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JournalISSN: 0006-2960

Biochemistry 

American Chemical Society
About: Biochemistry is an academic journal published by American Chemical Society. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Active site & Binding site. It has an ISSN identifier of 0006-2960. Over the lifetime, 75281 publications have been published receiving 3815320 citations. The journal is also known as: biological chemistry.


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TL;DR: In this article, the rat pancreas RNA was used as a source for the purification of alpha-amylase messenger ribonucleic acid (RBA) using 2-mercaptoethanol.
Abstract: Intact ribonucleic acid (RNA) has been prepared from tissues rich in ribonuclease such as the rat pancreas by efficient homogenization in a 4 M solution of the potent protein denaturant guanidinium thiocyanate plus 0.1 M 2-mercaptoethanol to break protein disulfide bonds. The RNA was isolated free of protein by ethanol precipitation or by sedimentation through cesium chloride. Rat pancreas RNA obtained by these means has been used as a source for the purification of alpha-amylase messenger ribonucleic acid.

19,805 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: On the basis of the thermochemical behavior of small molecule interactions, it is concluded that the strengthening of hydrogen bonds in the past decade, a complete thermodynamic description of the self-association of many proteins and their interactions is concluded.
Abstract: Reviewing the thermodynamic parameters characterizing self-association and ligand binding of proteins at 25 OC, we find AGO, AHo, AS\", and ACpo are often all of negative sign. It is thus not possible to account for the stability of association complexes of proteins on the basis of hydrophobic interactions alone. We present a conceptual model of protein association consisting of two steps: the mutual penetration of hydration layers causing disordering of the solvent followed by further short-range interactions. The net AGO for the complete association process is primarily determined by the positive entropy change accompanying the first step and the negative enthalpy change of the second step. On the basis of the thermochemical behavior of small molecule interactions, we conclude that the strengthening of hydrogen bonds in the I n the past decade, a complete thermodynamic description of the self-association of many proteins and their interactions From the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (P.D.R.) and Laboratory of Nutrition and Endocrinology (S.S.), National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20205. Received September 23, 1980. low dielectric macromolecular interior and van der Waals' interactions introduced as a consequence of the hydrophobic effect are the most important factors contributing to the observed negative values of AHo and ASo and hence to the stability of protein association complexes. The X-ray crystallographic structures of these complexes are consonant with this analysis. The tendency for protein association reactions to become entropy dominated and/or entropy-enthalpy assisted at low temperatures and enthalpy dominated at high temperatures (a consequence of the typically negative values of AC,\") arises from the diminution of the hydrophobic effect with increasing temperature which is a general property of the solvent, water. with small molecular substrates has become available. Concomitantly, X-ray crystallography has provided a detailed picture of some of these associations, and this has stimulated a number of theoretical studies (Levitt & Warshel, 1975; Gelin & Karplus, 1975; Chothia & Janin, 1975), based upon energetic considerations, to account for these structures. The This article not subject to U S . Copyright. Published 1981 by the American Chemical Society T H E R M O D Y N A M I C S O F P R O T E I N A S S O C I A T I O N V O L . 2 0 , N O . 1 1 , 1 9 8 1 3097 Table I: Thermodynamics of Protein Association' association process A G \" ~ AiY A s o , A c p o (kcal mol-') (kcal mol-l) (cal K-I mol-') (cal K-I mol-I) refb trypsin (bovine) + inhibitor (soybean) -14.6 8.6 78 -440 c, d deoxyhemoglobin S gelation -3.4 2.0 18 -200 e, f lysozyme self-association (indefinite) -3.9 -6 .4 -8.3 g glucagon trimerization -12.1 -3 1 -64 -430 h, i hemoglobin t haptoglobin -11.5 -3 3 -7 3 -940 i a-chymotrypsin dimerization -7.1 -35 -9 5 k, I S-peptide + S-protein (ribonuclease) -13 -40 -90 -1100 m, n All thermodynamic parameters expressed per mole of complex formed except the indefinite association cases of hemoglobin S and lysozyme for which the mole refers to the monomeric protein reacted. Unitary entropy and free energy are given for processes of defined stoichiometry. Standard states are hypothetical 1 M protein, pH at which the reaction was measured. All pHs were close to 7 except for trypsin, pH 5, haptoglobin, pH 5.5, and glucagon, pH 10.5. All data for 25 \"C except glucagon, T = 30 \"C. ence is to calorimetric work and the second is to X-ray crystallographic structure determination. al. (1974). e Rosset al. (1977). Wishner e t al. (1975). g Banerjee et al. (1975). Johnson et al. (1979). * Sasaki et al. (1975). For each entry, the first referSweet et Baugh & Trowbridge (1972). Lavialle et al. (1974). Shiao & Sturtevant (1969). lVandlen &Tulinsky (1973). Hearn et al. (1971). Wyckoff e t al. (1970). methodology and problems involved in such calculations have been critically reviewed by NBmethy & Scheraga (1977). In this paper we review the thermodynamics of protein association processes for the examples best characterized in terms of their chemistry and structure. From this survey we find that the thermodynamic parameters AGO, Ai?, AS\", and ACpo are predominantly of negative sign. This result poses severe difficulties for interpretations of protein association based upon the entropically driven hydrophobic effect. The aim of this paper is to attempt to account for the signs and magnitudes of these thermodynamic parameters for protein association reactions in terms of known molecular forces and the thermochemistry of small molecule interactions.

4,576 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present review aims to provide a reassessment of the factors important for folding in light of current knowledge, including contributions to the free energy of folding arising from electrostatics, hydrogen-bonding and van der Waals interactions, intrinsic propensities, and hydrophobic interactions.
Abstract: T e purpose of this review is to assess the nature and magnitudes of the dominant forces in protein folding. Since proteins are only marginally stable at room temperature,’ no type of molecular interaction is unimportant, and even small interactions can contribute significantly (positively or negatively) to stability (Alber, 1989a,b; Matthews, 1987a,b). However, the present review aims to identify only the largest forces that lead to the structural features of globular proteins: their extraordinary compactness, their core of nonpolar residues, and their considerable amounts of internal architecture. This review explores contributions to the free energy of folding arising from electrostatics (classical charge repulsions and ion pairing), hydrogen-bonding and van der Waals interactions, intrinsic propensities, and hydrophobic interactions. An earlier review by Kauzmann (1959) introduced the importance of hydrophobic interactions. His insights were particularly remarkable considering that he did not have the benefit of known protein structures, model studies, high-resolution calorimetry, mutational methods, or force-field or statistical mechanical results. The present review aims to provide a reassessment of the factors important for folding in light of current knowledge. Also considered here are the opposing forces, conformational entropy and electrostatics. The process of protein folding has been known for about 60 years. In 1902, Emil Fischer and Franz Hofmeister independently concluded that proteins were chains of covalently linked amino acids (Haschemeyer & Haschemeyer, 1973) but deeper understanding of protein structure and conformational change was hindered because of the difficulty in finding conditions for solubilization. Chick and Martin (191 1) were the first to discover the process of denaturation and to distinguish it from the process of aggregation. By 1925, the denaturation process was considered to be either hydrolysis of the peptide bond (Wu & Wu, 1925; Anson & Mirsky, 1925) or dehydration of the protein (Robertson, 1918). The view that protein denaturation was an unfolding process was

3,570 citations

Performance
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No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202314
20227
2021513
2020642
2019721
2018918