Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of denatured proteins

Abstract

The proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of 11 proteins (molecular weight range 5700-650000) has been investigated in five denaturing solvents, viz., trifluoroacetic acid-d, formic acid, dichloroacetic acid, 6M guanidine hydrochloride in D₂O, and 8M urea in D₂O. The chemical shifts, line-widths, and intensities of the resonances have been measured of the histidine C2 protons, the methionine SCH₃ protons and methyl protons of leucine, isoleucine, and valine, the aromatic protons, and the α-CH protons.     It is found that, with some exceptions delineated below, the line- widths of the methyl resonances are constant for a particular solvent, independent of the molecular weight of the protein. This indicates that, in general, the proteins behave as random coil structures in these solvents, which confirms the conclusion reached by Tanford and co-workers^1-4 for 6M guanidine hydrochloride.     However, methyl line broadening occurs in dichloroacetic acid for catalase and fibrinogen, in guanidine hydrochloride for insulin, and in urea for insulin and lysozyme. Furthermore, the C 2 histidine resonance is absent in dichloroacetic acid solutions of thyroglobulin, catalase, and fibrinogen; the SCH₃ resonance is absent in myoglobin in trifluoroacetic acid-d and occurs as a doublet for trypsin in guanidine hydrochloride and in urea. A general line broadening of resonances indicates association and/or incomplete unfolding of molecules, whereas perturbations of only one particular resonance, as in the cases detailed above, are probably due to intramolecular non-covalent interactions which involve the perturbed group and another unspecified group in the protein.