0000000000147993
AUTHOR
Peter Flecker
Template-Directed Protein Folding into a Metastable State of Increased Activity
The principal objective of this work was to distinguish between kinetic and thermodynamic reaction control in protein folding. The deleterious effects of a specific mutation on spontaneous refolding competence were analyzed for this purpose. A Bowman-Birk-type proteinase inhibitor of trypsin and chymotrypsin was selected as a double-headed model protein to facilitate the detection of functional irregularities by the use of functional assays. The parent protein spontaneously folds into a single, fully active and thermodynamically stable state in a redox buffer after reduction/denaturation. By contrast, the properties of a P'1Ser--Pro variant in the trypsin-reactive subdomain differ before an…
Analysis of Structure-Activity Relationships of the Bowman-Birk Inhibitor of Serine Proteinases
Proteinase inhibitors are a class of the various dietary inhibitors of mutagenesis and carcinogenesis (Hayatsu et al., 1988). Schelp and Pongpaew (1988) have recently hypothesized that protection against cancer may result from an increase of endogenous proteinase inhibitors such as α2-macroglobulin induced by diets that are low in calories and fat. The Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) of serine proteinases, a double-headed polypeptide-inhibitor of trypsin and chymotrypsin, is one of the most potent cancer chemopreventive agents (Yavelow et al., 1983, 1985). Recently, this property has been substantiated in an in vivo investigation using mice (St. Clair et al., 1990) that were exposed to dimethyl…
Mutational analysis of disulfide bonds in the trypsin-reactive subdomain of a Bowman-Birk-type inhibitor of trypsin and chymotrypsin--cooperative versus autonomous refolding of subdomains.
It is widely believed that protein folding is a hierarchical process proceeding from secondary structure via subdomains and domains towards the complete tertiary structure. Accordingly, protein subdomains should behave as independent folding units. However, this prediction would underestimate the well-established structural significance of tertiary context and domain interfaces in proteins. The principal objective of this work was to distinguish between autonomous and cooperative refolding of protein subdomains by means of mutational analysis. The double-headed Bowman-Birk inhibitor of trypsin and chymotrypsin of known crystal structure was selected for study. The relative orientation of th…
Proteolytic cleavage of soybean Bowman-Birk inhibitor monitored by means of high-performance capillary electrophoresis. Implications for the mechanism of proteinase inhibitors
The hydrolysis of the soybean Bowman-Birk inhibitor in the presence of catalytic amounts of bovine trypsin and the formation of the non-covalent enzyme-inhibitor complex with an equimolar amount of enzyme are monitored by means of high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE). The inhibitor is cleaved in the trypsin-reactive and more slowly in the chymotrypsin-reactive subdomain. HPCE proves itself as the only reliable analytical tool to monitor these reactions in clear contrast to classical electrophoretic, chromatographic and enzymatic methods. The most efficient separation of the intact and the two active site cleaved forms of the inhibitor was achieved in borate buffer at pH 10.0. T…
Crystal structure of the bifunctional soybean Bowman-Birk inhibitor at 0.28-nm resolution. Structural peculiarities in a folded protein conformation.
The Bowman-Birk inhibitor from soybean is a small protein that contains a binary arrangement of trypsin-reactive and chymotrypsin-reactive subdomains. In this report, the crystal structure of this anticarcinogenic protein has been determined to 0.28-nm resolution by molecular replacement from crystals grown at neutral pH. The crystal structure differs from a previously determined NMR structure [Werner, M. H. & Wemmer, D. E. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 999-1010] in the relative orientation of the two enzyme-insertion loops, in some details of the main chain trace, in the presence of favourable contacts in the trypsin-insertion loop, and in the orientation of several amino acid side chains. The p…