An integrative approach combining ion mobility mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the conformational dynamics of ?1 -antitrypsin upon ligand binding.
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ABSTRACT: Native mass spectrometry (MS) methods permit the study of multiple protein species within solution equilibria, whereas ion mobility (IM)-MS can report on conformational behavior of specific states. We used IM-MS to study a conformationally labile protein (?1 -antitrypsin) that undergoes pathological polymerization in the context of point mutations. The folded, native state of the Z-variant remains highly polymerogenic in physiological conditions despite only minor thermodynamic destabilization relative to the wild-type variant. Various data implicate kinetic instability (conformational lability within a native state ensemble) as the basis of Z ?1 -antitrypsin polymerogenicity. We show the ability of IM-MS to track such disease-relevant conformational behavior in detail by studying the effects of peptide binding on ?1 -antitrypsin conformation and dynamics. IM-MS is, therefore, an ideal platform for the screening of compounds that result in therapeutically beneficial kinetic stabilization of native ?1 -antitrypsin. Our findings are confirmed with high-resolution X-ray crystallographic and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies of the same event, which together dissect structural changes from dynamic effects caused by peptide binding at a residue-specific level. IM-MS methods, therefore, have great potential for further study of biologically relevant thermodynamic and kinetic instability of proteins and provide rapid and multidimensional characterization of ligand interactions of therapeutic interest.
SUBMITTER: Nyon MP
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4534181 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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