Disulfide bond mutations affect the folding of the human chorionic gonadotropin-beta subunit in transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Previous kinetic studies have characterized the intracellular folding pathway of the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)-beta subunit in which each of the folding intermediates can be biochemically identified based on the formation of disulfide (S-S) bonds: p beta 1-early--> p beta 1-late--> p beta 2-free--> p beta 2-combined--> native hCG-alpha beta. Based on these data, we postulated that hCG-beta folding coincides with the formation of specific S-S bonds. We have now tested this hypothesis employing Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with mutated hCG-beta genes in which the Cys residues required for the formation of the final four (of six total) S-S bonds were replaced by Ala. When the Cys residues required for the third hCG-beta S-S linkage to form (bond 9-90) were substituted, folding did not proceed beyond the earliest detectable folding intermediate (p beta 1-early). In the absence of the subsequently formed S-S bond (bond 23-72), p beta 1-early was converted into a second folding intermediate (p beta 1-late), but conversion to the next intermediate (p beta 2-free) was inhibited. When either of the final two S-S bonds (the carboxyl-terminal 93-100 or 26-110 bonds) were removed, conversion of p beta 1-late to p beta 2-free was detected, but conversion of p beta 2-free to the last folding intermediate (p beta 2-combined) was not observed. These data support the hypothesis that individual S-S bonds are involved in discrete steps in the hCG-beta folding pathway.