Time-resolved fluorescence study of the neuron-specific phosphoprotein synapsin I. Evidence for phosphorylation-dependent conformational changes.

Synapsin I is a major nerve terminal-specific phosphoprotein. It consists of a hydrophobic head region containing one phosphorylation site for either cAMP-dependent protein kinase or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I and of a basic and elongated tail region containing two phosphorylation sites for Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. The steady-state emission spectrum of synapsin I was centered at 330 nm and was markedly red shifted upon denaturation, as expected for tryptophan residues segregated from the external aqueous environment in native conditions. Quenching studies showed a low accessibility of synapsin I tryptophans at low ionic strength which was further decreased by exposure to 200 mM NaCl but not significantly affected by phosphorylation. The intrinsic fluorescence of synapsin I was resolved into three major decay components with lifetimes of about 0.2, 3, and 7 ns. Upon phosphorylation of synapsin I on the tail sites, the spectra associated with the intermediate and long lifetimes were shifted to the red region, while the spectrum associated with the short lifetime was shifted to the blue region, in the absence of significant changes of the lifetimes. Phosphorylation of synapsin I on the head site was less effective. The anisotropy decay of synapsin I labeled with the long-living chromophore pyrene on Cys-223 was also analyzed. A shorter rotational correlation time was found for the tail phosphorylated form (corresponding to a Stokes radius of 41-42 A) than for the dephosphorylated or for the head phosphorylated form (corresponding to a Stokes radius of 60-63 A). The data suggest that phosphorylation of the tail sites induces changes in the conformation and hydrodynamic properties of synapsin I which may play a role in the regulation of the molecular interactions of synapsin I within the nerve terminal.