Crystal structure determination and refinement of pike 4.10 parvalbumin (minor component from Esox lucius)

The crystal and molecular structure of the minor component of pike parvalbumins has been determined at 1.93 A resolution by molecular replacement (1 A = 0.1 nm). The crystals are orthorhombic, space group P2(1)2(1)2 with a = 59.62 A, b = 59.83 A and c = 26.35 A. A location of the secondary cation binding site is proposed for this parvalbumin of the beta phylogenetic series.     

A chromatin core particle obtained by selective cleavage of histones by clostripain.

Rat liver chromatin core particles digested with clostripain yield a structurally well-defined nucleoprotein particle with an octameric core made up of fragmented histone species (designated H'2A, H'2B, H'3 and H'4, respectively) after selective loss of a sequence segment located in the N-terminal region of each core histone. Sequential Edman degradation and carboxypeptidase digestion unambiguously establish that histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 are selectively cleaved at the carboxyl side of Arg 11, Lys 20, Arg 26 and Arg 19 respectively and that the C-terminal sequences remain unaffected. Despite the loss of the highly basic N-terminal regions, including approximately 17% of the total amino acids, the characteristic structural organization of the nucleosome core particle appears to be fully retained in the proteolyzed core particle, as judged by physicochemical and biochemical evidence. Binding of spermidine to native and proteolyzed core particles shows that DNA accessibility differs markedly in both structures. As expected the proteolyzed particle, which has lost all the in vivo acetylation sites, is not enzymatically acetylated, in contrast to the native particle. However, proteolyzed histones act as substrates of the acetyltransferase in the absence of DNA, as a consequence of the occurrence of potential acetylation sites in the core histones thus rendered accessible. The possible role of the histone N-terminal regions on chromatin structure and function is discussed in the light of the present observations with the new core particle obtained by clostripain proteolysis.     

A new particle of chromatin obtained by proteolysis of histones with clostripain

The proteolysis of the chromatin core particle by the arginine-specific endopeptidase clostripain yields a new nucleoprotein particle containing an unaltered DNA fragment of about 145 base pairs in length and a protein octameric core made up of twice the four histone fragments H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. This composition is suggested by the molecular weight of about 180 kd determined for the new particle by small angle neutron scattering. The histone fragments differ by about 2-3 kd each from the initial histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 and they correspond to the cleavage of the N-terminal part of the sequence (20-30 residues). A preliminary investigation by thermal denaturation, circular dichroism and small angle neutron scattering (measurement of a radius of gyration by the H2O-D2O contrast variation technique) indicates that the spatial organization of the new chromatin particle closely resembles that of the initial core particle.     

Hydration-coupled dynamics in proteins studied by neutron scattering and NMR: the case of the typical EF-hand calcium-binding parvalbumin

The influence of hydration on the internal dynamics of a typical EF-hand calciprotein, parvalbumin, was investigated by incoherent quasi-elastic neutron scattering (IQNS) and solid-state 13C-NMR spectroscopy using the powdered protein at different hydration levels. Both approaches establish an increase in protein dynamics upon progressive hydration above a threshold that only corresponds to partial coverage of the protein surface by the water molecules. Selective motions are apparent by NMR in the 10-ns time scale at the level of the polar lysyl side chains (externally located), as well as of more internally located side chains (from Ala and Ile), whereas IQNS monitors diffusive motions of hydrogen atoms in the protein at time scales up to 20 ps. Hydration-induced dynamics at the level of the abundant lysyl residues mainly involve the ammonium extremity of the side chain, as shown by NMR. The combined results suggest that peripheral water-protein interactions influence the protein dynamics in a global manner. There is a progressive induction of mobility at increasing hydration from the periphery toward the protein interior. This study gives a microscopic view of the structural and dynamic events following the hydration of a globular protein.