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Investigation of an unnatural amino acid for use as a resonance Raman probe: Detection limits, solvent and temperature dependence of the ?C?N band of 4-cyanophenylalanine.

ABSTRACT: The incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins that act as spectroscopic probes can be used to study protein structure and function. One such probe is 4-cyanophenylalanine (PheCN), the nitrile group of which has a stretching mode that occurs in a region of the vibrational spectrum that does not contain any modes from the usual components of proteins and the wavenumber is sensitive to the polarity of its environment. In this work we evaluate the potential of UV resonance Raman spectroscopy for monitoring the sensitivity of the ?C?N band of PheCN incorporated into proteins to the protein environment. Measurement of the Raman excitation profile of PheCN showed that considerable resonance enhancement of the Raman signal was obtained using UV excitation and the best signal-to-noise ratios were obtained with excitation wavelengths of 229 and 244 nm. The detection limit for PheCN in proteins was ~10 ?M, approximately a hundred-fold lower than the concentrations used in IR studies, which increases the potential applications of PheCN as a vibrational probe. The wavenumber of the PheCN ?C?N band was strongly dependent on the polarity of its environment, when the solvent was changed from H(2)O to THF it decreased by 8 cm(-1). The presence of liposomes caused a similar though smaller decrease in ?C?N for a peptide, mastoparan X, modified to contain PheCN. The selectivity and sensitivity of resonance Raman spectroscopy of PheCN mean that it can be a useful probe of intra- and intermolecular interactions in proteins and opens the door to its application in the study of protein dynamics using time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy.

SUBMITTER: Weeks CL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2905815 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Investigation of an unnatural amino acid for use as a resonance Raman probe: Detection limits, solvent and temperature dependence of the νC≡N band of 4-cyanophenylalanine.

Weeks Colin L CL Polishchuk Alexei A Getahun Zelleka Z Degrado William F WF Spiro Thomas G TG

Journal of Raman spectroscopy : JRS 20081101 11

The incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins that act as spectroscopic probes can be used to study protein structure and function. One such probe is 4-cyanophenylalanine (PheCN), the nitrile group of which has a stretching mode that occurs in a region of the vibrational spectrum that does not contain any modes from the usual components of proteins and the wavenumber is sensitive to the polarity of its environment. In this work we evaluate the potential of UV resonance Raman spectrosc ...[more]

PMID: 20648227

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Project description:Ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) spectra of tryptophan compounds in various solvents and a model peptide are presented and reveal systematic changes that reflect solvent polarity, hydrogen bond strength, and cation-pi interaction. The commonly utilized UVRR spectral marker for environment polarity that has been based on off-resonance Raman data, the tryptophan Fermi doublet ratio I1360/I1340, exhibits different values in on- and off-resonance Raman spectra as well as for different tryptophan derivatives. Specifically, the UVRR Fermi doublet ratio for indole ranges from 0.3 in polar solvents to 0.8 in nonpolar solvents, whereas the respective values reported here and previously for off-resonance Raman spectra are 0.5-1.3. UVRR Fermi doublet ratios for the more biologically relevant molecule, N-acetyl tryptophan ethyl ester (NATEE), are in a smaller range of 1.1 (polar solvent) to 1.7 (nonpolar solvent) and correlate to the solvent polarity/polarization parameters pi* and ETN. As has been reported previously, several UVRR modes are also sensitive to the hydrogen bond strength of the indole N-H moiety. Here, we report a new unambiguous marker for H-bonding: the ratio of the W10 (approximately 1237 cm-1) intensity to that of the W9 (approximately 1254 cm-1) mode (RW10). This ratio is 0.7 for NATEE in the absence of hydrogen bond acceptors and increases to 3.1 in the presence of strong hydrogen bond acceptors, with a value of 2.3 in water. The W8 and W17 modes shift more than +10 and approximately -5 cm-1 upon increase in hydrogen bond strength; this range for W17 is smaller than that reported previously and reflects a more realistic range for proteins and peptides in solution. Finally, our data provide evidence for change in the W18 and W16 relative intensity in the presence of cation-pi interactions. These UVRR markers are utilized to interpret spectra of model membrane-bound systems tryptophan octyl ester and the peptide toxin melittin. These spectra reveal the importance of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding and cation-pi interactions that likely influence the partitioning of membrane-associated biomolecules to lipid bilayers or self-associated soluble oligomers. The UVRR analysis presented here modifies and augments prior reports and provides an unambiguous set of spectral makers that can be applied to elucidate the molecular microenvironment and structure of a wide range of complex systems, including anchoring tryptophan residues in membrane proteins and peptides.

Dataset Information

Investigation of an unnatural amino acid for use as a resonance Raman probe: Detection limits, solvent and temperature dependence of the ?C?N band of 4-cyanophenylalanine.

Publications

Investigation of an unnatural amino acid for use as a resonance Raman probe: Detection limits, solvent and temperature dependence of the νC≡N band of 4-cyanophenylalanine.

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