Quantitative analysis of pheromone-binding protein specificity.

ABSTRACT: Many pheromones have very low water solubility, posing experimental difficulties for quantitative binding measurements. A new method is presented for determining thermodynamically valid dissociation constants for ligands binding to pheromone-binding proteins, using ?-cyclodextrin as a solubilizer and transfer agent. The method is applied to LUSH, a Drosophila odorant-binding protein that binds the pheromone 11-cis vaccenyl acetate (cVA). Refolding of LUSH expressed in Escherichia?coli was assessed by measuring N-phenyl-1-naphthylamine (NPN) binding and Förster resonance energy transfer between LUSH tryptophan 123 (W123) and NPN. Binding of cVA was measured from quenching of W123 fluorescence as a function of cVA concentration. The equilibrium constant for transfer of cVA between ?-cyclodextrin and LUSH was determined from a linked equilibria model. This constant, multiplied by the ?-cyclodextrin-cVA dissociation constant, gives the LUSH-cVA dissociation constant: ?100 nM. It was also found that other ligands quench W123 fluorescence. The LUSH-ligand dissociation constants were determined to be ?200?nM for the silk moth pheromone bombykol and ?90?nM for methyl oleate. The results indicate that the ligand-binding cavity of LUSH can accommodate a variety ligands with strong binding interactions. Implications of this for the Laughlin, Ha, Jones and Smith model of pheromone reception are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Katti S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3552018 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature