Differences in Unfolding Energetics of CcdB Toxins From V. fischeri and E. coli

Ccd system is a toxin-antitoxin module (operon) located on plasmids and chromosomes of bacteria. CcdB(F) encoded by ccd operon located on Escherichia coli plasmid F and CcdB(Vfi) encoded by ccd operon located on Vibrio fischeri chromosome are members of the CcdB family of toxins. Native CcdBs are dimers that bind to gyrase-DNA complexes and inhibit DNA transcription and replication. While thermodynamic stability and unfolding characteristics of the plasmidic CcdB(F) in denaturant solutions are reported in detail, the corresponding information on the chromosomal CcdB(Vfi) is rather scarce. Therefore, we studied urea-induced unfolding of CcdB(Vfi) at various temperatures and protein concentrations by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Global model analysis of spectroscopic data suggests that CcdB(Vfi) dimer unfolds to the corresponding monomeric components in a reversible two-state manner. Results reveal that at physiological temperatures CcdB(Vfi) exhibits lower thermodynamic stability compared to CcdB(F). At high urea concentrations CcdB(Vfi), similarly to CcdB(F), retains a significant amount of secondary structure. Differences in thermodynamic parameters of CcdB(Vfi) and CcdB(F) unfolding can reasonably be explained by the differences in their structural features

Differences in Unfolding Energetics of CcdB Toxins From V. fischeri and E. coli

Ccd system is a toxin-antitoxin module (operon) located on plasmids and chromosomes of bacteria. CcdB(F) encoded by ccd operon located on Escherichia coli plasmid F and CcdB(Vfi) encoded by ccd operon located on Vibrio fischeri chromosome are members of the CcdB family of toxins. Native CcdBs are dimers that bind to gyrase-DNA complexes and inhibit DNA transcription and replication. While thermodynamic stability and unfolding characteristics of the plasmidic CcdB(F) in denaturant solutions are reported in detail, the corresponding information on the chromosomal CcdB(Vfi) is rather scarce. Therefore, we studied urea-induced unfolding of CcdB(Vfi) at various temperatures and protein concentrations by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Global model analysis of spectroscopic data suggests that CcdB(Vfi) dimer unfolds to the corresponding monomeric components in a reversible two-state manner. Results reveal that at physiological temperatures CcdB(Vfi) exhibits lower thermodynamic stability compared to CcdB(F). At high urea concentrations CcdB(Vfi), similarly to CcdB(F), retains a significant amount of secondary structure. Differences in thermodynamic parameters of CcdB(Vfi) and CcdB(F) unfolding can reasonably be explained by the differences in their structural features

What drives the binding of minor groove-directed ligands to DNA hairpins?

Understanding the molecular basis of ligand–DNA-binding events, and its application to the rational design of novel drugs, requires knowledge of the structural features and forces that drive the corresponding recognition processes. Existing structural evidence on DNA complexation with classical minor groove-directed ligands and the corresponding studies of binding energetics have suggested that this type of binding can be described as a rigid-body association. In contrast, we show here that the binding-coupled conformational changes may be crucial for the interpretation of DNA (hairpin) association with a classical minor groove binder (netropsin). We found that, although the hairpin form is the only accessible state of ligand-free DNA, its association with the ligand may lead to its transition into a duplex conformation. It appears that formation of the fully ligated duplex from the ligand-free hairpin, occurring via two pathways, is enthalpically driven and accompanied by a significant contribution of the hydrophobic effect. Our thermodynamic and structure-based analysis, together with corresponding theoretical studies, shows that none of the predicted binding steps can be considered as a rigid-body association. In this light we anticipate our thermodynamic approach to be the basis of more sophisticated nucleic acid recognition mechanisms, which take into account the dynamic nature of both the nucleic acid and the ligand molecule

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Additional file 14. A table with description of strains and plasmids generated and used in this study and graphical representation of over-expressed operons/genes

Model-Based Thermodynamic Analysis of Reversible Unfolding Processes

Folding and unfolding of many biological macromolecules can be characterized thermodynamically, yielding a wealth of information about the stability of various conformations and the interactions that hold them together. The relevant thermodynamic parameters are usually obtained by employing spectroscopic and/or calorimetric techniques and fitting an appropriate thermodynamic model to the experimental data. In this work, we compare the traditional approach of fitting the thermodynamic model to experimental data obtained from each experiment individually and the global approach of simultaneously fitting the model to all available data from different experiments. On the basis of several specific examples of DNA and protein unfolding, we demonstrate that piece-by-piece verification of the proposed thermodynamic model using individual fits is frequently inappropriate and can result in an incorrect mechanism and thermodynamics of the studied unfolding process. We find that while the two approaches are complementary in some aspects of analysis global fitting is essential for the appropriate selection and critical evaluation of the model mechanism. Only a good global fit thus gives us confidence that the obtained thermodynamic parameters of unfolding have real physical meaning