Nuclear magnetic resonance study on the microenvironments of histidine residues of ribonuclease T1 and carboxymethylated ribonuclease T1.

The 270-MHz 1H NMR spectra and fluorescence of ribonuclease T1 and carboxymethylated ribonuclease T1 were measured in aqueous solution. Histidine C4 proton resonances were assigned to individual residues. From the pH dependences of the chemical shifts of histidine C2 and C4 protons, the pKa values of histidine residues were obtained by the non-linear least-squares method. The hydrogen leads to deuterium exchange rates of histidine C2 protons were determined as a measure of the accessibility of histidine residues to the solvent. Each histidine residue of ribonuclease T1 was found to interact with a carboxylate group of an aspartic or glutamic acid residue; in particular, His-40 was shown to interact with Glu-58. Upon carboxymethylation of Glu-58, His-92 and His-27 are more shielded from the solvent while His-40 remains exposed to the solvent. The 67.9-MHz 13C NMR spectra were measured for the 13C-enriched preparation of carboxymethylated ribonuclease T1. From the pH dependence of 13C chemical shift, the pKa value of the carboxymethylated Glu-58 was found to be unusually low, suggesting the formation of an ionic or hydrogen bond between this carboxymethyl group and a positively charged group, possibly of Arg-77.