Model studies on lectins and their interactions with carbohydrate ligands in solution are essential to gain insights into the driving forces for complex formation and to optimize programs for computer simulations. The specific interaction of pseudohevein with N,N', N"-triacetylchitotriose has been analyzed by (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. Because of its small size, with a chain length of 45 amino acids, this lectin is a prime target to solution-structure determination by NOESY NMR experiments in water. The NMR-analysis was extended to assessment of the topology of the complex between pseudohevein and N, N',N"-triacetylchitotriose. NOESY experiments in water solution provided 342 protein proton-proton distance constraints. Binding of the ligand did not affect the pattern of the protein nuclear Overhauser effect signal noticeably, what would otherwise be indicative of a ligand-induced conformational change. The average backbone (residues 3-41) RMSD of the 20 refined structures was 1.14 A, whereas the heavy atom RMSD was 2.18 A. Two different orientations of the trisaccharide within the pseudohevein binding site are suggested, furnishing an explanation in structural terms for the lectin's capacity to target chitin. In both cases, hydrogen bonds and van der Waals contacts confer stability to the complexes. This conclusion is corroborated by the thermodynamic parameters of binding determined by NMR and isothermal titration calorimetry. The association process was enthalpically driven. In relation to hevein, the Trp/Tyr-substitution in the binding pocket has only a small effect on the free energy of binding in contrast to engineered galectin-1 and a mammalian C-type lectin. A comparison of the three-dimensional structure of pseudohevein in solution to those reported for wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) in the solid state and for hevein and WGA-B in solution has been performed, providing a data source about structural variability of the hevein domains. The experimentally derived structures and the values of the solvent accessibilities for several key residues have also been compared with conformations obtained by molecular dynamics simulations, pointing to the necessity to further refine the programs to enhance their predictive reliability and, thus, underscoring the importance of this kind of combined analysis in model systems.

1H-NMR cross-relaxation rates and nonselective longitudinal relaxation times have been obtained at two magnetic fields (7.0 and 11.8 T) and at a variety of temperatures for the branched tetrasaccharide methyl 3-O-alpha-N-acetyl-galactosaminyl-beta-galactopyranosyl-(1-->4)[3-O-alph a -fucosyl]-glucopyranoside (1), an inhibitor of astrocyte growth. In addition, 13C-NMR relaxation data have also been recorded at both fields. The 1H-NMR relaxation data have been interpreted using different motional models to obtain proton-proton correlation times. The results indicate that the GalNAc and Fuc rings display more extensive local motion than the two inner Glc and Gal moieties, since those present significantly shorter local correlation times. The 13C-NMR relaxation parameters have been interpreted in terms of the Lipari-Szabo model-free approach. Thus, order parameters and internal motion correlation times have been deduced. As obtained for the 1H-NMR relaxation data, the two outer residues possess smaller order parameters than the two inner rings. Internal correlation times are in the order of 100 ps. The hydroxymethyl groups have also different behaviour, with the exocyclic carbon on the glucopyranoside unit showing the highest S2. Molecular dynamics simulations using a solvated system have also been performed and internal motion correlation functions have been deduced from these calculations. Order parameters and interproton distances have been compared to those inferred from the NMR measurements. The obtained results are in fair agreement with the experimental data.