Proton in protein

Glick, M. and Goldblum, A. (2000) A novel energy-based stochastic method for positioning polar protons in protein structures from X-rays. Proteins Struct. Func. Gen. 38, 273-287. 

NMR relaxation of protons in proteins is dominated by the dipole-dipole relaxation mechanism. For aromatic, geminal or methyl protons this involves protons separated by a fixed intemuclear distance, and for which the internal motion of the groups is simple and well understood (9-11). The NMR relaxation of protons relaxing via the intramolecular dipole-dipole mechanism [where the contributions of internal motion are not yet considered] is given by... 

Nonexponential NMR relaxation was reported several years ago for water protons in protein crystals (12). This report has been largely ignored apparently because of a less than adequate explanation that leaned heavily on a chemical exchange model. 

Studies of electrical interactions in proteins, polypeptides, and amino acids started over 60 years ago [1]. To a large extent, electrostatic properties of proteins are determined by the ability of certain amino acids to exchange protons with their environment and the dependence of these processes on pH. The proton occupies a special position as a promoter and iiuxliator in... 

Iron Sulfur Compounds. Many molecular compounds (18—20) are known in which iron is tetrahedraHy coordinated by a combination of thiolate and sulfide donors. Of the 10 or more stmcturaHy characterized classes of Fe—S compounds, the four shown in Figure 1 are known to occur in proteins. The mononuclear iron site REPLACE occurs in the one-iron bacterial electron-transfer protein mbredoxin. The [2Fe—2S] (10) and [4Fe—4S] (12) cubane stmctures are found in the 2-, 4-, and 8-iron ferredoxins, which are also electron-transfer proteins. The [3Fe—4S] voided cubane stmcture (11) has been found in some ferredoxins and in the inactive form of aconitase, the enzyme which catalyzes the stereospecific hydration—rehydration of citrate to isocitrate in the Krebs cycle. In addition, enzymes are known that contain either other types of iron sulfur clusters or iron sulfur clusters that include other metals. Examples include nitrogenase, which reduces N2 to NH at a MoFe Sg homocitrate cluster carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, which assembles acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) at a FeNiS site and hydrogenases, which catalyze the reversible reduction of protons to hydrogen gas. 

Continuum electrostatic approaches based on the Poisson equation have been used to address a wide variety of problems in biology. One particularly useful application is in the determination of the protonation state of titratable groups in proteins [46]. For... 

T. C. Bruice and S. I Benkovic, Bioorganic Mechanisms, Vol. 1, W. A. Benjamin, New brk, 1966, pp. 1-258 W. P. Jencks, Catalysis in Chemistry and Enzymology, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969 M. L. Bender, Mechanisms of Homogeneous Catalysis from Protons to Proteins, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1971 C. Walsh, Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1979 A. Fersht, Enzyme Structure and Mechanism, 2nd ed., W. H. Freeman, New York, 1985. 

FIGURE 5.23 Electrospmy mass spectrum of the protein, aerolysin K. The attachment of many protons per protein molecule (from less than 30 to more than 50 here) leads to a series of m/z peaks for this single protein. The inset shows a computer analysis of the data from this series of peaks that generates a single peak at the correct molecular mass of the protein. (Adapted from Figure 2 in Mann, M., and Wilm, M., 1995. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 20 219-224.)... 

ITowever, membrane proteins can also be distributed in nonrandom ways across the surface of a membrane. This can occur for several reasons. Some proteins must interact intimately with certain other proteins, forming multisubunit complexes that perform specific functions in the membrane. A few integral membrane proteins are known to self-associate in the membrane, forming large multimeric clusters. Bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven proton pump protein, forms such clusters, known as purple patches, in the membranes of Halobacterium halobium (Eigure 9.9). The bacteriorhodopsin protein in these purple patches forms highly ordered, two-dimensional crystals. 

The gradients of H, Na, and other cations and anions established by ATPases and other energy sources can be used for secondary active transport of various substrates. The best-understood systems use Na or gradients to transport amino acids and sugars in certain cells. Many of these systems operate as symports, with the ion and the transported amino acid or sugar moving in the same direction (that is, into the cell). In antiport processes, the ion and the other transported species move in opposite directions. (For example, the anion transporter of erythrocytes is an antiport.) Proton symport proteins are used by E. coU and other bacteria to accumulate lactose, arabinose, ribose, and a variety of amino acids. E. coli also possesses Na -symport systems for melibiose as well as for glutamate and other amino acids. 

Why has nature chosen this rather convoluted path for electrons in Complex 111 First of all. Complex 111 takes up two protons on the matrix side of the inner membrane and releases four protons on the cytoplasmic side for each pair of electrons that passes through the Q cycle. The apparent imbalance of two protons in ior four protons out is offset by proton translocations in Complex rV, the cytochrome oxidase complex. The other significant feature of this mechanism is that it offers a convenient way for a two-electron carrier, UQHg, to interact with the bj and bfj hemes, the Rieske protein Fe-S cluster, and cytochrome C, all of which are one-electron carriers. 

What molecular architecture couples the absorption of light energy to rapid electron-transfer events, in turn coupling these e transfers to proton translocations so that ATP synthesis is possible Part of the answer to this question lies in the membrane-associated nature of the photosystems. Membrane proteins have been difficult to study due to their insolubility in the usual aqueous solvents employed in protein biochemistry. A major breakthrough occurred in 1984 when Johann Deisenhofer, Hartmut Michel, and Robert Huber reported the first X-ray crystallographic analysis of a membrane protein. To the great benefit of photosynthesis research, this protein was the reaction center from the photosynthetic purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis. This research earned these three scientists the 1984 Nobel Prize in chemistry. 

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