The molten globule intermediate of apomyoglobin and the process of protein folding

Abstract

The molten globule model for the beginning of the folding process, which originated with Kuwajima's studies of alpha-lactalbumin (Kuwajima, K., 1989, Proteins Struct. Funct. Genet. 6, 87-103, and references therein), states that, for those proteins that exhibit equilibrium molten globule intermediates, the molten globule is a major kinetic intermediate near the start of the folding pathway. Pulsed hydrogen-deuterium exchange measurements confirm this model for apomyoglobin (Jennings, P.A. & Wright, P.E., in prep.). The energetics of the acid-induced unfolding transition, which have been determined by fitting a minimal three-state model (N<-->I<-->U; N = native, I = molten globule intermediate, U = unfolded) show that I is more stable than U at neutral pH (Barrick, D. & Baldwin, R.L., 1993, Biochemistry 32, in press), which provides an explanation for why I is formed from U at the start of folding. Hydrogen exchange rates measured by two-dimensional NMR for individual peptide NH protons, taken together with the CD spectrum of I, indicate that moderately stable helices are present in I at the locations of the A, G, and H helices of native myoglobin (Hughson, F.M., Wright, P.E., & Baldwin, R.L., 1990, Science 249, 1544-1548). Directed mutagnesis experiments indicate that the interactions between the A, G, and H helices in I are loose (Hughson, F.M., Barrick, D., & Baldwin, R.L., 1991, Biochemistry 30, 4113-4118), which can explain why I is formed rapidly from U at the start of folding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)