Estimating the degree of expansion in the transition state for protein unfolding: analysis of the pH dependence of the rate constant for caricain denaturation.

The thermal denaturation of caricain (the most alkaline of papain-related proteinases) was studied in acid media. Under all conditions tested, caricain denatured irreversibly following a single first-order reaction that involves simultaneous loss of secondary and tertiary structures. Besides, variation of the rate constant with temperature gave linear Eyring's plots. Thus, despite its irreversibility, this process resembles the kinetics of reversible protein unfolding. Due to the basicity of caricain, all of the carboxylates in the native protein interact with nearby positively charged groups. Then, it may be thought that pK values of titratable sites are mainly influenced by interactions of this type. Accordingly, we set up a simple electrostatic perturbation model, based on charge-charge interactions at distances not larger than 10 A, which reproduces reasonably well the titration curve of native caricain. Because the pH dependence of the activation free energy for unfolding (DeltaG()) can be related to differences in the protonation behavior of the native (N) state with respect to the transition (TS) state, the model was further used to analyze the experimental DeltaG() vs pH curve. Results from this analysis suggest that there is an increase of about 3 A in the average ion-pair distance when N globally expands to form TS. Alternatively, if the expansion were restricted to only one molecular domain, the structure of this domain in TS would be highly disordered. In either case, it is probable that the solvent-accessible area augments significantly during the expansion.

pH dependence of the activation parameters for chymopapain unfolding: influence of ion pairs on the kinetic stability of proteins.

We studied the irreversible thermal denaturation of chymopapain, a papain-related cysteine proteinase. It was found that this process follows simple first-order kinetics under all conditions tested. Rate constants determined by monitoring ellipticity changes at 220 or 279 nm are essentially identical, indicating that denaturation involves global unfolding of the protein. Enthalpies (DeltaH(double dagger)) and entropies (DeltaS(double dagger)) of activation for unfolding were determined at various pH values from the temperature dependence of the rate constant. In the pH range 1.1-3.0, a large variation of both DeltaH(double dagger) and DeltaS(double dagger) was observed. For the few proteins studied so far (lysozyme, trypsin, barnase) it is known that activation parameters for unfolding vary little with pH. It is proposed that this contrasting behavior of chymopapain originates from the numerous ion pairs - especially those with low solvent accessibilities - present in its molecular structure. In contrast, fewer, more exposed ion pairs are present in the other proteins mentioned above. Our results were analyzed in terms of differences in the protonation behavior of carboxylic groups between the transition (TS) and native (N) states of the protein. For this purpose, a model of independently titrating sites was assumed, which explained reasonably well the pH dependence of activation parameters, as well as the protonation properties of native chymopapain. According to these calculations, pK values of carboxyls in TS are shifted 0.6-0.9 units upwards with respect to those in N. In addition, some groups in TS appear to be protonated with unusually large enthalpy changes.

Cooperativity in the unfolding transitions of cysteine proteinases. Calorimetric study of the heat denaturation of chymopapain and papain.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was employed to study the thermal unfolding of chymopapain (EC 3.4.22.6) and papain (EC 3.4.22.2), two highly homologous cysteine proteinases from Carica papaya. Under all pH conditions used, both enzymes showed irreversible thermal denaturation. However, results from experiments performed at two different scanning rates suggest that interpretation of data in terms of equilibrium thermodynamics is not unreasonable. For papain, the ratio of calorimetric (delta Hcal) to van't Hoff (delta HvH) enthalpies approximated to 2.0. This value indicates that papain domains unfold almost independently, as it has been reported previously. In contrast, chymopapain displayed a more cooperative behavior with a delta Hcal to delta HvH ratio of 1.3-1.4. DSC curves were analyzed in terms of a mechanism that includes domain-domain interactions. The results showed a negligible interdomain free energy in the case of papain, but a significant value of approx. 1.0 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.184 J) for chymopapain. These two proteins also differed in the unfolding heat-capacity change, delta Cp, which suggests that their native structures bury different amounts of nonpolar surface area.

Circular dichroism of cysteine proteinases from papaya latex. Evidence of differences in the folding of their polypeptide chains.

Two forms of proteinase omega were isolated from a commercial preparation of chymopapain (EC 3.4.22.6) by means of cation-exchange liquid chromatography. Their circular dichroism (CD) spectra in the 182-320 nm region indicated that the two forms possess closely related structures. For comparison, we also recorded the CD spectra of chromatographically purified samples of papain (EC 3.422.2) and the most abundant form of chymopapain. According to the qualitative criteria proposed by Manavalan and Johnson (1983) Nature 305, 831-832), the spectral characteristics of papain correctly indicate that this protein belongs to the alpha + beta class. Proteinase omega is also placed in the alpha + beta category, while chymopapain seems to be an alpha/beta protein. Quantitative estimation of secondary structures yielded contents of helices and parallel beta-sheet that were higher in the case of chymopapain. Thus, the results of this work suggest that there are some differences in the folding pattern of chymopapain with respect to the other two proteinases. This proposal seems unexpected when the high amino acid sequence identity among these enzymes is considered.

Structural similarity of chymopapain forms as indicated by circular dichroism.

Four chymopapain forms were isolated by high-resolution liquid chromatography on a cation-exchange column. The three major forms possess nearly identical secondary and tertiary structures, as judged from their c.d. spectra; these components showed similar proteolytic activity and Mr values close to that of papain. The fourth isolated component seems to be a mixture of modified proteins.