Temperature-Jump Fluorescence Provides Evidence for Fully Reversible Microsecond Dynamics in a Thermophilic Alcohol Dehydrogenase

J Am Chem Soc. 2015 Aug 19;137(32):10060-3. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5b04413. Epub 2015 Aug 10.

Abstract

Protein dynamics on the microsecond (μs) time scale were investigated by temperature-jump fluorescence spectroscopy as a function of temperature in two variants of a thermophilic alcohol dehydrogenase: W87F and W87F:H43A. Both mutants exhibit a fast, temperature-independent μs decrease in fluorescence followed by a slower full recovery of the initial fluorescence. The results, which rule out an ionizing histidine as the origin of the fluorescence quenching, are discussed in the context of a Trp49-containing dimer interface that acts as a conduit for thermally activated structural change within the protein interior.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Alcohol Dehydrogenase / chemistry*
  • Alcohol Dehydrogenase / genetics
  • Alcohol Dehydrogenase / metabolism
  • Fluorescence
  • Geobacillus stearothermophilus / enzymology
  • Histidine / chemistry
  • Mutation
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence / methods*
  • Temperature
  • Tryptophan / chemistry

Substances

  • Histidine
  • Tryptophan
  • Alcohol Dehydrogenase