J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 262, Issue 35, 16985-16994, Dec, 1987
Circular dichroism and 1H NMR studies of Co2+- and Ni2+-substituted concanavalin A and the lentil and pea lectins
I Bertini, MS Viezzoli, C Luchinat, E Stafford, AD Cardin, WD Behnke, L Bhattacharyya and CF Brewer
Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Italy.
Visible absorption, circular dichroism (CD) and magnetic circular dichroism
spectra have been recorded for the Ca2+-Co2+ derivatives of the lentil
(CCoLcH) and pea (CCoPSA) lectins (Co2+ at the S1 sites and Ca2+ at the S2
sites) and shown to be very similar for both proteins. The visible
absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectra indicate similar
octahedral geometries for high spin Co2+ at S1 in both proteins, as found
in the Ca2+-Co2+ complex of concanavalin A (CCoPL) (Richardson, C. E., and
Behnke, W. D. (1976) J. Mol. Biol. 102, 441- 451). The visible CD data,
however, indicate differences in the environment around S1 of CCoLcH and
CCoPSA compared to CCoPL. 1H NMR spectra at 90 MHz of the Co2+ and Ni2+
derivatives of the lectins show a number of isotropically shifted signals
which arise from protons in the immediate vicinity of the S1 sites.
Analysis of the spectra of the Co2+ derivatives in H2O and D2O has
permitted resonance assignments of the side chain ring protons of the
coordinated histidine at S1 in the lectins. Differences are observed in the
H-D exchange rate of the histidine NH proton at S1 in concanavalin A
compared to the lentil and pea lectins. NMR data of the Ni2+-substituted
proteins, together with spectra of the Co2+ derivatives, also indicate that
the side chains of a carboxylate ligand and of the histidine residue at S1
are positioned differently in concanavalin A than in the other two lectins.
These results appear to account, in part, for the differences observed in
the visible CD spectra of the Co2+-substituted proteins. In addition,
binding of monosaccharides does not significantly perturb the spectra of
the lectins. An unusual feature in the 1H NMR spectra of all three
Co2+-substituted lectins is the presence of two exchangeable downfield
shifted resonances which appear to be associated with the two protons of a
slowly exchanging water molecule coordinated to the Ca2+ ion at S2. T1
measurements of CCoLcH have provided an estimation of the distances from
the Co2+ ion to these two protons of 3.7 and 4.0 A.