Lability of proteins

There are substantial difficulties in the interpretation of temperature-dependent shifts of protein spectra because of the thermal lability of proteins and the possibility of temperature-dependent conformational transitions. Low-temperature studies in aqueous solutions revealed that for many of the proteins investigated the observed shifts of the fluorescence spectra within narrow temperature ranges were probably the result of cooperative conformational transitions, and not of relaxational shifts/100 1 Spectral shifts have also been observed for proteins in glass-forming solvents, 01) but here there arise difficulties associated with the possible effects of viscous solvents on the protein dynamics. 

A second difficulty in studying Mn proteins is the lability of protein-bound Mn. Complexes of Mrf typically have binding constants that are somewhat smaller than those for the corresponding Fe complexes and substantially smaller than those for Cu and Zn complexes (this is the so-called Irving-Williams Series). For heme-iron proteins, the porphyrin cofactor see Iron Porphyrin Chemistry) increases the stability of the Fe-protein interaction. No such small molecule cofactors are known for Mn proteins. Small binding constants mean that Mn is readily lost from a protein during purification. 

In protein analysis one important element is the purity of the enzyme and the procedure to obtain it. In many situations protein purification is not a simple step because of the lability of proteins. In many cases, the protein is associated with other components of the material from which it was obtained. As an example, the results for the analysis of the pyrolysate obtained from gluten at 510° C are discussed below. Gluten in this sample contained about 80% protein, 7% fats, and carbohydrates. The pyrolysis was first performed in a Curie point system and analyzed by on-line GC/MS on a Carbowax column in conditions similar to those previously described for the albumin analysis. The chromatogram is shown in Figure 12.3.5. 

Soybean Protein Isolates. Soybean protein isolates, having a protein content of >90 wt%, are the only vegetable proteins that are widely used in imitation dairy products (1). Most isolates are derived from isoelectric precipitation, so that the soybean protein isolates have properties that are similar to those of casein. They are insoluble at thek isoelectric point, have a relatively high proportion of hydrophobic amino acid residues, and are calcium-sensitive. They differ from casein in that they are heat-denaturable and thus heat-labile. The proteins have relatively good nutritional properties and have been increasingly used as a principal source of protein. A main deterrent to use has been the beany flavor associated with the product. Use is expected to increase in part because of lower cost as compared to caseinates. There has been much research to develop improved soybean protein isolates. 

The contractile apparatus may be thought of as the sum of those intracellular components which constitute the machinery of chemomechanical transduction. It is the set of proteins which convert the chemical energy of the terminal phosphate ester bond of ATP into mechanical work. The structure of the contractile apparatus is determined by the connections between the various protein molecules via specific binding sites or, in a minority of cases, via labile covalent linkages. The kinetics of the contractile machinery are determined by the regulation of changes in these connections. 

Complement comprises a group of heat-labile serum proteins which, when activated, are associated with the destruction of bacteria in the body in a variety of ways. It is present in low concentrations in serum but, as its action is linked intimately with a second (specific) set of defence mechanisms, its composition and role will be dealt with later in the chapter. 

In contrast to the lability of certain dN adducts formed by the BHT metabolite above, amino acid and protein adducts formed by this metabolite were relatively stable.28,29 The thiol of cysteine reacted most rapidly in accord with its nucleophilic strength and was followed in reactivity by the a-amine common to all amino acids. This type of amine even reacted preferentially over the e-amine of lysine.28 In proteins, however, the e-amine of lysine and thiol of cysteine dominate reaction since the vast majority of a-amino groups are involved in peptide bonds. Other nucleophilic side chains such as the carboxylate of aspartate and glutamate and the imidazole of histidine may react as well, but their adducts are likely to be too labile to detect as suggested by the relative stability of QMs and the leaving group ability of the carboxylate and imidazole groups (see Section 9.2.3). 

With both the acidic and alkaline single time point assays, it remains unclear if acid labile H2S or desulfuration of proteins [40], respectively, creates artifactual overestimates of free H2S levels, as described earlier. Tissue H2S concentrations determined by thiol derivatization using bromobimane near neutral pH followed by HPLC also indicate... 

Investigations of the lability of the periodate-oxidized product to alkali showed that the pH, during titration of the liberated formic acid, had to be very carefully controlled. Quantitative titration of formic acid, in the presence of all normal oxidation products, was shown to be complete at pH 6.25. (Over-titration, to pH 8.0, reduced the value of average unit chain by 20%.) The effect of contaminating protein on the results of periodate oxidation has also been studied in detail.82 ... 

Ligand substitution reactions of NO leading to metal-nitrosyl bond formation were first quantitatively studied for metalloporphyrins, (M(Por)), and heme proteins a few decades ago (20), and have been the subject of a recent review (20d). Despite the large volume of work, systematic mechanistic studies have been limited. As with the Rum(salen) complexes discussed above, photoexcitation of met allop or phyr in nitrosyls results in labilization of NO. In such studies, laser flash photolysis is used to labilize NO from a M(Por)(NO) precursor, and subsequent relaxation of the non-steady state system back to equilibrium (Eq. (9)) is monitored spectroscopically. 

Activation parameters for the reaction of NO with metMb, Eq. (15), were determined in this laboratory and in collaboration with van Eldik and Stochel (Table II) (23). Comparison of these activation parameters with those determined for reactions of NO with the water soluble ferri-heme complexes Fem(TPPS)(H20)2 and Feni(TMPS)(H20)2 (Table II) demonstrate that the latter compounds represent reasonable models for the kinetics for the analogous reaction with metMb. For example, the kon step would appear to be defined largely by the H20 lability of metMb(H20), although it is clear that the diffusion through protein channels, the distal residues and the proximal histidine binding to the Fe(III) center must all influence the NO binding kinetics (23,24). These properties may indeed be reflected in the lower AS values for both the on and off reactions on metMb. In a related study, Cao et al. recently... 

Sulfur-bound L-Met, as opposed to S,N-chelated L-Met, is more reactive as a ligand on Pt(II) and can be slowly replaced by N7 of G (95, 96). Transfer of Pt onto DNA via Met-containing peptides or proteins may therefore be possible. Monofunctional adducts of the type [Pt(en)(G)(L-Met-S)] appear to be very stable (97) and so methionine may play a role in trapping these adducts. Also, the high trans influence of S as a Pt(II) ligand can lead to the facile labilization of trans-am(m)ine ligands and this allows cisplatin to react with GMP faster in the presence of L-Met then in its absence (98), which introduces another route to DNA platination. 

Acid-labile linkages of carbohydrates are commonly those of furano-sidic sugar residues or of deoxy monosaccharides.50,63 Consequently, neuraminic acid and fucose residues, which occur as terminal monosaccharides of protein- and lipid-linked glycans, are removed by hydrolysis with a dilute acid. The linkages formed by these two sugar residues can conveniently be differentiated by subjecting a portion of... 

Low expression levels and the lability of the HslVU complex make work with proteins from wild-type strains difficult. Gratifyingly, the active protease can be reconstituted in vitro from over-expressed and purified components (Rohrwild et al. 1996). It requires ATP for the degradation of folded substrates and ATP or some of its analogs for the purification of small chromogenic peptides. As expected, ATP-hydrolysis and proteolysis activities are mutually dependent (Seol et al. 1997). In addition, the peptidase activity was found to depend in complex ways on the presence of various cations, especially K in the buffers (Huang and Goldberg 1997). 

There are a large number of proteins that share this designation. Perhaps the best known is the heat-labile enterotoxin from E. coli that catalyzes the ADP-ribosyla-tion of a number of proteins. 

Both the heat-stable SCP protein of Ritter and Dempsey (R2) and the heat-labile SCP protein of Scallen et al. (S2) bind other lipids (e.g., phospholipids and fatty acids) in addition to water-insoluble cholesterol and its precursors (R2, R3, R5, S2). In view of this apparent lack of specificity, Ritter and Dempsey (R5) have suggested that the carrier protein may be more generally called lipid carrier protein (LCP), although its binding to squalene and sterol carrier protein may more directly refiect its functional role in cholesterol biosynthesis. Obviously, more work is needed to clearly define both structural role and functional properties of this protein or proteins. 

Kay Is there any evidence of protein-level light-dependent lability in mammalian cryptochrome ... 

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