The mouse pheromones (±)-2-sec-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole (SBT) and 6-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-heptanone (HMH) bind into an occluded hydrophobic cavity in the mouse major urinary protein (MUP-1). Although the ligands are structurally unrelated, in both cases binding is accompanied by formation of a similar buried, water-mediated hydrogen bond network between the ligand and several backbone and side chain groups on the protein. To investigate the energetic contribution of this hydrogen bond network to ligand binding, we have applied isothermal titration calorimetry to measure the binding thermodynamics using several MUP mutants and ligand analogs. Mutation of Tyr-120 to Phe, which disrupts a hydrogen bond from the phenolic hydroxyl group of Tyr-120 to one of the bound water molecules, results in a substantial loss of favorable binding enthalpy, which is partially compensated by a favorable change in binding entropy. A similar thermodynamic effect was observed when the hydrogen bonded nitrogen atom of the heterocyclic ligand was replaced by a methyne group. Several other modifications of the protein or ligand had smaller effects on the binding thermodynamics. The data provide supporting evidence for the role of the hydrogen bond network in stabilizing the complex.Keywords: enthalpy; hydrogen bond; major urinary protein; pheromone; thermodynamics; water Supplemental material: see www.proteinscience.orgThere is widespread interest in the roles that water molecules play in the stabilization and function of macromolecules and their complexes. X-ray crystal structures of proteins typically reveal many localized water molecules on the protein surface, in crevices, and sometimes buried within the protein interior or in the interfaces between proteins and bound ligands (Janin 1999;Mattos 2002). In favorable cases, NMR experiments can reveal the residence times of these water molecules (Halle and Denisov 2001). However, the contributions made by water molecule interactions to the stability of a folded structure or a complex cannot be reliably deduced from structural and dynamic data. One approach to establishing the importance of buried water has been to compare the positions of these solvent molecules in multiple high-resolution structures, obtained for different members of the same protein family or for the same protein under different crystallization conditions (Sadasivan et al. 1998;Loris et al. 1999;Nakasako 1999). An alternative approach has been to disrupt interactions with the water molecules by mutation of the relevant protein groups; such Abbreviations: HEWL, hen egg white lysozyme; HMH, 6-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-heptanone; ITC, isothermal titration calorimetry; MCP, 1-methyl-1-cyclopentene; MF, 4,5-dihydro-2-methylfuran; MO, 2-methyloxazoline; MP, 2-methyl-1-pyrroline; MT, 2-methyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole; MUP, major urinary protein; SBT, (±)-2-sec-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole.Article and publication are at http://www.proteinscience.org/cgi