Hydrogen-1 NMR evidence for three interconverting forms of staphylococcal nuclease: effects of mutations and solution conditions on their distribution.

It has been known for several years that 1H NMR spectra of the enzyme staphylococcal nuclease contain resonances due to conformational heterogeneity [Markley, J. L., Williams, M. N., & Jardetzky, O. (1970) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 65, 645-651]. One source of conformational heterogeneity has been attributed recently to cis/trans isomeriation of the Lys116-Pro117 peptide bond [Evans, P. A., Dobson, C. M., Kautz, R. A., Hatfull, G., & Fox, R. O. (1987) Nature (London) 329, 266-268]. In this paper we present evidence for three interconverting folded forms of nuclease. Forms N and N' are monomeric; form N" appears at higher nuclease concentrations and probably corresponds to dimerized enzyme. Saturation transfer was used to demonstrate that exchange occurs between the denatured state and N". The effects of temperature, pH, and Ca2+ and nucleotide binding on NMR spectra of nuclease were examined. When the temperature is increased or the pH is lowered, form N' is favored relative to N. Binding of a competitive inhibitor (thymidine 3',5'-bisphosphate plus calcium ion) strongly favors one form of nuclease. 1H NMR spectra of wild-type nuclease, the single-mutant nucleases L89F and H124L, and the double-mutant nuclease F76V+H124L were compared. In the unligated proteins, the equilibrium constant for the conformational equilibrium N in equilibrium with N' is approximately 0.1 in wild-type nuclease and nuclease H124L; by contrast, this equilibrium constant is about 0.7 in nuclease L89F and 1.2 in nuclease F76V+H124L under similar conditions.