Unfolding Studies of the Cysteine Protease Baupain, a Papain-Like Enzyme from Leaves of Bauhinia forficata: Effect of pH, Guanidine Hydrochloride and Temperature

Baupain belongs to the alpha+beta class of proteins with a secondary structure-content of 44% alpha-helix, 16% beta-sheet and 12% beta-turn. the structural transition induced by pH was found to be noncooperative, with no important differences observed in the pH range from 3.0 to 10.5. At pH 2.0 the...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Silva-Lucca, Rosemeire Aparecida [UNIFESP], Andrade, Sheila Siqueira [UNIFESP], Ferreira, Rodrigo Silva [UNIFESP], Sampaio, Misako Uemura [UNIFESP], Oliva, Maria Luiza Vilela [UNIFESP]
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2014
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
Repository:Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unifesp.br:11600/37184
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules19010233
http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/37184
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:baupain
circular dichroism
cysteine protease
papain
protein conformation
Description
Summary:Baupain belongs to the alpha+beta class of proteins with a secondary structure-content of 44% alpha-helix, 16% beta-sheet and 12% beta-turn. the structural transition induced by pH was found to be noncooperative, with no important differences observed in the pH range from 3.0 to 10.5. At pH 2.0 the protein presented substantial non-native structure with strong ANS binding. Guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl)-induced unfolding did not change the protein structure significantly until 4.0 M, indicating the high rigidity of the molecule. the unfolding was cooperative, as seen by the sigmoidal transition curves with midpoints at 4.7 +/- 0.2 M and 5.0 +/- 0.2 M GdnHCl, as measured by CD and fluorescence spectroscopy. A red shift of 7 nm in intrinsic fluorescence was observed with 6.0 M GdnHCl. Temperature-induced unfolding of baupain was incomplete, and at least 35% of the native structure of the protein was retained, even at high temperature (90 degrees C). Baupain showed characteristics of a molten globule state, due to preferential ANS binding at pH 2.0 in comparison to the native form (pH 7.0) and completely unfolded (6.0 M GdnHCl) state. Combined with information about N-terminal sequence similarity, these results allow us to include baupain in the papain superfamily.