Equilibrium unfolding of dimeric and engineered monomeric forms of λ Cro (F58W) repressor and the effect of added salts: evidence for the formation of folded monomer induced by sodium perchlorate

The equilibrium unfolding transitions of Cro repressor variants, dimeric variant Cro F58W and monomer Cro K56[DGEVK]F58W, have been studied by urea and guanidine hydrochloride to probe the folding mechanism. The unfolding transitions of a dimeric variant are well described by a two state process involving native dimer and unfolded monomer with a free energy of unfolding, ΔG0,un0, of ∼10-11 kcal/mol. The midpoint of transition curves is dependent on total protein concentration and ΔG0,un0 is independent of protein concentration, as expected for this model. Unfolding of Cro monomer is well described by the standard two state model. The stability of both forms of protein increases in the presence of salt but decreases with the decrease in pH. Because of the suggested importance of a N2 ⇔ 2F dimerization process in DNA binding, we have also studied the effect of sodium perchlorate, containing the chaotropic perchlorate anion, on the conformational transition of Cro dimer by CD, fluorescence and NMR (in addition to urea and guanidine hydrochloride) in an attempt both to characterize the thermodynamics of the process and to identify conditions that lead to an increase in the population of the folded monomers. Data suggest that sodium perchlorate stabilizes the protein at low concentration (<1.5 M) and destabilizes the protein at higher perchlorate concentration with the formation of a “significantly folded” monomer. The tryptophan residue in the “significantly folded” monomer induced by perchlorate is more exposed to the solvent than in native dimer.