Urea-induced structural transformations in bovine serum albumin

Urea-induced unfolding of bovine serum albumin and one of its fragments containing domain II + III has been studied by difference spectral and fluorescence emission measurements. The unfolding-refolding curves of both the proteins showed the presence of at least one stable intermediate when the transition was monitored at 288 nm. The presence of the intermediate was not detectable at 293 nm where only tryptophan contributed towards the protein absorption. However, both the proteins did show the presence of intermediate when the denaturation was monitored fluorometrically. Since domain III of the albumin is devoid of tryptophan, it is concluded that the formation of intermediate in the unfolding-refolding transition of serum albumin involves (i) unfolding of domain III, (ii) minor structural transformations in domain II, and/or (iii) the separation of the sub-domains of domain III from each other.