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Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

2010

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Probing Local Structural Fluctuations In Myoglobin By Size-Dependent Thiol-Disulfide Exchange, Margaret M. Stratton, S N. Loh, T A. Cutler, J H. Ha Jan 2010

Probing Local Structural Fluctuations In Myoglobin By Size-Dependent Thiol-Disulfide Exchange, Margaret M. Stratton, S N. Loh, T A. Cutler, J H. Ha

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

All proteins undergo local structural fluctuations (LSFs) or breathing motions. These motions are likely to be important for function but are poorly understood. LSFs were initially defined by amide hydrogen exchange (HX) experiments as opening events, which expose a small number of backbone amides to (1)H/(2)H exchange, but whose exchange rates are independent of denaturant concentration. Here, we use size-dependent thiol-disulfide exchange (SX) to characterize LSFs in single cysteine-containing variants of myoglobin (Mb). SX complements HX by providing information on motions that disrupt side chain packing interactions. Most importantly, probe reagents of different sizes and chemical properties can be used …


On The Mechanism Of Protein Fold-Switching By A Molecular Sensor, Margaret M. Stratton, S N. Loh Jan 2010

On The Mechanism Of Protein Fold-Switching By A Molecular Sensor, Margaret M. Stratton, S N. Loh

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

Alternate frame folding (AFF) is a mechanism by which conformational change can be engineered into a protein. The protein structure switches from the wild-type fold (N) to a circularly-permuted fold (N'), or vice versa, in response to a signaling event such as ligand binding. Despite the fact that the two native states have similar structures, their interconversion involves folding and unfolding of large parts of the molecule. This rearrangement is reported by fluorescent groups whose relative proximities change as a result of the order-disorder transition. The nature of the conformational change is expected to be similar from protein to protein; …