The folding and stability of rhodanese are influenced by the replacement of glutamic acid 17 in the NH2-terminal helix by proline but not by glutamine.

Two site-directed mutants of the enzyme rhodanese which replace glutamic acid 17 with either glutamine (E17Q) or with proline (E17P) were produced and purified. Both mutants displayed specific activities similar to the wild type enzyme. E17Q was equivalent to the wild type enzyme in all assayed characteristics, except that the mutant had slightly more solvent exposure of hydrophobic surfaces. Results with E17Q suggest that the charge on Glu17 is not required for helix stabilization, nor is its titration required for the low pH structural transitions seen previously. In contrast, E17P was significantly different from the wild type enzyme. For example, E17P had (a) higher exposure of hydrophobic surfaces in the unperturbed state; (b) considerably lower stability to perturbation by urea; (c) easier exposure of organized hydrophobic surfaces on initial unfolding, even though denaturation to the final disorganized state was the same as for the wild type; (d) the ability to refold without assistants but with lower yields and somewhat slower folding; and (e) similar susceptibility to trypsin and evidence of a new clip site closer to the NH2 terminus. However, E17P and the wild type enzyme had very similar recoveries with chaperonin-assisted refolding, and the chaperonin protein groEL had a very similar ability to suppress unassisted refolding. These results indicate that changes in the NH2-terminal sequence can have dramatic effects on the stability of rhodanese and on its ability to be refolded in the absence of assistants. They further suggest that interactions with chaperonins do not rely exclusively on the detailed conformation at the NH2 terminus. A model that incorporates observations here includes step(s) in which the NH2-terminal sequence folds onto the NH2-terminal domain late in the folding process after the protein had adopted a near native conformation.