文章基本信息

标题：Crystal structures of highly simplified BPTIs provide insights into hydration-driven increase of unfolding enthalpy
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作者：Mohammad Monirul Islam ; Masafumi Yohda ; Shun-ichi Kidokoro 等
期刊名称：Scientific Reports
电子版ISSN：2045-2322
出版年度：2017
卷号：7
期号：1
DOI：10.1038/srep41205
语种：English
出版社：Springer Nature
摘要：We report a thermodynamic and structural analysis of six extensively simplified bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) variants containing 19-24 alanines out of 58 residues. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated a two-state thermal unfolding, typical of a native protein with densely packed interior. Surprisingly, increasing the number of alanines induced enthalpy stabilization, which was however over-compensated by entropy destabilization. X-ray crystallography indicated that the alanine substitutions caused the recruitment of novel water molecules facilitating the formation of protein-water hydrogen bonds and improving the hydration shells around the alanine's methyl groups, both of which presumably contributed to enthalpy stabilization. There was a strong correlation between the number of water molecules and the thermodynamic parameters. Overall, our results demonstrate that, in contrast to our initial expectation, a protein sequence in which over 40% of the residues are alanines can retain a densely packed structure and undergo thermal denaturation with a large enthalpy change, mainly contributed by hydration.