INVESTIGADORES
ROMAN Ernesto Andres
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The amphipaticity concept: a key to understand protein folding from the interaction of a peptide with SDS
Autor/es:
ERNESTO A. ROMAN; PABLO ROSI; MARIANO CAMILO GONZALEZ LEBRERO; FRANCISCO LUIS GONZALEZ FLECHA; JOSÉ MARÍA DELFINO; JAVIER SANTOS
Lugar:
Buzios, RJ, Brasil.
Reunión:
Congreso; VII Iberoamerican Congress of Biophysics; 2009
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Iberoamericana de Biofisica
Resumen:
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Goal. In order to gain insights in the problem of the
protein folding, we studied structure induction by non protein contacts network.
Methods. We have studied how an amphipatic peptide of
the surface of the globular protein thioredoxin (TRX94-108), acquires a
native-like structure when becomes involved in an apolar interaction network
which is simulated by SDS molecules. For this purpose, we designed peptides
variants where the tendency to form the putative α-helical conformation is
modulated by replacing each of the leucines by alanines. Characterization was
performed by capillary zone electrophoresis, circular dichroism and molecular
dynamics simulation. In addition, we analyzed the strength of the interaction
between the hydrophobic C-18 RF-HPLC matrix and the peptides.
Results. We established the existence of critical elements
in the sequence of wild-type peptide to form SDS/Peptide Complex. The results
reveal that the nature of the interaction between SDS molecules and peptide
TRX94-108 is basically hydrophobic and points to the length of the detergent
chain as a main factor that constrains the conformation ensemble of peptide
TRX94-108 in
solution. This strongly suggests the existence of a correlation between binding
and folding transition.
Conclusions. The contact network formed by SDS molecules and
C18 matrix serves as a transitory structural scaffold that is used to preserve
the conformation of the folding element which unstable in solution. This
mechanism does not require a preformed tightly-packed core, thus the formation
of the specific tertiary interactions is a consequence of peptide folding and
not the cause. We concluded that folding might be thought as a process that
combines unspecific/specific stabilization rounds. We reasoned that this kind
of interaction may be a good solution to the Levinthal paradox.