Interactions of the lanthanide- and hapten-binding sites in the Fv fragment from the myeloma protein MOPC 315.

1. The interactions of lanthanide metals and dinitrophenyl spin-label haptens with the Fv fragment of the mouse myeloma protein MOPC 315 were investigated by the techniques of fluorescence, e.s.r. (electron spin resonance) and high-resolution n.m.r. (nuclear magnetic resonance). 2. The protein fluorescence of Fv fragment at 340nm is quenched by the haptens (fluorescence enhancement, epsilon=0.15) and enhanced by Gd(III) (epsilon=1.14) and other lanthanides. The binding of the haptens studied here is insensitive to pH in the range 5.5-7.0 (dissociation constant KH=0.3-1.0 muM) and shows 1:1 stoicheiometry. The binding of Gd(III) also shows 1:1 stoicheiometry, but is pH-dependent; the binding constant (KM) varies from 10 muM at pH7.0 to 700 muM at pH4.8. La(III) binding is less sensitive to pH. The pH-dependences of the metal-binding constants imply that a group in the protein with pKa greater than or equal to 6.2 is involved in the binding, and probably also other groups with lower pKa values. 3. The apparent binding of the haptens is weakened about 20-fold by Gd(III), and vice versa. An equilibrium scheme involving a ternary complex with an interaction between the two binding sites is derived in Appendix I to explain the experimental results at two pH values. 4. Time-dependent fluorescence changes are observed in the presence of Gd(III) at pH5.5. A two-state kinetic scheme involving a 'slow' conformational change in the Fv fragment is derived in Appendix II to explain this time-dependence. This scheme is consistent with the antagonistic equilibrium behaviour. 5. The e.s.r. changes in the spin-label haptens on binding to Fv fragment and on the subsequent addition of lanthanides are consistent with the binding scheme for haptens and lanthanides proposed from the fluorescence studies. A difference between the limiting quenching of the e.s.r. signal from the bound haptens in the presence of saturating concentrations of Gd(III) and La(III) is attributed to dipolar interactions between bound Gd(III) and the nitroxide moiety of the bound hapten. The residual quenching with Gd(III) allows an estimate of 1.2nm to be made for the distance between the two paramagnetic centres. 6. The 270 MHz proton difference spectrum of the Fv fragment resulting from the addition of La(III) suggests that any metal-induced conformational changes are small and involve relatively few amino acid residues on the Fv fragment...