Protein adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces: Part I--Affinities of proteins for alumina surface

Extent of adsorption (gamma pw) of bovine serum albumin, beta-lactoglobulin, gelatin and myosin at the alumina-water interface has been measured as function of protein concentration (Cp) at several temperatures, pH, and ionic strengths of the medium. gamma pw for proteins in most cases increases with increase of protein concentration but it attains maximum value gamma pw(m) when Cp is high. Values of maximum adsorption have been examined in terms of molecular orientation, molecular size and shape and unfolding of the packed proteins at the interface. In few cases, gamma pw increases with increase of Cp without reaching a real state of saturation as a result of aggregation of molecules or extensive unfolding of the protein at the interface. In the case of beta-lactoglobulin at pH 5.2 and ionic strength 0.05, gamma pw in high concentration region decreases to zero value when Cp increases. For myosin at 45 degrees C and pH 6.4, and also at 27 degrees and pH 7.8, the values of gamma pw are all negative and these negative values increase with increase of Cp. All these results have been explained in terms of significant competitions of water and protein for binding to the surface sites of the powdered alumina. Adsorption of myosin has also been found to be affected in the presence of NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, KI, Na2SO4, LiCl and urea. The relative affinities of the adsorption of various proteins for the surface of alumina at different physical conditions of the system have been compared in terms of maximum values of adsorption attained when gamma pw is varied with Cp. The affinities are shown to be compared more precisely in terms of the standard free energy decrease for the saturation of the surface by protein as a result of the change in its concentration from zero to unity in the mole fraction scale.     

Reduced protein adsorption at solid interfaces by sugar excipients

Sugar excipients are shown to reduce the adsorption of ribonuclease A, bovine serum albumin, and hen egg white lysozyme at the liquid-solid interface. The amount of protein adsorbed decreased as the concentration of the sugar increased. At the same sugar concentration, the ability of sugars to reduce protein adsorption followed the trend: trisaccharides > disaccharides > 6-carbon polyols > monosaccharides. This trend in adsorbed protein amounts among sugars was explained by stabilization of the protein native state in solution by the sugar excipients. The heat of solution of the amorphous saccharide was found to correlate with the amount of protein adsorbed.     

Protein adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces: Part II--Adsorption from binary protein mixture

Extent of adsorption of proteins at alumina-water interface from solutions containing binary mixture of beta-lactoglobulin and bovine serum albumin (BSA), beta-lactoglobulin and gelatin, and gelatin and bovine serum albumin has been estimated as functions of protein concentrations at varying pH, ionic strength, temperature and weight fraction ratios of protein mixture. The extent of adsorption (gamma lacw) of lactoglobulin in the presence of BSA increases with increase of protein concentration (Clac) until it reaches a maximum but a fixed value gamma lacw(m). Extent of adsorption gamma serw also initially increases with increase of protein concentrations until it reaches maximum value gamma serw(m). Beyond these protein concentrations, adsorbed BSA is gradually desorbed due to the preferential adsorption of lactoglobulin from the protein mixture. In many systems, gamma serw at high protein concentrations even becomes negative due to the strong competition of BSA and water for binding to the surface sites in the presence of lactoglobulin. For lactoglobulin-gelatin mixtures, adsorption of both proteins is enhanced as protein concentration is increased until limiting values for adsorption are reached. Beyond the limiting value, lactoglobulin is further accumulated at the interface without limit when protein concentration is high. For gelatin-albumin mixtures, extent of gelatin adsorption increases with increase in the adsorption of BSA. The limit for saturation of adsorption for gelatin is not reached for many systems. At acid pH, adsorbed BSA appears to be desorbed from the surface in the presence of gelatin. From the results thus obtained the role of electrostatic and hydrophobic effects in controlling the adsorption process has been analysed.     

Protein adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces: Part III--Adsorption from ternary protein mixture.

Simultaneous adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA), beta-lactoglobulin and gelatin from aqueous solutions of their ternary mixture to the alumina-water interface has been studied as a function of protein concentration at different values of pH, ionic strength, temperature and weight fraction ratios of proteins. At a fixed weight fraction of beta-lactoglobulin, preferential adsorption (gamma w(lac)) of this protein significantly depends on the amounts of BSA and gelatin present in the solution before adsorption. At higher ranges of protein concentrations, extent of adsorption (gamma w(ser)) of BSA decreases sharply with increase of gamma w(lac) until gamma w(ser) becomes significantly negative, thereby indicating that beta-lactoglobulin and water preferentially adsorbed at the interface are responsible for complete displacement of BSA from the surface. On the other hand, adsorption (gamma w(gel)) of gelatin under similar situation increases mutually with increase in the values of gamma w(lac) in many systems. In few systems, gamma w(gel) also decreases with increase of gamma w(lac) depending upon solution parameters. At pH 5.2, increase of ionic strength and temperature, respectively, increases the extent of adsorption of each protein in the mixture considerably. Extents of adsorption of all proteins are observed to increase when pH is changed from 5.2 to 6.4. The affinities of different proteins in the mixture are expressed in unified scales either in terms of maximum extents of total adsorption or in terms of standard free energies of adsorption of protein mixtures with respect to surface saturation.     

Kinetics of adsorption of globular proteins at an air-water interface.

Adsorption of globular proteins at an air-water interface from an infinite stagnant medium was modeled as one-dimensional diffusion in a potential field. The interaction potential experienced by an adsorbing molecule consisted of contributions from electrostatic interactions, work done against the surface pressure to clear area at the interface in order to anchor the adsorbed segments, and the change in the free energy due to exposure of penetrated surface hydrophobic functional groups to air. The assumption of irreversible adsorption is employed in the present analysis. The energy barrier to adsorption, present at sufficiently large surface pressures, was found to be higher for smaller surface hydrophobicities, larger surface pressures, larger size molecules, and oblate orientation of an ellipsoidal molecule. Consequently, more adsorption occurred at larger surface hydrophobicities, smaller size molecules, and for prolate orientation of ellipsoidal molecules. The subphase concentration has been shown to be zero at short times, increasing with time at larger times, and eventually becoming close to the bulk concentration as a result of increasing energy barrier to adsorption. The predicted evolution of surface concentration with time for adsorption of lysozyme at an air-water interface agreed well with the experimental data of Graham and Phillips (1979a).     

Absolute reaction rate and kinetics of protein adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces.

Extents of adsorption of bovine serum albumin from aqueous solution to the surface of alumina, silica, carbon and chromium powder have been studied as function of time for various values of bulk protein concentration, pH, ionic strength and temperature. The rates of adsorption in all cases have been observed to fit in the first order rate equation with two different rate constants Ka1 and Ka2. Effects of addition of SDS, CTAB and neutral salts on values of Ka1 and Ka2 have also been studied. Using Arrhenius equation the activation energy values Ea1 and Ea2 have been evaluated from the values of Ka1 and Ka2 at three different temperatures, respectively. The corresponding values of enthalpy of activation (delta H*), entropy of activation (delta S*), and free energy of activation (delta G*) have been evaluated using Eyring's equation of absolute reaction rate. The mechanism of protein adsorption has been discussed in the light of basic principles of absolute reaction rate. It has been found that for Ka1 the delta H*1 greater than T delta S*1 and for Ka2 T delta S*2 greater than H*2, i.e. the anchorage and binding of protein to the surface are enthalpy controlled processes whereas the surface denaturation as well as rearrangement and folding is an entropy controlled process. The role of diffusion on rate of adsorption has also been discussed.     

Separation of amphipathic proteins based on adsorption to hexadecane:water interfaces

A method is proposed for the relatively simple and rapid separation of amphipathic biopolymers, based on adsorption onto and desorption from the surface of hexadecane droplets. Adsorption to the hexadecane:water interface was carried out by mixing hexadecane with aqueous protein solutions at room temperature. Desorption was performed by consecutive solidification and melting of the liquid hydrocarbon (m.p. 18 degrees C), resulting in coalescence of the droplets and reappearance of the desorbed moiety in the bulk aqueous phase. Of interest was the observation that lysozyme remains enzymatically active following this procedure.     

Protein adsorption at air-water interfaces: a combination of details

Using a variety of spectroscopic techniques, a number of molecular functionalities have been studied in relation to the adsorption process of proteins to air-water interfaces. While ellipsometry and drop tensiometry are used to derive information on adsorbed amount and exerted surface pressure, external reflection circular dichroism, infrared, and fluorescence spectroscopy provide, next to insight in layer thickness and surface layer concentration, molecular details like structural (un)folding, local mobility, and degree of protonation of carboxylates. It is shown that the exposed hydrophobicity of the protein or chemical reactivity of solvent-exposed groups may accelerate adsorption, while increased electrostatic repulsion slows down the process. Also aggregate formation enhances the fast development of a surface pressure. A more bulky appearance of proteins lowers the collision intensity in the surface layer, and thereby the surface pressure, while it is shown to be difficult to affect protein interactions within the surface layer on basis of electrostatic interactions. This work illustrates that the adsorption properties of a protein are a combination of molecular details, rather than determined by a single one.     

The adsorption of lysine vasopressin at ionized interfaces

It has been shown by surface potential measurements that lysine vasopressin and oxytocin may be bound by ionic surfaces to very varied extents. To dodecyl sulphate and phosphatidylserine monolayers the binding is very strong and is comparable to that for biological receptors such as those in toad bladder. For dioleyl phosphate and the carboxyl group of the polypeptide alamethicin, the binding is rather weaker while, for the zwitterionic lipids phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, and for the erythrocyte surface, which contains two varieties of carboxylic acid group, no interaction seems to take place.In no system does the lysyl amino group of the vasopressin appear necessary for adsorption and, in the dodecyl sulphate monolayers, the interaction is strong even when the ionization of the terminal α-amino group is suppressed.     

Peripheral protein adsorption to lipid-water interfaces: the free area theory

In fluid monolayers approaching collapse, phospholipids and their complexes with diacylglycerols hinder adsorption to the monolayer of the amphipathic protein, colipase. Herein, a statistical, free-area model, analogous to that used to analyze two-dimensional lipid diffusion, is developed to describe regulation by lipids of the initial rate of protein adsorption from the bulk aqueous phase to the lipid-water interface. It is successfully applied to rate data for colipase adsorption to phospholipid alone and yields realistic values of the two model parameters; the phospholipid excluded area and the critical free surface area required to initiate adsorption. The model is further developed and applied to analyze colipase adsorption rates to mixed monolayers of phospholipid and phospholipid-diacylglycerol complexes. The results are consistent with complexes being stably associated over the physiologically relevant range of lipid packing densities and being randomly distributed with uncomplexed phospholipid molecules. Thus, complexes should form in fluid regions of cellular membranes at sites of diacylglycerol generation. If so, by analogy with the behavior of colipase, increasing diacylglycerol may not trigger translocation of some amphipathic peripheral proteins until its abundance locally exceeds its mole fraction in complexes with membrane phospholipids.     

Macromolecular crowding at membrane interfaces: adsorption and alignment of membrane peptides

Association of proteins to cellular membranes is involved in various biological processes. Various theoretical models have been developed to describe this adsorption mechanism, commonly implying the concept of an ideal solution. However, due to the two-dimensional character of membrane surfaces intermolecular interactions between the adsorbed molecules become important. Therefore previously adsorbed molecules can influence the adsorption behavior of additional protein molecules and their membrane-associated structure. Using the model peptide LAH₄, which upon membrane-adsorption can adopt a transmembrane as well as an in-planar configuration, we carried out a systematic study of the correlation between the peptide concentration in the membrane and the topology of this membrane-associated polypeptide. We could describe the observed binding behavior by establishing a concept, which includes intermolecular interactions in terms of a scaled particle theory.High surface concentration of the peptide shifts the molecules from an in-planar into a transmembrane conformation, a process driven by the reduction of occupied surface area per molecule. In a cellular context, the crowding-dependent alignment might provide a molecular switch for a cell to sense and control its membrane occupancy. Furthermore, crowding might have pronounced effects on biological events, such as the cooperative behavior of antimicrobial peptides and the membrane triggered aggregation of amyloidogenic peptides.     

Formation of stable polypeptide monolayers at interfaces: controlling molecular conformation and orientation.

The molecular self-organization and structural properties of peptide assemblies at different interfaces, using either amphipathic or hydrophobic polypeptide helices, is described. The two peptides under investigation form stable monolayers on the water surface under the conservation of their molecular conformation, as studied by circular dichroism and polarization-modulation Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Using surface plasmon resonance and reflection-absorption FTIR, we show that such molecular layers can be transferred unaltered to solid substrates. Most importantly, the molecular orientation of the hydrophobic helices on solid supports such as gold can be controlled by choosing a particular procedure for the layer formation. The helices were oriented parallel to the interface in Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers, and perpendicular to the interface in self-assembled monolayers. Our reflection-absorption FTIR measurements have delivered for the first time direct experimental evidence for the molecular conformation and orientation of pure peptide monolayers. Suitable reference spectra of polypeptides with defined conformation and orientation are necessary to use this technique for the determination of the molecular orientation of peptides in monomolecular films. We have solved the problem for alpha-helical polypeptides by using bacteriorhodopsin as a reference in combination with synthetic alpha-helices of defined interfacial orientation. The present study shows the possibility of constructing immobilized peptide monolayers with predefined macroscopic properties and molecular structure by choosing the proper polypeptide amino acid sequence, the technique used for layer formation, and the supporting surface properties.     

Interaction modes at protein hetero-dimer interfaces

Hetero dimer (different monomers) interfaces are involved in catalysis and regulation through the formation of interface active sites. This is critical in cell and molecular biology events. The physical and chemical factors determining the formation of the interface active sites is often large in numbers. The combined role of interacting features is frequently combinatorial and additive in nature. Therefore, it is important to determine the physical and chemical features of such interactions. A number of such features have been documented in literature since 1975. However, the use of such interaction features in the prediction of interaction partners and sites given their sequences is still a challenge. In a non-redundant dataset of 156 hetero-dimer structures determined by X-ray crystallography, the interacting partners are often varying in size and thus, size variation between subunits is an important factor in determining the mode of interface formation. The size of protein subunits interacting are either small-small, largelarge, medium-medium, large-small, large-medium and small-medium. It should also be noted that the interface formed between subunits have physical interactions at N terminal (N), C terminal (C) and middle (M) region of the protein with reference to their sequences in one dimension. These features are believed to have application in the prediction of interaction partners and sites from sequences. However, the use of such features for interaction prediction from sequence is not currently clear.     

Kinetics and thermodynamics of protein adsorption: a generalized molecular theoretical approach

The thermodynamics and kinetics of protein adsorption are studied using a molecular theoretical approach. The cases studied include competitive adsorption from mixtures and the effect of conformational changes upon adsorption. The kinetic theory is based on a generalized diffusion equation in which the driving force for motion is the gradient of chemical potentials of the proteins. The time-dependent chemical potentials, as well as the equilibrium behavior of the system, are obtained using a molecular mean-field theory. The theory provides, within the same theoretical formulation, the diffusion and the kinetic (activated) controlled regimes. By separation of ideal and nonideal contributions to the chemical potential, the equation of motion shows a purely diffusive part and the motion of the particles in the potential of mean force resulting from the intermolecular interactions. The theory enables the calculation of the time-dependent surface coverage of proteins, the dynamic surface tension, and the structure of the adsorbed layer in contact with the approaching proteins. For the case of competitive adsorption from a solution containing a mixture of large and small proteins, a variety of different adsorption patterns are observed depending upon the bulk composition, the strength of the interaction between the particles, and the surface and size of the proteins. It is found that the experimentally observed Vroman sequence is predicted in the case that the bulk solution is at a composition with an excess of the small protein, and that the interaction between the large protein and the surface is much larger than that of the smaller protein. The effect of surface conformational changes of the adsorbed proteins in the time-dependent adsorption is studied in detail. The theory predicts regimes of constant density and dynamic surface tension that are long lived but are only intermediates before the final approach to equilibrium. The implications of the findings to the interpretation of experimental observations is discussed.     

Probing the role of water in protein conformation and function

Life began in a bath of water and has never escaped it. Cellular function has forced the evolution of many mechanisms ensuring that cellular water concentration has never changed significantly. To free oneself of any conceptual distinction among all small molecules, solutes and solvents, means that experiments to probe water's specific role in molecular function can be designed like any classical chemical reaction. Such an 'osmotic stress' strategy will be described in general and for an enzyme, hexokinase. Water behaves like a reactant that competes with glucose in binding to hexokinase, and modulates its conformational change and activity. This 'osmotic stress' strategy, now applied to many very different systems, shows that water plays a significant role, energetically, in most macromolecular reactions. It can be required to fill obligatory space, it dominates nearest non-specific interactions between large surfaces, it can be a reactant modulating conformational change; all this in addition to its more commonly perceived static role as an integral part of stereospecific intramolecular structure.     

Factors affecting protein interaction at sorbent interfaces

Interactions between surfaces and macromolecules are the fundamentals in separation and detection of diverse solutes. In this very brief review the central aspects of protein-surface interactions are discussed with the intention of identifying the important factors influencing such processes and placing them in relation to the established knowledge in this field. Some perspectives of new techniques related to scanning probe microscopy for studying interactions at the nanometer level are also discussed.     

Cavities and packing at protein interfaces.

An analysis of internal packing defects or "cavities" (both empty and water-containing) within protein structures has been undertaken and includes 3 cavity classes: within domains, between domains, and between protein subunits. We confirm several basic features common to all cavity types but also find a number of new characteristics, including those that distinguish the classes. The total cavity volume remains only a small fraction of the total protein volume and yet increases with protein size. Water-filled "cavities" possess a more polar surface and are typically larger. Their constituent waters are necessary to satisfy the local hydrogen bonding potential. Cavity-surrounding atoms are observed to be, on average, less flexible than their environments. Intersubunit and interdomain cavities are on average larger than the intradomain cavities, occupy a larger fraction of their resident surfaces, and are more frequently water-filled. We observe increased cavity volume at domain-domain interfaces involved with shear type domain motions. The significance of interfacial cavities upon subunit and domain shape complementarity and the protein docking problem, as well as in their structural and functional role in oligomeric proteins, will be discussed. The results concerning cavity size, polarity, solvation, general abundance, and residue type constituency should provide useful guidelines for protein modeling and design.     

Insertion and pore formation driven by adsorption of proteins onto lipid bilayer membrane-water interfaces

We describe the binding of proteins to lipid bilayers in the case for which binding can occur either by adsorption to the lipid bilayer membrane-water interface or by direct insertion into the bilayer itself. We examine in particular the case when the insertion and pore formation are driven by the adsorption process using scaled particle theory. The adsorbed proteins form a two-dimensional "surface gas" at the lipid bilayer membrane-water interface that exerts a lateral pressure on the lipid bilayer membrane. Under conditions of strong intrinsic binding and a high degree of interfacial converge, this pressure can become high enough to overcome the energy barrier for protein insertion. Under these conditions, a subtle equilibrium exists between the adsorbed and inserted proteins. We propose that this provides a control mechanism for reversible insertion and pore formation of proteins such as melittin and magainin. Next, we discuss experimental data for the binding isotherms of cytochrome c to charged lipid membranes in the light of our theory and predict that cytochrome c inserts into charged lipid bilayers at low ionic strength. This prediction is supported by titration calorimetry results that are reported here. We were furthermore able to describe the observed binding isotherms of the pore-forming peptides endotoxin (alpha 5-helix) and of pardaxin to zwitterionic vesicles from our theory by assuming adsorption/insertion equilibrium.     

The role of electrostatic interactions in the process of diffusional encounter and docking of electron transport proteins

Electrostatic interaction of plastocyanin and cytochrome f in the process of protein–protein complex formation was investigated by computer simulation methods. It was shown that long-range electrostatic interaction promotes energetically favorable mutual orientation of protein molecules at distances between their cofactors shorter than 5 nm. At distances shorter than 3 nm, these electrostatic interactions lead to a significantly detectable increase in the rate of convergence of the cofactors.