involves direct heme-heme back-ET to complete a simple photocycle. We here contrast intracomplex ET between yeast iso-1 Cc and ZnCcP(WT) (wild-type) with that for two ZnCcP(X) variants: X = W191F, with redox-active W191 replaced by Phe; WYM4, a W191F mutant with further replacement of four other potentially redox-active sites (W51F, Y187F, Y229F, and Y236F). The results show that W191 acts as an ET mediator, which "short-circuits" the direct heme-heme back-ET through a two-step, hopping process in which the ZnP+ cation radical formed by photoinitiated ET rapidly oxidizes W191, and the resultant W191+, in turn, rapidly oxidizes Fe2+Cc.

Cytochrome-c Peroxidase↗

PubMed2005

Differential influence of dynamic processes on forward and reverse electron transfer across a protein-protein interface.

We propose that the forward and reverse halves of a flash-induced protein-protein electron transfer (ET) photocycle should exhibit differential responses to dynamic interconversion of configurations when the most stable configuration is not the most reactive, because the reactants exist in different initial configurations: the flash-photoinitiated forward ET process begins with the protein partners in an equilibrium ensemble of configurations, many of which have little or no reactivity, whereas the reactant of the thermal back ET (the charge-separated intermediate) is formed in a nonequilibrium, "activated" protein configuration. We report evidence for this proposal in measurements on (i) mixed-metal hemoglobin hybrids, (ii) the complex between cytochrome c peroxidase and cytochrome c, and (iii and iv) the complexes of myoglobin and isolated hemoglobin alpha-chains with cytochrome b(5). For all three systems, forward and reverse ET does respond differently to modulation of dynamic processes; further, the response to changes in viscosity is different for each system.

Cytochrome-c Peroxidase↗

PubMed2004

Electrostatic influence on rotational mobilities of sol-gel-encapsulated solutes by NMR and EPR spectroscopies.

The rotational mobilities of small solute molecules encapsulated in tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) sol-gels have been investigated by EPR spectroscopy of encapsulated nitroxide probes and by high-resolution NMR spectroscopic measurements of transferred NOE's (trNOE's), of T(1)'s, and of T(1)'s in the rotating frame (T(1)rho). The two spectroscopic methods are sensitive to motions on different time scales and hence, are nicely complementary. Suites of neutral, positively, and negatively charged nitroxide probes (EPR) and of simple diamagnetic small molecules (NMR) were selected to disclose influences of electrostatic interactions with the sol-gel walls and to probe the presence of multiple populations of molecules in distinct regions of the sol-gel pores. For neutral and negatively charged solute probes, both techniques disclose a single population with a significantly increased average rotational correlation time, which we interpret at least in part as resulting from exchange between free-volume and transiently immobilized surface populations. The electrostatic attraction between cationic probes and the negatively charged sol-gel walls causes the positively charged probes to be more effectively immobilized and/or causes a greater percentage of probes to undergo this transient immobilization. The EPR spectra directly disclose a population of cationic probes which are immobilized on the X-band EPR time scale: tau(c) greater than or approximately equal 10(-7) s. However, NMR measurements of trNOE's and of T(1)rho demonstrate that this population does exchange with the free-volume probes on the slower time scale of NMR. This approach is equally applicable to the study of solutes within other types of confined spaces, as well.

Cyclic N-Oxides↗

PubMed2004

Conformational substates of the oxyheme centers in alpha and beta subunits of hemoglobin as disclosed by EPR and ENDOR studies of cryoreduced protein.

Exposure of frozen solutions of oxyhemoglobin to gamma-irradiation at 77 K yields EPR- and ENDOR-active, one-electron-reduced oxyheme centers which retain the conformation of the diamagnetic precursor. EPR spectra have been collected for the centers produced in human HbO(2) and isolated alphaO(2) and betaO(2) chains, as well as alphaO(2)beta(Zn), alpha(Zn)betaO(2), and alphaO(2)beta(Fe(3+)) hybrids, each in frozen buffer and in frozen glasses that form in the presence of glycols and sugars and also in the presence of IHP. These reveal two spectroscopically distinct classes of such ferriheme centers (g(1) <or= 2.25), denoted A and B. Averaged over many similar sites, the A-center has a rhombic EPR signal with a g-tensor, g(A) = [2.248(4), 2.146(1), 1.966(1)]; the B-center exhibits a less anisotropic EPR signal, g(B) = [2.216(3), 2.118(2), 1.966(1)]. Early measurement had suggested that, in the cryoreduced HbO(2) tetramer, the two centers corresponded to the two different chains [Symons, M. C. R., and Petersen, R. L. (1978) Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 201, 285-300]. However, the present EPR and ENDOR results show that the two signals instead reflect the fact that the parent oxyhemes exist in two major conformational substates and that this is true for both alphaO(2) and betaO(2) subunits: alphaO(2)(A) (minor species) and alphaO(2)(B) (major species); betaO(2)(A)(major species) and betaO(2)(B) (minor species). Similar behavior is seen for MbO(2) [Kappl, R., Höhn-Berlage, M., Hüttermann, J., Bartlett, N., and Symons, M. C. R. (1985) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 827, 327-343]. The A/B g-tensors of alphaO(2) and betaO(2) chains vary little with the environment of the chains, while the relative populations of the substates depend greatly on glycols and IHP. These results suggest a quaternary influence on the oxyheme distal pocket of alpha chains and that the glycol-induced changes in the substate populations of the R-state HbO(2) tetramer are largely associated with the alphaO(2) subunit. (1)H ENDOR spectra from the distal histidine proton hydrogen-bonded to the peroxo ligand show very different isotropic coupling for the A- and B-centers. Analysis of the spectroscopic data suggests that the A- and B-centers represent different orientations of the oxyheme O(2) ligand relative to the distal histidine. It is likely that the A and B conformational substates in the alphaO(2) and betaO(2) subunits differ not only in their tertiary structures but in their affinities for O(2).

Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy↗

PubMed2004

Dynamic docking and electron-transfer between cytochrome b5 and a suite of myoglobin surface-charge mutants. Introduction of a functional-docking algorithm for protein-protein complexes.

Horse myoglobin (Mb) provides a convenient "workbench" for probing the effects of electrostatics on binding and reactivity in the dynamic [Mb, cytochrome b(5)] electron-transfer (ET) complex. We have combined mutagenesis and heme neutralization to prepare a suite of six Mb surface-charge variants: the [S92D]Mb and [V67R]Mb mutants introduce additional charges on the "front" face, and incorporation of the heme di-ester into each of these neutralizes the charge on the heme propionates which further increases the positive charge on the "front" face. For this set of mutants, the nominal charge of Mb changes by -1 to +3 units relative to that for native Mb. For each member of this set, we have measured the bimolecular quenching rate constant (k(2)) for the photoinitiated (3)ZnDMb --> Fe(3+)b(5) ET reaction as a function of ionic strength. We find: (i) a dramatic decoupling of binding and reactivity, in which k(2) varies approximately 10(3)-fold within the suite of Mbs without a significant change in binding affinity; (ii) the ET reaction occurs within the "thermodynamic" or "rapid exchange" limit of the "Dynamic Docking" model, in which a large ensemble of weakly bound protein-protein configurations contribute to binding, but only a few are reactive, as shown by the fact that the zero-ionic-strength bimolecular rate constant varies exponentially with the net charge on Mb; (iii) Brownian dynamic docking profiles allow us to visualize the microscopic basis of dynamic docking. To describe these results we present a new theoretical approach which mathematically combines PATHWAY donor/acceptor coupling calculations with Poisson-Boltzmann-based electrostatics estimates of the docking energetics in a Monte Carlo (MC) sampling framework that is thus specially tailored to the intermolecular ET problem. This procedure is extremely efficient because it targets only the functionally active complex geometries by introducing a "reactivity filter" into the computations themselves, rather than as a subsequent step. This efficiency allows us to employ more computationally expensive and accurate methods to describe the relevant intermolecular interaction energies and the protein-mediated donor/acceptor coupling interactions. It is employed here to compute the changes in the bimolecular rate constant for ET between Mb and cyt b(5) upon variations in the myoglobin surface charge, pH, and ionic strength.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2002

Myoglobin and cytochrome b5: a nuclear magnetic resonance study of a highly dynamic protein complex.

The transient complex of bovine myoglobin and cytochrome b(5) has been investigated using a combination of NMR chemical shift mapping, (15)N relaxation data, and protein docking simulations. Chemical shift perturbations observed for cytochrome b(5) amide resonances upon complex formation with either metmyoglobin (Fe(III)) or carbon monoxide-bound myoglobin (Fe(II)) are more than 10-fold smaller than in other transient redox protein complexes. From (15)N relaxation experiments, an increase in the overall correlation time of cytochrome b(5) in the presence of myoglobin is observed, confirming that complex formation is occurring. The chemical shift perturbations of proton and nitrogen amide nuclei as well as heme protons of cytochrome b(5) titrate with increasing myoglobin concentrations, also demonstrating the formation of a weak complex with a K(a) in the inverse millimolar range. The perturbed residues map over a wide surface area of cytochrome b(5), with patches of residues located around the exposed heme 6-propionate as well as at the back of the protein. The nature of the affected residues is mostly negatively charged contrary to perturbed residues in other transient complexes, which are mainly hydrophobic or polar. Protein docking simulations using the NMR data as constraints show several docking geometries both close to and far away from the exposed heme propionates of myoglobin. Overall, the data support the emerging view that this complex consists of a dynamic ensemble of orientations in which each protein constantly diffuses over the surface of the other. The characteristic NMR features may serve as a structural tool for the identification of such dynamic complexes.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Interprotein electron transfer in a confined space: uncoupling protein dynamics from electron transfer by sol-gel encapsulation.

In this paper, we describe the first observations of photoinitiated interprotein electron transfer (ET) within sol-gels. We have encapsulated three protein-protein complexes, specifically selected because they represent a full range of affinities, are sensitive to different types of dynamic processes, and thus are expected to respond differently to sol-gel encapsulation. The three systems are (i) the [Zn, Fe(3+)L] mixed-metal hemoglobin hybrids, where the alpha(1)-Zn and beta(2)-Fe subunits correspond to a "predocked" protein-protein complex with a crystallographically defined interface (Natan, M. J.; Baxter, W. W.; Kuila, D.; Gingrich, D. J.; Martin, G. S.; Hoffman, B. M. Adv. Chem. Ser. 1991, 228 (Electron-Transfer Inorg., Org., Biol. Syst.), 201-213), (ii) the Zn-cytochrome c peroxidase complex with cytochrome c, [ZnCcP, Fe(3+)Cc], having an intermediate affinity between its partners (Nocek, J. M.; Zhou, J. S.; De Forest, S.; Priyadarshy, S.; Beratan, D. N.; Onuchic, J. N.; Hoffman, B. M. Chem. Rev. 1996, 96, 2459-2489), and (iii) the [Zn-deuteromyoglobin, ferricytochrome b(5)] complex, [ZnDMb, Fe(3+)b(5)], which is loosely bound and highly dynamic (Liang, Z.-X.; Nocek, J.; Huang, K.; Hayes, R. T.; Kurnikov, I. V.; Beratan, D. N.; Hoffman, B. M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 6849-6859. Intersubunit ET within the hybrid does not involve second-order processes or subunit rearrangements, and thus is influenced only by perturbations of high-frequency motions coupled to ET. For the latter two complexes, sol-gel encapsulation eliminates second-order processes: protein partners encapsulated as a complex must stay together throughout a photoinitiated ET cycle, while proteins encapsulated alone cannot acquire a partner. It further modulates intracomplex motions of the two partners.

Crystallography↗

PubMed2002

Dynamic docking and electron transfer between Zn-myoglobin and cytochrome b(5).

We present a broad study of the effect of neutralizing the two negative charges of the Mb propionates on the interaction and electron transfer (ET) between horse Mb and bovine cyt b(5), through use of Zn-substituted Mb (ZnMb, 1) to study the photoinitiated reaction, ((3)ZnP)Mb + Fe(3+)cyt b(5) --> (ZnP)(+)Mb + Fe(2+)cyt b(5). The charge neutralization has been carried out both by replacing the Mb heme with zinc-deuteroporphyrin dimethylester (ZnMb(dme), 2), which replaces the charges by small neutral hydrophobic patches, and also by replacement with the newly prepared zinc-deuteroporphyrin diamide (ZnMb(diamide), 3), which converts the charged groups to neutral, hydrophilic ones. The effect of propionate neutralization on the conformation of the zinc-porphyrin in the Mb heme pocket has been studied by multinuclear NMR with an (15)N labeled zinc porphyrin derivative (ZnMb((15)N-diamide), 4). The rates of photoinitiated ET between the Mb's (1-3) and cyt b(5) have been measured over a range of pH values and ionic strengths. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and NMR methods have been used to independently investigate the effect of charge neutralization on Mb/b(5) binding. The neutralization of the two heme propionates of ZnMb by formation of the heme diester or, for the first time, the diamide increases the second-order rate constant of the ET reaction between ZnMb and cyt b(5) by as much as several 100-fold, depending on pH and ionic strength, while causing negligible changes in binding affinity. Brownian dynamic (BD) simulations and ET pathway calculations provide insight into the protein docking and ET process. The results support a new "dynamic docking" paradigm for protein-protein reactions in which numerous weakly bound conformations of the docked complex contribute to the binding of cyt b(5) to Mb and Hb, but only a very small subset of these are ET active, and this subset does not include the conformations most favorable for binding; the Mb surface is a large "target" with a small "bullseye" for the cyt b(5) "arrow". This paradigm differs sharply from the more familiar, "simple" docking within a single, or narrow range of conformations, where binding strength and ET reactivity increase in parallel. Likewise, it is distinct from, although complementary to, the well-known picture of conformational control of ET through "gating", or a related picture of "conformational coupling". The new model describes situations in which tight binding does not correlate with efficient ET reactivity, and explains how it is possible to modulate reactivity without changing affinity. Such "decoupling" of reactivity from binding clearly is of physiological relevance for the reduction of met-Mb in muscle and of met-Hb in a red cell, where tight binding of cyt b(5) to the high concentration of ferrous-Mb/Hb would prevent the cytochrome from finding and reducing the oxidized proteins; it likely is of physiological relevance in other situations, as well.

Animals↗