Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) plays an important role in a variety of biological processes and is also associated with protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases. Quantification of LLPS is necessary to...
Knowledge of the dynamical behavior of proteins, and in particular their conformational fluctuations, is essential to understanding the mechanisms underlying their reactions. Here, transient enhancement of the isothermal partial molar compressibility, which is directly related to the conformational fluctuation, during a chemical reaction of a blue light sensor protein from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1 (TePixD, Tll0078) was investigated in a time-resolved manner. The UV-Vis absorption spectrum of TePixD did not change with the application of high pressure. Conversely, the transient grating signal intensities representing the volume change depended significantly on the pressure. This result implies that the compressibility changes during the reaction. From the pressure dependence of the amplitude, the compressibility change of two short-lived intermediate (I 1 and I 2 ) states were determined to be +(5.6 ± 0.6) × 10 −2 cm 3 ·mol −1 ·MPa −1 for I 1 and +(6.6 ± 0.7)×10 −2 cm 3 ·mol −1 ·MPa −1 for I 2 . This result showed that the structural fluctuation of intermediates was enhanced during the reaction. To clarify the relationship between the fluctuation and the reaction, the compressibility of multiply excited TePixD was investigated. The isothermal compressibility of I 1 and I 2 intermediates of TePixD showed a monotonic decrease with increasing excitation laser power, and this tendency correlated with the reactivity of the protein. This result indicates that the TePixD decamer cannot react when its structural fluctuation is small. We concluded that the enhanced compressibility is an important factor for triggering the reaction of TePixD. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing enhanced fluctuations of intermediate species during a protein reaction, supporting the importance of fluctuations. P roteins often transfer information through changes in domaindomain (or intermolecular) interactions. Photosensor proteins are an important example. They have light-sensing domains and function by using the light-driven changes in domain-domain interactions (1). The sensor of blue light using FAD (BLUF) domain is a light-sensing module found widely among the bacterial kingdom (2). The BLUF domain initiates its photoreaction by the light excitation of the flavin moiety inside the protein, which changes the domain-domain interaction, causing a quaternary structural change and finally transmitting biological signals (3, 4). It has been an important research topic to elucidate how the initial photochemistry occurring in the vicinity of the chromophore leads to the subsequent large conformation change in other domains, which are generally apart from the chromophore.It may be reasonable to consider that the conformation change in the BLUF domain is the driving force in its subsequent reaction; that is, the change in domain-domain interaction. However, sometimes, clear conformational changes have not been observed for the BLUF domain; its conformation is very similar before and after p...
Liquid–liquid
phase separation (LLPS) is an important phenomenon
in biology, and it is desirable to develop quantitative methods to
analyze protein droplets generated by LLPS. This study quantified
the change in protein concentration in a droplet in label-free and
single-droplet conditions using Raman imaging and the Raman band of
water as an intensity standard. Small changes in the protein concentration
with variations in pH and salt concentration were observed, and it
was shown that the concentration in the droplet decreases as the conditions
become less favorable for droplet formation. The effect of exposure
to 1,6-hexanediol was also examined, and this additive was found to
decrease the protein concentration in the droplet. A model can be
proposed in which the addition of 1,6-hexanediol reduces the protein
concentration in the droplet, and the droplet disappears when the
concentration falls below a certain threshold value.
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