Leung Tak Yuen. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-63). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgments --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Abbreviations --- p.iii / Abbreviations of amino acids --- p.iv / Abbreviations of nucleotides --- p.iv / Naming system for TRP mutants --- p.v / Chapter Chapter 1 --- I ntroduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Hyperthermophile and hyperthermophilic proteins --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Hyperthermophilic proteina are highly similar to their mesophilic homologues --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Hyperthermophilic proteins and free energy of stabilization --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Mechanisms of protein stabilization --- p.4 / Chapter 1.5 --- The difference in protein stability between mesophilic protein and hyperthermophilic protein --- p.4 / Chapter 1.6 --- Ribosomal protein L30e from T. celer can be used as a model system to study thermostability --- p.9 / Chapter 1.7 --- Protein engineering of TRP --- p.10 / Chapter 1.8 --- Purpose of the present study --- p.12 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Materials and Methods / Chapter 2.1 --- Bacterial strains --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2 --- Plasmids --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3 --- Bacterial culture media and solutions --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Antibiotic solutions --- p.13 / Chapter 2.5 --- Restriction endonucleases and other enzymes --- p.14 / Chapter 2.6 --- M9ZB medium --- p.14 / Chapter 2.7 --- SDS-PAGE --- p.14 / Chapter 2.8 --- Alkaline phosphatase buffer --- p.15 / Chapter 2.9 --- DNA agarose gel --- p.15 / Chapter 2.10 --- "Gel loading buffer, DNA" --- p.16 / Chapter 2.11 --- "Ethidium bromide (EtBr), lOmg/ml" --- p.16 / Chapter 2.12 --- Constructing mutant TRP genes --- p.16 / Chapter 2.12.1 --- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) --- p.17 / Chapter 2.12.2 --- Gel electrophoresis --- p.19 / Chapter 2.12.3 --- DNA purification from agarose gel --- p.19 / Chapter 2.12.4 --- "Construction of R39A, R39M, K46A, K46M, E47A, E50A, R54A, R54M" --- p.19 / Chapter 2.12.5 --- "Construction of double mutant R39A/E62A, R39M/E62A" --- p.20 / Chapter 2.13 --- Sub-cloning --- p.21 / Chapter 2.13.1 --- Restriction digestion --- p.22 / Chapter 2.13.2 --- Ligation vector with mutant TRP gene insert --- p.22 / Chapter 2.13.3 --- Amplifying vector carrying mutant TRP gene insert --- p.22 / Chapter 2.13.4 --- Mini-preparation of DNA --- p.22 / Chapter 2.13.5 --- Preparations of competent cells --- p.23 / Chapter 2.13.6 --- Transformation of Escherichia coli --- p.24 / Chapter 2.13.7 --- Screening tests --- p.25 / Chapter 2.14 --- Over expression of mutant TRP --- p.26 / Chapter 2.14.1 --- Transformation --- p.26 / Chapter 2.14.2 --- Expression --- p.26 / Chapter 2.14.3 --- Cell harvesting --- p.27 / Chapter 2.14.4 --- Expression checking --- p.27 / Chapter 2.14.5 --- SDS-PAGE --- p.27 / Chapter 2.14.6 --- Staining the acrylamide gel --- p.28 / Chapter 2.15 --- Purification of mutant TRP protein --- p.28 / Chapter 2.15.1 --- Cells lysis --- p.28 / Chapter 2.15.2 --- Chromatography --- p.29 / Chapter 2.15.3 --- Concentrating TRP as protein stock --- p.31 / Chapter 2.16 --- Protein stability --- p.32 / Chapter 2.16.1 --- Chemical stability --- p.33 / Chapter 2.16.2 --- Thermal stability --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Results / Chapter 3.1 --- Construction of mutant TRP genes --- p.36 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- PCR mutagenesis --- p.36 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Sub-cloning of mutant TRP gene to express vector pET8c --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2 --- Expression and purification of mutant TRP --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3 --- Protein stability --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Free energy of unfolding --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Thermal stability --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- "Effect of R39, K46, E62, E64" --- p.47 / Chapter 4.2 --- Double mutation at R39 and E62 --- p.50 / Chapter 4.3 --- Effect of R54 --- p.51 / Chapter 4.4 --- Effect of E47 and E50 --- p.53 / Chapter 4.5 --- Conclusion --- p.54 / References --- p.57 / Appendix --- p.64

Not available / text

Although the native conformation of a protein is thermodynamically its most stable form, this stability is only marginal. As a consequence, globular proteins have a certain amount of flexibility in their backbones which allows for conformational changes in the course of their biological function. In the course of this thesis, we study protein models at the edge of stability in different contexts: (1) First, we use molecular dynamics to determine the force needed to rupture a chain molecule (an unfolded protein) being stretched at constant loading rate and temperature. When all energy bonds of the molecule are identical, we find that the force F depends on the pulling rate r and temperature T according to F ~ const -- T 1/3|ln(r/T)|1/3 When a single weak bond is introduced, this result is modified to F ~ const -- T2/3|ln(r/ T)|2/3 This scaling, which is model independent, can be used with force-spectroscopy experiment to quantitatively extract relevant microscopic parameters of biomolecules. (2) Second, we study the structural stability of models of proteins for which the selected folds are unusually stable to mutation, that is, designable. A two-dimensional hydrophobic-polar lattice model is used to determine designable folds and these folds were investigated under shear through Langevin dynamics. We find that the phase diagram of these proteins depends on their designability. In particular, highly designable folds are found to be weaker, i.e. easier to unfold, than low designable ones. This is argued to be related to protein flexibility. (3) Third, we study the mechanism of cold denaturation through constant-pressure simulations for a model of hydrophobic molecules in an explicit solvent. We find that the temperature dependence of the hydrophobic effect is the driving force for cold denaturation. The physical mechanism underlying this phenomenon is identified as the destabilization of hydrophobic contact in favor of solvent separated configurations, the same mechanism seen in pressure induced denaturation. A phenomenological explanation proposed for the mechanism is suggested as being responsible for cold denaturation in real proteins.

No description available.

Ma Hoi-Wah. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-120). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgement --- p.I / Abstract --- p.II / 摘要 --- p.III / Content --- p.IV / Abbreviations --- p.X / List of Figures --- p.XII / List of Tables --- p.XIV / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Interactions that stabilize proteins --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Some common strategies of protein engineering to improve thermostability --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3 --- Ribosomal protein T. celer L30e as a study model for thermostability --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Extra proline residue is one of the insights by comparing the two proteins --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Materials and Methods --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1 --- General Techniques --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Preparation of Escherichia coli competent cells --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Transformation of Escherichia coli competent cells --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Spectrophotometric quantitation of DNA --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Agarose gel electrophoresis --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- DNA extraction from agarose gel electrophoresis using Viogene Gene Clean kit --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.6 --- Plasmid DNA minipreperation by Wizard® Plus SV Minipreps DNA Purification System from Promega --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.7 --- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.8 --- Ligation of DNA fragments --- p.18 / Chapter 2.1.9 --- Sonication of pellet resuspension --- p.18 / Chapter 2.1.10 --- SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1.11 --- Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis --- p.20 / Chapter 2.1.12 --- Staining of protein in polyacrylamide gel by Coommassie Brillant Blue R250 --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1.13 --- Protein Concentration determination --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2 --- Cloning the Mutant Genes --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Site-directed mutagenesis --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- Generation of full length mutant gene by megaprimer --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Generation of mutant gene by QuikChange® Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit from Stratagene --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Restriction Digestion of DNA --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Ligation of DNA fragments --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Screening for successful inserted plasmid clones from ligation reactions --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2.4.1 --- By PCR --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2.4.2 --- By restriction digestion --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- DNA sequencing --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3 --- Expression and Purification of Protein --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "General bacterial culture, harvesting and lysis" --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Purification of recombinant wild type TRP and mutants --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Purification of recombinant wild type YRP and mutants --- p.32 / Chapter 2.4 --- Thermodynamic Studies by Circular Dichroism (CD) Spectrometry --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Thermodynamic studies by guanidine-induced denaturations --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Themodynamic studies by thermal denaturations --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- ACp measurement of the TRP mutants --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4.3.1 --- By Gibbs-Helmholtz analysis --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4.3.2 --- By van't Hoff analysis --- p.37 / Chapter 2.5 --- Crystal Screen for the Mutant T. celer L30e --- p.38 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- T. celer L30e Pro→Ala and Pro→Gly mutants --- p.38 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Yeast L30e K65P mutant --- p.38 / Chapter 2.6 --- Sequences of Primers --- p.39 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Primers for TRP and its mutants --- p.39 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- Primers for YRP and its mutantsReagents and buffers --- p.40 / Chapter 2.7 --- Reagents and Buffers --- p.40 / Chapter 2.7.1 --- Reagents for competent cell preparation --- p.40 / Chapter 2.7.2 --- Nucleic acid eletrophoresis buffers --- p.41 / Chapter 2.7.3 --- Media for bacterial culture --- p.41 / Chapter 2.7.4 --- Reagents for SDS-PAGE --- p.42 / Chapter 2.7.5 --- Buffers for TRP purification --- p.44 / Chapter 2.7.6 --- Buffers for YRP purification --- p.45 / Chapter 2.7.7 --- Buffer for Circular Dichroism (CD) Spectrometry --- p.46 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Results --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1 --- "Cloning, expression and purification of the mutant proteins" --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- "Mutagenesis, cloning and purification of the thermophilic proteins - T. celer L30e protein and its mutants" --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- "Mutagenesis, cloning and purification of the mesophilic proteins - yeast L30e protein and its mutants" --- p.52 / Chapter 3.2 --- Stability of Pro→Ala/Gly mutants of T. celer L30e at 298K --- p.55 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Design of alanine and glycine mutants from thermophilic homologue --- p.55 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- "Among alanine mutants, only P59A was destabilized" --- p.55 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Ala→Gly mutations destabilized the protein --- p.59 / Chapter 3.3 --- Stability of Xaa→Pro mutants of yeast L30e at 298K --- p.61 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Design of proline mutants from mesophilic homologue --- p.61 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- "K65P, corresponding to P59 in T. celer L30e, stabilized yeast L30e" --- p.62 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Yeast L30e mutated with thermophilic consensus sequence did not give a more stable protein --- p.65 / Chapter 3.4 --- Temperature dependency of the stability of the mutants of T. celer L30e --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- The trend of ΔGU was consistence through 25 to 75°C --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Melting temperatures of T. celer mutants determined by thermal denaturations --- p.68 / Chapter 3.5 --- pH dependency of melting temperatures --- p.75 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- ΔCP values of the P59A/G mutants determined by van't HofF's analyses increased significantly --- p.77 / Chapter 3.6 --- No structural change was observed in the crystal structure of P59A --- p.80 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Discussion --- p.84 / Chapter 4.1 --- The trend of stability from guanidine-induced denaturation agreed with that from thermal denaturations --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2 --- The magnitude of destabilization of P59A and Ala→Gly mutation was consistent with the expected destabilization due to entropy --- p.87 / Chapter 4.3 --- Entropic effect had little effect for residues in flexible region --- p.93 / Chapter 4.4 --- Stabilization forces that compensate the entropic effect --- p.96 / Chapter 4.5 --- Compensatory stabilization due to the release of amide group --- p.99 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- Intra-molecular H-bond in P88A --- p.99 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- Solvent-protein H-bond in P43A --- p.103 / Chapter 4.6 --- Consensus concept was not applicable in our model --- p.110 / Chapter 4.7 --- "Pro→Ala mutation destabilized the protein increase the protein's ACP value, however enthalpy and entropy change were difficult to be decomposed" --- p.111 / Chapter 4.8 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.112 / References --- p.113

Nonionic surfactants are commonly used to stabilize proteins during upstream and downstream processing and drug formulation. Surfactants stabilize the proteins through two major mechanisms: (i) their preferential location at nearby interfaces, in this way precluding protein adsorption; and/or (ii) their association with protein into "complexes" that prevent proteins from interacting with surfaces as well as each other. In general, both mechanisms must be at play for effective protein stabilization against aggregation and activity loss, but selection of surfactants for protein stabilization currently is not made with benefit of any quantitative, predictive information to ensure that this requirement is met. In certain circumstances the kinetics of surface tension depression (by surfactant) in protein-surfactant mixtures has been observed to be greater than that recorded for surfactant alone at the same concentration. We compared surface tension depression by poloxamer 188 (Pluronic�� F68), polysorbate 80 (PS 80), and polysorbate 20 (PS 20) in the presence and absence of lysozyme and recombinant protein, at different surfactant concentrations and temperatures. The kinetic results were interpreted with reference to a mechanism for surfactant adsorption governed by the formation of a rate-limiting structural intermediate (i.e., an "activated complex") comprised of surfactant aggregates and protein. The presence of lysozyme was seen to increase the rate of surfactant adsorption in relation to surfactant acting alone at the same concentrations for the polysorbates while less of an effect was seen for Pluronic�� F68. However, the addition of salt was observed to accelerate the surface tension depression of Pluronic�� F68 in the presence of lysozyme. The addition of a more hydrophobic, surface active protein (Amgen recombinant protein) in place of lysozyme resulted in greater enhancement of surfactant adsorption than that recorded in the presence of lysozyme. A simple thermodynamic analysis indicated the presence of protein caused a reduction in ���G for the surfactant adsorption process, with this reduction deriving entirely from a reduction in ���H. We suggest that protein accelerates the adsorption of these surfactants by disrupting their self associations, increasing the concentration of surfactant monomers near the interface. Based on these air-water tensiometry results, it is fair to expect that accelerated surfactant adsorption in the presence of protein (observed with PS 20 and PS 80) will occur with surfactants that stabilize protein mainly by their own adsorption at interfaces, and that the absence of accelerated surfactant adsorption (observed with F68) will be observed with surfactants that form stable surfactant-protein associations. Optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy was used to test this expectation. Adsorption kinetics were recorded for surfactants (PS 20, PS 80, or F68) and protein (lysozyme or Amgen recombinant protein) at a hydrophilic solid (SiO���-TiO���) surface. Experiments were performed in sequential and competitive adsorption modes, enabling the adsorption kinetic patterns to be interpreted in a fashion revealing the dominant mode of surfactant-mediated stabilization of protein in each case. Kinetic results confirmed predictions based on our earlier quantitative analysis of protein effects on surface tension depression by surfactants. In particular, PS 20 and PS 80 are able to inhibit protein adsorption only by their preferential location at the interface, and not by formation of less surface active, protein-surfactant complexes. On the other hand, F68 is able to inhibit protein adsorption by formation of protein-surfactant complexes, and not by its preferential location at the interface. / Graduation date: 2013 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Sept. 24, 2012 - Feb. 24, 2013.

Enzimas são biocatalisadores específicos que são utilizadas em vários campos de atuação, desde a indústria de alimentos, até na formulação de detergentes. As proteases são biocatalisadores de grande interesse comercial na indústria, movimentando bilhões de dólares com produção de toneladas de detergentes para diferentes aplicações. A demana de proteases no mercado brasileiro promove pesquisas como também o empreendorismo nesse segmento embora mais investimentos por parte das agências do governo devem ser necessárias. A potencialidade da matéria prima renovável e o aumento do desenvolviemnto de tecnologias para enzimas, como o conhecimento sobre a conformação protéica e estabilidade com atividades catalítica são as bases que podem promover a exportação de enzimas. Ligações de hidrogênio, forças iônicas e de van der Walls, como também as interações hodrofóbicas precisam ser matindas entre os amimoácidos para gerenciar a conformação espacial das enzimas, evitando desnaturação protéica. No processo de formulação, é necessário investigar a interrrelação de parâmetros físicos e aditivos químicos cujas variáveis são importantes para manter a estabilidade da conformação espacial, adicionando elementos como conservantes, sais, polímeros, surfactantes, solventes, detergentes e outros elementos para manter a estrutura da enzima. Nesse trabalho foram analizadas as composições de três bioprodutos dispostos no mercado brasileiro para lavagem de roupa. A presença de agentes ativos entre eles: enzimas e tensioativos e, a interação entre esses aditivos durante o armazenamento e as condições operacionais promovem as respectivas diferenças e características que impulsionam a competitividade desses produtos. / Enzymes are specific biocatalysts that work in wide field of applications as food industry as detergent formulation. The proteases represents an important commercial bioproduct used in industry, managing billion of dollars year by year, producing tons of detergents for different applications. Enzymatic reactions are processed under mild temperature and pressure with great commercial interest, being these catalysts biodegradable. The proteases demand in the brazilian market promoves the researches, as the entrepreneurship in this area althought more investments from government agencies must be necessary. The potenciality in renewable raw material and the increase of development of enzyme technologies are the bases that can promove the enzymes exportation. Hydrogen and disulfide bonds, van der Waals and ionic powers, as well as hydrophobic interactions need to be keeped among these amino acids to manage the spacial conformation of the enzymes, avoiding the inactivation or the protein desnaturation. The formulation process need of physical and chemical managements to promove the stability of the protein chains to try to protect the catalytic site and the spacial structure, adding elements like preservatives, salts, polymers, surfactantes, solvents, detergents and others elements to manage the structure of the enzyme in this process of formulation is necessary. In this work was analyzed the chemical composition of three bioprocts sold in the brazilian market used for domestic laundry, the presence of the main active agents among them like: enzymes, tensioactives and others, and the interaction these additives during the formulation process that could promove the respective differences and characteristics that make these products competitive.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / As refinarias de petróleo, assim como outros processos industriais em grande escala, são fontes potenciais de poluição ambiental. Os acidentes ocorridos com derramamento de petróleo e seus derivados no Brasil, no período de 1975 a 2012, somam milhões de litros de poluentes que promoveram a contaminação de solos, rios e mar. Os processos fisíco-químicos tais como, a centrifugação, ultrafiltração e flotação por ar dissolvido (FAD), podem ser eficazes quando usados para separar óleos emulsionados. Nesse sentido, o processo de FAD continua sendo amplamente utilizado nas indústrias, tanto para águas de abastecimento como para águas residuárias. A FAD pode ser considerada como uma tecnologia limpa, uma vez que utiliza pequenas quantidades de coagulantes e ar para promover a separação. A utilização de coletores/coagulantes é essencial para melhorar a eficiência do processo, tendo em vista suas características específicas que facilitam a adesão das partículas e, consequentemente, a separação dos poluentes. Por outro lado, esses coletores químicos são tóxicos, fator que representa um agravante no sentido da geração de outros poluentes ambientais. Assim, os surfactantes microbianos ou biossurfactantes, biomoléculas anfipáticas produzidas por bactérias e leveduras, em detrimento dos coagulantes sintéticos, apresentam-se como uma tecnologia sustentável e promissora no aumento de eficiência da flotação. Essas biomoéculas, além de serem muito eficientes, são biodegradáveis e atóxicas, motivando as pesquisas no sentido de produzir e utilizar cada vez mais esses agentes tensoativos. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho foi desenvolvido na busca de uma estratégia para comparar as eficiências de separação água/derivado de petróleo por FAD, em escala piloto, com e sem a adição de um biossurfactante. De acordo com os resultados obtidos, o biossurfactante produzido por Candida sphaerica cultivada em residuos industriais foi considerado adequado como coletor do processo de separação. A utilização da biomolécula elevou a eficiência do processo de FAD de 80,0% para 98,0%, proporcionando a determinação das melhores condições operacionais. Dessa forma, concluiu-se que o uso de biossurfactantes como auxiliares na flotação constitui uma alternativa promissora na mitigação da poluição provocada pelo derramamento de petróleo e derivados em ambientes marinhos. / Oil refineries, as well as other large-scale industrial processes, are potential sources of environmental pollution. Accidents involving spills of oil and oil products in Brazil, in the period 1975-2012, add infective million liters of soil, rivers and sea. In this sense, the process of dissolved air flotation (DAF) is still widely used in industry, both for water supply and for wastewater. The physico-chemical processes such as centrifugation, ultrafiltration and dissolved air flotation (DAF), can be effective when used to separate emulsified oils. The effluent from the oily water type cause many environmental problems, particularly in thermal power plants (TPPs). Thus the aim of the study was to propose the separation water/oil by FAD in pilot scale and to compare the efficiency of the pilot prototype of FAD with and without addition of biosurfactant separation of oily waste waters. According the results, the biosurfactant produced by Candida sphaerica was selected, this being cultivated in using low cost industrial waste. Use of this bioproduct increased the efficiency of the flotation 80.0% to 98.0 %, to provide better determination of the operating conditions. Thus, it is suggested that the use of biosurfactants as auxiliary flotation is a promising alternative for the mitigation of pollution caused by the accumulation of synthetic surfactants in the environment.

Orientador: Carlos Henrique Inacio Ramos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-05T11:57:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Regis_WiliamCesarBento_D.pdf: 2288615 bytes, checksum: 63ccd34d93524d993a42e51b4e2f9855 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Os estudos em biologia estrutural avançaram muito nos últimos anos e inúmeras informações, obtidas principalmente por dados cristalográficos, ajudaram no entendimento dos mecanismos de ação e efeito biológico de várias proteínas contudo o caminho que vai da síntese até a estruturação dde uma porteína aidna é pouco conhecido. Uma descrição termodinâmica detalhada de proteínas é fundamental para se entender seu papel biológico e conhecer as interações e forças que determinam o enovelamento. Este é o foco pincipal deste trabalho que utilizou para isso as mioglobinas de baleia e de cavalo. O estudo da apomioglobina se divide quase igualmente entre as proteínas oriundas de espermacete, a qual está clonada, e de cavalo, a qual é obtida comercialmente. Ambas possuem alta homologia e comportamento similar quanto ao enovelamento, assumindo-se em geral que estas proteínas apresentam o mesmo fenômeno no que diz respeito ao enovelamento. Contudo, esta hipótese pode não ser verdadeira, o que torna necessário medir e comparar a estabilidade destas proteínas. Apenas recentemente um método confiável para medir a estabilidade de mioglobina em uma reação reversível foi implantado: análise do desenovelamento por uréia de um derivado ciano de mioglobina em uma faixa de pH limitado. Nossos resultados mostraram que a mioglobina de cavalo é 2,1 kcal/mol menos estável que a mioglobina de espermacete em pH 5,0 e 25 ºC. Além disso, a mioglobina de cavalo agregou em altas concentrações, como medido por experimentos de gel filtração e ultracentrifugação analítica. A alta estabilidade da mioglobina de espermacete foi identificada tanto para a forma apoquanto para a forma holo e se mostrou independente de pH, na faixa de 5 até 8, e da presença de até 200 mM de cloreto de sódio. A substituição dos resíduos de alanina nas posições 15 e 74 por glicina, encontrados na mioglobina de cavalo, diminuiu a estabilidade da proteína em 1,0 kcal/mol. As apoproteínas de mamíferos que mergulham são significativamente mais estáveis do que as apoproteínas de mamíferos terrestres. Este fenômeno pode ser explicado pela suposição de que sob pressão seletiva um acúmulo de mutações que levam a pequenas estabilizações nas características globais de estabilidade das proteínas. Mamíferos que mergulham em grandes profundidades, como a baleia, são expostos a anaerobiose prolongada e conseqüente condições de acidose. Isto pode levar a uma série de acúmulos de mutações que promoverão resistência ao desenovelamento e a perda do grupo heme, fenômenos que podem ocorrer durante a acidose (Tang et al., 1998). Os resultados deste trabalho indicaram que a propensão a formação de hélices é um componente importante para explicar as diferenças de estabilidade entre as mioglobinas de cavalo e de espermacete / Abstract: The work in the literature on the stability and folding pathway of myoglobin is almost equally divided between horse myoglobin, which is available commercially, and sperm whale myoglobin, which must be cloned and expressed. The two proteins share high homology, show similar folding behavior and it is often assumed that all folding phenomena found with one protein will also be found with the other. This assumption may not be true, which makes essential to compare their basic properties, such as stability and dependence on temperature and salt concentration. However, no reliable method have been used to access the precisely difference in stability between these two proteins because it was not possible until recently to measure the stability of holoMb in a reversible unfoldingr efolding reaction. The reversible folding of myoglobin can be measured by using the cyanmet derivative and urea unfolding but only in a limited pH range. We report data at equilibrium showing that horse myoglobin was 2.1 kcal/mol less stable than sperm whale myoglobin at pH 5.0, 25 ºC, and aggregated at high concentrations as measured by gel filtration and analytical ultracentrifugation experiments. The higher stability of sperm whale myoglobin was identified for both apo and holo forms, and was independent of pH from 5 to 8 and of the presence of sodium chloride. We also show that the substitution of sperm whale myoglobin residues Ala15 and Ala74 to Gly, the residues found at positions 15 and 74 in horse myoglobin, decreased the stability by 1.0 kcal/mol, indicating that helix propensity is an important component of the explanation for the difference in stability between the two proteins / Doutorado / Bioquimica / Doutor em Biologia Funcional e Molecular

Many methods of analyzing both the physical and chemical behavior of proteins require information about its structure and stability. Also various other parameters such as energy function, solvation, hydrophobic/hydrophilic effects, surface area and volumes too play an important part in such analysis. The contribution of cavities to these parameters are very important. Existing methods to compute and measure cavities are limited by the inherent inaccuracies in the method of acquisition of data through x-ray crystallography and uncertainities in computation of radii of atoms. We present a topological framework that enables robust computation and visualization of these structures. Given a fixed set of atoms, voids and pockets are represented as subsets of the weighted Delaunay triangulation of atom centers. A novel notion of (ε,π)-stable voids helps identify voids that are stable even after perturbing the atom radii by a small value. An efficient method is described to compute these stable voids for a given input pair of values (ε,π ). We also provide an implementation to visualize, explore (ε.π)-stable voids and also calculate various properties such as volumes, surface areas of the proteins and also of the cavities.