The mechanism and high-free-energy transition state of lac repressor-lac operator interaction.

ABSTRACT: Significant, otherwise-unavailable information about mechanisms and transition states (TS) of protein folding and binding is obtained from solute effects on rate constants. Here we characterize TS for lac repressor(R)-lac operator(O) binding by analyzing effects of RO-stabilizing and RO-destabilizing solutes on association (ka) and dissociation (kd) rate constants. RO-destabilizing solutes (urea, KCl) reduce ka comparably (urea) or more than (KCl) they increase kd, demonstrating that they destabilize TS relative to reactants and RO, and that TS exhibits most of the Coulombic interactions between R and O. Strikingly, three solutes which stabilize RO by favoring burial/dehydration of amide oxygens and anionic phosphate oxygens all reduce kd without affecting ka significantly. The lack of sta

SUBMITTER: Sengupta R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5727403 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature