Conformational aspects of the Cu2+ binding to alpha-lactalbumin. Characterization and stability of the Cu-bound state.

By circular dichroism experiments the existence of a typical Cu2(+)-bound state is demonstrated for bovine- and for goat alpha-lactalbumin. As in the near-UV region an important ligand to metal charge-transfer band overlaps with the aromatic band of the protein, a subtraction method is developed in order to determine the net effect of Cu2+ ions on the protein conformation. The Cu2(+)-bound state, characterized by a vanishing tertiary structure and a substantial loss of secondary structure, clearly differs from the well-known Ca2(+)-, apo-, and acid conformers. At room temperature, the Cu2+ binding has already decreased the alpha-helix content of bovine alpha-lactalbumin to the extent that further unfolding by thermal or guanidine hydrochloride denaturation behaves in a non-cooperative way. Since for goat alpha-lactalbumin the Cu2+ binding to His-68 is much less important than for bovine alpha-lactalbumin, we observe a somewhat different conformational behaviour for goat alpha-lactalbumin. The results of this conformational circular dichroism study are confirmed by isothermal calorimetric data.

A circular dichroic study of Cu(II) binding to bovine alpha-lactalbumin.

The visible and ultraviolet circular dichroic spectra resulting from the interaction of bovine alpha-lactalbumin with successive Cu(II) ions have been recorded under a variety of conditions. Analysis of the observed change-transfer and d-d band transitions can be made in terms of two kinds of binding sites: at a histidyl group and at the N-terminal amino group, respectively. At basic pH the amide nitrogens of the peptide backbone progressively take part in the coordination. The occupation of the high affinity calcium binding site by Ca(II) and Mn(II) does not influence the Cu(II) binding process, suggesting that there is no direct interaction between this site and the Cu(II) binding sites.

Comparison of the Cu2+ binding to bovine, goat and human alpha-lactalbumin.

Cu2+ binds to bovine alpha-lactalbumin at two different sites, principally at a hystidyl residue and in second instance at a deprotonated amide group. In human alpha-lactalbumin, that is lacking His 68, only the second binding site was observed, so that evidence is given that His 68 in bovine alpha-lactalbumin is responsible for the major Cu2+ binding. In goat alpha-lactalbumin, the histidyl binding effectively occurs but only to a lesser degree as the accessibility of His 68 is reduced by the greater compactness of goat alpha-lactalbumin. In the three species the Cu2+ binding is independent on the occupation of the primary Ca(2+)- site.

Thermodynamics of Mn(2+)-binding to goat alpha-lactalbumin.

By means of reaction calorimetry we measured the apparent enthalpy change, delta Happ, of the binding of Mn(2+)-ions to goat alpha-lactalbumin as a function of temperature. The observed delta Happ can be written as the sum of contributions resulting from a conformational and a binding process. In combination with the thermal unfolding curve of goat alpha-lactalbumin, we succeeded in separating the complete set of thermodynamic parameters (delta H, delta G, delta S, delta Cp) into the binding and conformational contributions. By circular dichroism we showed that NH+4-ions, upon binding to bovine alpha-lactalbumin, induce the same conformational change as do Na+ and K+: the binding constant KappNH+4 equals 98 +/- 9 M-1.