Anthraquinone derivatives based natural dye from Rheum emodi as a probe for thermal stability of proteins: Spectroscopic and chromatographic studies

Rheum emodi is a storehouse of a large number of anthraquinone derivatives which are known for a large number of biological activities of significant potency. In this work, a study on the interactions between anthraquinone derivatives based natural dye isolated from R. emodi and different proteins has been reported for the first time, revealing the use of dye as an extrinsic probe to determine the stability of these proteins alone and in the presence of additives. The stability parameters have been evaluated as a change in the fluorescence intensity of the dye as a function of temperature due to the differential interaction of the dye with various conformations of a protein. Also, the effect of the change in polarity of the solvent on the fluorescence emission spectra of dye was studied where high quantum yield was observed in alcohol as compared to water. The RP-HPLC characterization of the dye revealed the presence of anthraquinones glycosides as main compounds in it. Thus, natural dyes may be used as biosensors to follow the conformational changes in proteins.