REGENERATION OF 3-DISULFIDE MUTANTS OF BOVINE PANCREATIC RIBONUCLEASE-A MISSING THE 65-72-DISULFIDE BOND - CHARACTERIZATION OF A MINOR FOLDING PATHWAY OF RIBONUCLEASE-A AND KINETIC ROLES OF CYS65 AND CYS72
M. Iwaoka et al., REGENERATION OF 3-DISULFIDE MUTANTS OF BOVINE PANCREATIC RIBONUCLEASE-A MISSING THE 65-72-DISULFIDE BOND - CHARACTERIZATION OF A MINOR FOLDING PATHWAY OF RIBONUCLEASE-A AND KINETIC ROLES OF CYS65 AND CYS72, Biochemistry, 37(13), 1998, pp. 4490-4501
The oxidative regeneration pathways of two three-disulfide mutants of
bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A) missing the 65-72 disulfide
bond, [C65S,C72S] and [C65A,C72A], have been studied by using oxidize
d dithiothreitol (DTTOX) as an oxidizing agent and 2-aminoethylmethane
-thiosulfonate thiosulfonate (AEMTS) as a thiol-blocking agent at 25 d
egrees C and pH 8.0. These mutants are analogues of the des-[65-72] in
termediate, which is one of the two major three-disulfide intermediate
s that follow after the transition states in the regeneration pathways
of wild-type RNase A [Rothwarf, D. M., Li, Y.-J., and Scheraga, H. A.
(1998) Biochemistry 37, 3760-3766, 3767-3776.]. Both mutants folded t
hrough the same pathway but at a rate lower than that of the wild-type
protein. The major rate-determining step in the regeneration of these
mutants was determined to be the oxidation from the two-disulfide int
ermediates (2S) to the post-transition-state three-disulfide intermedi
ate (3S), suggesting the existence of a minor oxidation pathway (2S -
-> 3S, where 3S* is des-[65-72]) in the regeneration of the wild-type
protein, in addition to one of the two major mutants disulfide-rearra
ngement pathways (3S --> des-[65-72]). The regeneration intermediates
of these mutants (R, 1S, 2S, and 3S) participate in a steady state wit
h a kinetic behavior resembling that of the wild-type protein. However
, the apparent equilibrium constants (K-eq(av)) in the steady state, a
veraged with statistical factors for these mutants, are significantly
smaller than those for the wild-type protein, indicating that the inte
rmediates in the regeneration of the mutants are relatively less stabl
e by 0.32 kcal/mol. This difference is due to the decrease in the aver
age rate constants for intramolecular disulfide-bond formation (k(intr
a)(av)) for the mutant proteins. Loop entropy calculations indicate th
at the increase in the average length of all possible disulfide loops
of the mutants due to the replacement of Cys65 and Cys72 is not suffic
ient to account for the observed reduction of the values of k(intra)(a
v), for the mutants. Therefore, it is the removal of energetic factors
(arising from the loss of the 65-72 disulfide loop) that leads to dec
eleration of the regeneration of the mutant proteins. The formation of
the 65-72 disulfide loop in the regeneration of wild-type RNase A app
ears to facilitate the subsequent folding events.