The interactions of trimannosides 1 and 2 with Con A were studied to reveal the effects of displacement of well-ordered water molecules on the thermodynamic parameters of protein-ligand complexation. Trisaccharide 2 is a derivative of 1, in which the hydroxyl at C-2 of the central mannose unit is replaced by a hydroxyethyl moiety. Upon binding, this moiety displaces a conserved water molecule present in the Con A binding site. Structural studies by NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations showed that the two compounds have very similar solution conformational properties. MD simulations of the complexes of Con A with 1 and 2 demonstrated that the hydroxyethyl side chain of 2 can establish the same hydrogen bonds in a low energy conformation with the protein binding site as those mediated by the water molecule in the complex of 1 with Con A. Isothermal titration microcalorimetry (ITC) measurements showed that 2 has a more favorable entropy of binding compared to 1. This term, which was expected, arises from the return of the highly ordered water molecule to bulk solution. The favorable entropy term was, however, offset by a relatively large unfavorable enthalpy term. This observation was rationalized by comparing the extent of hydrogen bond and solvation changes during binding. It is proposed that an indirect interaction through a water molecule will provide a larger number of hydrogen bonds in the complex that have higher occupancies than in bulk solution, thereby stabilizing the complex.

Neurospora crassa, Aspergillus nidulans, and other ascomycetous fungi are able to utilize a wide array of nitrogen sources, and many of the pathways involved are regulated at the level of transcription by pathway-specific control proteins. When the preferred nitrogen sources ammonium or glutamine are present in the growth medium with an alternative nitrogen source, the pathway for the non-preferred source remains inactive. This situation is known as nitrogen metabolite repression, and the alternate nitrogen utilization pathway is said to be repressed (1). These observations show there is a signal transduction pathway that responds to the presence of ammonium/ glutamine and targets the control of transcription of the genes involved in nitrogen metabolism.

No abstract

The interactions of the chiral surfactants taurodeoxycholate (TDOCA) and deoxycholate (DOCA) with a range of cyclodextrins in aqueous solution have been investigated by isothermal titration microcalorimetry. In the presence of β-cyclodextrin, the apparent critical micelle concentration (cmc) of taurodeoxycholate is increased, and the enthalpy of demicellization decreased, in a manner consistent with 1:1 complexation of TDOCA with β-CD at low concentrations. There is no evidence for direct interaction of cyclodextrins with surfactant micelles. This is confirmed by more direct binding titrations. Below the cmc, TDOCA forms 1:1 host-guest complexes with β-cyclodextrin (ΔH°(bind) = -32 kJ mol(-)(1), K(diss) = 0.38 mM; 25 °C, pH 7), methyl-β-cyclodextrin (ΔH(bind) = -13 kJ mol(-)(1), K(diss) = 0.36 mM), hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (ΔH°(bind) = -12 kJ mol(-)(1), K(diss) = 0.51 mM), and γ-cyclodextrin (ΔH°(bind) = -7.3 kJ mol(-)(1), K(diss) = 0.08 mM), but not with the smaller α-cyclodextrin. At higher cyclodextrin concentrations, the calorimetric binding data are more ambiguous, suggesting 2:1 cyclodextrin/TDOCA complexation. Similar results are found with DOCA, though experiments here are limited by the tendency of DOCA to form gels in aqueous buffers. Enhanced chromatographic or electrophoretic chiral resolution observed in mixed chiral surfactant/cyclodextrin phases could be the result of increased solubility and/or the multiplicity of chiral complexes in such systems.

We have used microcalorimetry and analytical ultracentrifugation to test the model proposed in Pettigrew et al. [(1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 11383-11389] for the binding of small cytochromes to the cytochrome c peroxidase of Paracoccus denitrificans. Both methods reveal complexity in behavior due to the presence of a monomer/dimer equilibrium in the peroxidase. In the presence of either Ca(2+), or higher ionic strength, this equilibrium is shifted to the dimer. Experiments to study complex formation with redox partners were performed in the presence of Ca(2+) in order to simplify the equilibria that had to be considered. The results of isothermal titration calorimetry reveal that the enzyme can bind two molecules of horse cytochrome c with K(d) values of 0.8 microM and 2.5 microM (at 25 degrees C, pH 6.0, I = 0.026) but only one molecule of Paracoccus cytochrome c-550 with a K(d) of 2.8 microM, molar binding ratios confirmed by ultracentrifugation. For both horse cytochrome c and Paracoccus cytochrome c-550, the binding is endothermic and driven by a large entropy change, a pattern consistent with the expulsion of water molecules from the interface. For horse cytochrome c, the binding is weakened 3-fold at I = 0.046 M due to a smaller entropy change, and this is associated with an increase in enzyme turnover. In contrast, neither the binding of cytochrome c-550 nor its oxidation rate is affected by raising the ionic strength in this range. We propose that, at low ionic strength, horse cytochrome c is trapped in a nonproductive orientation on a broad capture surface of the peroxidase.