Taiji Imoto

Protein folding and unfolding are coupled to a range of biological phenomena, from the regulation of cellular activity to the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. Defining the nature of the conformations sampled in nonnative proteins is crucial for understanding the origins of such phenomena. We have used a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and site-directed mutagenesis to study unfolded states of the protein lysozyme. Extensive clusters of hydrophobic structure exist within the wild-type protein even under strongly denaturing conditions. These clusters involve distinct regions of the sequence but are all disrupted by a single point mutation that replaced residue Trp62 with Gly located at the interface of the two major structural domains in the native state. Thus, nativelike structure in the denatured protein is stabilized by the involvement of Trp62 in nonnative and long-range interactions.

Journal Article A Simple Activity Measurement of Lysozyme Get access Taiji Imoto, Taiji Imoto Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Kazuyoshi Yagishita Kazuyoshi Yagishita Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, Volume 35, Issue 7, 1 July 1971, Pages 1154–1156, https://doi.org/10.1080/00021369.1971.10860050 Published: 01 July 1971 Article history Received: 24 April 1971 Published: 01 July 1971

The bulk of the fluorescence of lysozyme is located in Trp 62 and Trp 108. By examination of the fluorescence of derivatives in which Trp 62 and/or Trp 108 are specifically oxidized, it has been possible to detect a pH-dependent interaction between tryptophan residues. This interaction is interpreted as energy transfer from Trp 108 to Trp 62.

A two-phase sequential dynamic change in the secondary structure of hen egg lysozyme (Lys) adsorbed on solid substrates was observed. The first phase involved fast conversion of alpha-helix to random/turns (within the first minute or at very low coverage or high substrate wettability) with no perceptible change in beta-sheet content. The second phase (1-1200 min), however, involved a relatively slow conversion from alpha-helix to beta-sheet without a noticeable change in random/turns. An important finding of this work is that the concentration of lysozyme in the adsorbed state has a substantial effect on the fractional content of secondary structures. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR/FTIR) spectroscopy, along with a newly-developed optimization algorithm for predicting the content of secondary structure motifs, was used to correlate the secondary structure and the amount of adsorbed lysozyme with the surface wettability of six different flat nanoporous substrates. Although three independent variables, surface wettability, solution concentration and time for adsorption, were used to follow the fractional structural changes of lysozyme, the results were all normalized onto a single plot with the amount adsorbed as the universal independent variable. Consequently, lateral interactions among proteins likely drive the transition process. Direct intermolecular force adhesion measurements between lysozyme and different functionalized self-assembled alkanethiol monolayers confirm that hydrophobic surfaces interact strongly with proteins. The lysozyme-unfolding pathway during early adsorption appears to be similar to that predicted by published molecular modeling results.