scholarly journals Interplay between Conformational Entropy and Solvation Entropy in Protein–Ligand Binding

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
pp. 2012-2026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Luisa Verteramo ◽  
Olof Stenström ◽  
Majda Misini Ignjatović ◽  
Octav Caldararu ◽  
Martin A. Olsson ◽  
...  
2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Akke

Protein conformational dynamics can be critical for ligand binding in two ways that relate to kinetics and thermodynamics respectively. First, conformational transitions between different substates can control access to the binding site (kinetics). Secondly, differences between free and ligand-bound states in their conformational fluctuations contribute to the entropy of ligand binding (thermodynamics). In the present paper, I focus on the second topic, summarizing our recent results on the role of conformational entropy in ligand binding to Gal3C (the carbohydrate-recognition domain of galectin-3). NMR relaxation experiments provide a unique probe of conformational entropy by characterizing bond-vector fluctuations at atomic resolution. By monitoring differences between the free and ligand-bound states in their backbone and side chain order parameters, we have estimated the contributions from conformational entropy to the free energy of binding. Overall, the conformational entropy of Gal3C increases upon ligand binding, thereby contributing favourably to the binding affinity. Comparisons with the results from isothermal titration calorimetry indicate that the conformational entropy is comparable in magnitude to the enthalpy of binding. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the dynamic response to binding of different ligands, despite the fact that the protein structure is virtually identical in the different protein–ligand complexes. Thus both affinity and specificity of ligand binding to Gal3C appear to depend in part on subtle differences in the conformational fluctuations that reflect the complex interplay between structure, dynamics and ligand interactions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Caro ◽  
Kathleen G. Valentine ◽  
A. Joshua Wand

AbstractThe thermodynamics of molecular recognition by proteins is a central determinant of complex biochemistry. For over a half-century detailed cryogenic structures have provided deep insight into the energetic contributions to ligand binding by proteins1. More recently, a dynamical proxy based on NMR-relaxation methods has revealed an unexpected richness in the contributions of conformational entropy to the thermodynamics of ligand binding2,3,4,5. There remains, however, a discomforting absence of an understanding of the structural origins of fast internal motion and the conformational entropy that this motion represents. Here we report the pressure-dependence of fast internal motion within the ribonuclease barnase and its complex with the protein barstar. Distinctive clustering of the pressure sensitivity correlates with the presence of small packing defects or voids surrounding affected side chains. Prompted by this observation, we performed an analysis of the voids surrounding over 2,500 methyl-bearing side chains having experimentally determined order parameters. We find that changes in unoccupied volume as small as a single water molecule surrounding buried side chains greatly affects motion on the subnanosecond timescale. The discovered relationship begins to permit construction of a united view of the relationship between changes in the internal energy, as exposed by detailed structural analysis, and the conformational entropy, as represented by fast internal motion, in the thermodynamics of protein function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 476 (21) ◽  
pp. 3141-3159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meiru Si ◽  
Can Chen ◽  
Zengfan Wei ◽  
Zhijin Gong ◽  
GuiZhi Li ◽  
...  

Abstract MarR (multiple antibiotic resistance regulator) proteins are a family of transcriptional regulators that is prevalent in Corynebacterium glutamicum. Understanding the physiological and biochemical function of MarR homologs in C. glutamicum has focused on cysteine oxidation-based redox-sensing and substrate metabolism-involving regulators. In this study, we characterized the stress-related ligand-binding functions of the C. glutamicum MarR-type regulator CarR (C. glutamicum antibiotic-responding regulator). We demonstrate that CarR negatively regulates the expression of the carR (ncgl2886)–uspA (ncgl2887) operon and the adjacent, oppositely oriented gene ncgl2885, encoding the hypothetical deacylase DecE. We also show that CarR directly activates transcription of the ncgl2882–ncgl2884 operon, encoding the peptidoglycan synthesis operon (PSO) located upstream of carR in the opposite orientation. The addition of stress-associated ligands such as penicillin and streptomycin induced carR, uspA, decE, and PSO expression in vivo, as well as attenuated binding of CarR to operator DNA in vitro. Importantly, stress response-induced up-regulation of carR, uspA, and PSO gene expression correlated with cell resistance to β-lactam antibiotics and aromatic compounds. Six highly conserved residues in CarR were found to strongly influence its ligand binding and transcriptional regulatory properties. Collectively, the results indicate that the ligand binding of CarR induces its dissociation from the carR–uspA promoter to derepress carR and uspA transcription. Ligand-free CarR also activates PSO expression, which in turn contributes to C. glutamicum stress resistance. The outcomes indicate that the stress response mechanism of CarR in C. glutamicum occurs via ligand-induced conformational changes to the protein, not via cysteine oxidation-based thiol modifications.


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