No abstract

Denaturant m values, the dependence of the free energy of unfolding on denaturant concentration, have been collected for a large set of proteins. The m value correlates very strongly with the amount of protein surface exposed to solvent upon unfolding, with linear correlation coefficients of R = 0.84 for urea and R = 0.87 for guanidine hydrochloride. These correlations improve to R = 0.90 when the effect of disulfide bonds on the accessible area of the unfolded protein is included. A similar dependence on accessible surface area has been found previously for the heat capacity change (AC,), which is confirmed here for our set of proteins. Denaturant m values and heat capacity changes also correlate well with each other. For proteins that undergo a simple two-state unfolding mechanism, the amount of surface exposed to solvent upon unfolding is a main structural determinant for both m values and AC,, Keywords: denaturation; guanidine hydrochloride; heat capacity changes; m values; protein folding; protein stability; solvent-accessible surface area; urea It has been known for many years that proteins can be unfolded in aqueous solution by high concentrations of certain reagents such as guanidine hydrochloride or urea. Denaturation with these chemicals is one of the primary ways of measuring the conformational stability of proteins and comparing the stabilities of mutant proteins. The use of these two denaturants is extremely widespread (Pace, 1986), even though the exact nature of the molecular interaction of denaturant molecules with protein surfaces is not well understood. It is known from solubility and transfer experiments with model compounds that the interaction of urea and Gdn HCI with the constituent groups of proteins is more favorable than the interaction of those groups with water (Tanford, 1970). These denaturants alter the equi-~"

SYNOPSISThermal unfolding curves have been measured for a series of short alanine-based peptides that contain repeating sequences and varying chain lengths. Standard helix-coil theory successfully fits the observed transition curves, even for these short peptides. The results provide values for u, the helix nucleation constant, AH", the enthalpy change on helix formation, and for s( O"C), the average helix propagation parameter at 0°C. The enthalpy change agrees with the value determined calorimetrically. The success of helix-coil theory in describing the unfolding transitions of short peptides in water indicates that helical propensities, or s values, can be determined from substitution experiments in short alaninebased peptides.

We tabulated 541 measured pK values reported in the literature for the Asp, Glu, His, Cys, Tyr, and Lys side chains, and the C and N termini of 78 folded proteins. The majority of these values are for the Asp, Glu, and His side chains. The average pK values are Asp 3.5 6 1.2 (139); Glu 4.2 6 0.9 (153); His 6.6 6 1.0 (131); Cys 6.8 6 2.7 (25); Tyr 10.3 6 1.2 (20); Lys 10.5 6 1.1 (35); Cterminus 3.3 6 0.8 (22) and N-terminus 7.7 6 0.5 (16). We compare these results with the measured pK values of these groups in alanine pentapeptides, and comment on our overall findings.