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Conditions have been established where the deactivation of the beta-lactamase from Staphylococcus aureus PC1 by the penicillin substrate, quinacillin, is close to complete but fully reversible. The temperature-dependence of the rate of re-activation indicated a half-life of about 170 min for the deactivated state at 0 degrees C. Measurement of the relative viscosity of mixtures of enzyme and quinacillin at 8.4 degrees C ruled out any significant difference in shape or solvation between the deactivated and the normal enzyme. C.d. measurements of the deactivated protein, separated from excess quinacillin, showed that the quinacillin side-chain chromophore was bound in an asymmetric environment. The ellipticity associated with the bound quinacillin chromophore decreased with the same first-order rate constant as that for reappearance of enzyme activity. These findings support the accumulation of a deactivated state that contains bound quinacillin or a derivative. Quinacillin caused a 3-fold increase in the rate of 3H exchange-out (at a rate that was low compared with that for the substantially unfolded or expanded protein). However, there was rapid exchange-out of about 50 3H atoms on addition of 1 M-urea to the deactivated enzyme, whereas the same concentration had no effect on the exchange-out of 3H from native enzyme. The interpretation that quinacillin increases the susceptibility of the native state to unfolding in the presence of urea is supported by the demonstration that SO4(2)- ions decreased the rate and extent of deactivation but had no effect on the rate of re-activation, as predicted from the observation that SO4(2)- ions, in competition with urea, stabilize the native state relative to the partially unfolded state H [Mitchinson & Pain (1985) J. Mol. Biol. 184, 331-342].

The unfolding of beta-lactamase (penicillinase) from Staphylococcus aureus by guanidinium chloride was followed by using n.m.r. spectroscopy. On the basis of the observation of resonances corresponding to histidine, tyrosine and other amino acid side chains, the existence of a stable partially folded species was demonstrated. These experiments provide detailed characterization of the intermediate that confirms and extends previous characterization by absorption and c.d. spectroscopy and by flow properties. In addition, they show that residues in the N-terminal third of the molecule are affected by the native-to-intermediate transition. Persistent non-equivalence of the two imidazole C2 proton resonances at high guanidinium chloride concentrations is discussed in terms of local sequence effects on the chemical shift.

1. The penicillinase-catalysed hydrolysis of quinacillin was quenched by addition of 5 m-guanidinium chloride or 1% (w/v) sodium dodecyl sulphate, and the quenched reaction mixture was dialysed exhaustively against solutions of the denaturant. 2. Irreversibly bound quinacillin was shown by titration with HgCl2 to be covalently attached to the protein by the β-lactam carboxyl group. 3. The derivative was found to be stable over the pH range 3.5-8.5. 4. Chymotryptic hydrolysis of the product and subsequent fractionation showed that quinacillin was bound to one or possibly two peptides.

Cathepsin D is found in the cell in two forms, one a single polypeptide chain (Mr 44 000) and the other a non-covalent complex of two peptides of Mr 14 000 and 30 000. These correspond to the N-terminal and C-terminal regions of the single chain from which they originate. It has been shown that the two forms of the enzyme are closely similar in secondary-structure content, in aromatic amino acid environment and in denaturation behaviour. The two-chain enzyme has half the specific activity of the single-chain form. The denaturation and renaturation of the single-chain cathepsin D has now been studied by c.d., fluorescence and enzyme activity. Activity is lost irreversibly on unfolding, but the loss of backbone ellipticity and of folded aromatic environment is 75% reversible. The enzyme unfolds in two main stages, and the kinetics of these transitions indicate the existence of at least two intermediate forms between the native and the fully unfolded states. A further form of the enzyme exists in 0.5 M-guanidinium chloride. It is characterized by having an activity 40% greater than that of the native state. This increase is not reversed on removing the denaturant. The similarities between cathepsin D and pepsin are discussed.

1. The thermodynamically reversible unfolding and refolding of penicillinase between the native and fully unfolded states were followed by using guanidinium chloride as denaturant. 2. The equilibria, studied by optical rotation, u.v. absorption, viscosity and enzyme activity, show the presence of a state of intermediate conformation, termed state H, which is stable at 20 degrees C in 0.8 M-guanidinium chloride. 3. The physical properties of this state show that it is slightly expanded with an intrinsic viscosity of 8 ml-g-1, that the 13 tyrosine residues, which are distributed through the primary sequence, are maximally exposed to the solvent and that the helix content is the same as that of the native state. 4. The kinetics of the transition between the native state, state H and the fully unfolded state were followed by u.v. absorption and by optical rotation. They are interpreted as showing that state H lies on the folding pathway between the native and fully unfolded states. 5. The transition between the native state and state H exhibits monophasic unfolding kinetics and biphasic refolding kinetics. This indicates that there must be at least two intermediate states in this process, at least one of which lies on the folding pathway which may also involve cul-de-sac paths. 6. The results are discussed in terms of a mechanism involving rapid stabilization of nucleation regions in a moderately compact but internally solvated structure, with ‘native format’ [Anfinsen (1973) Science 181, 233-230] secondary structure stabilized by tertiary interaction. The final and rate-limiting step in refolding involves shuffling of these structural elements into the native state. 7. This model is discussed in relation to folding in vivo.

1. A homogeneous preparation of penicillinase (penicillin amido-β-lactamhydrolase, EC 3.5.2.6) was isolated and purified from cultures of Staphylococcus aureus by a simple two-stage procedure. 2. The native protein contains 20-30% helix as determined by optical-rotatory-dispersion and circular-dichroism measurements. Some 54(+/-5)% of the 13 tyrosine residues are exposed to solvent molecules of diameter 0.44 and 0.94 nm. 3. Conditions that allow full recovery of enzymic activity and native conformation from the fully unfolded state in 4M-guanidinium chloride were defined. 4. Refolding of the protein was shown to be inhibited by intermolecular interaction, by small changes in ionization and by low concentrations (0.025 M) of phenol.

1. At high concentrations, in 10mm-phosphate buffer, pH7.0, the sedimentation coefficient of bacterial catalase varies with concentration according to: [Formula: see text] with S020,w=11.30S and ks=6.29×10−3ml mg−1. Sedimentation-equilibrium experiments yield a molecular weight of 240000. 2. Parallel studies of changes in sedimentation-velocity behaviour and in electronic spectra of bacterial catalase at pH>11 were made. Dissociation is indicated by the appearance of a slow-moving (2.9S) component in sedimentation patterns and this is accompanied by marked changes in absorption spectrum in the Soret region. Values of R=E406/E355 show a theoretically predictable near-linear dependence on α, the degree of dissociation calculated from ultracentrifuge data. 3. The Soret absorption of bacterial catalase subunits is much lower than that of the native enzyme, and it is suggested that dissociation produces an environmental constraint on the prosthetic group that results in distortion of the porphyrin ring.

THE absorption spectrum of catalase compound II is well established and provides the principal basis for the characterization of this species. The nature of the reactions involved in the conversion of catalase to compound II is not well understood, but it is clear that compound II plays a very important part in the reversible deactivation of catalase by its substrates. Although there has been no suggestion in the literature that the formation of compound II involves a major disruption of the catalase molecule, recent kinetic studies in this laboratory1suggested that compound II may be a sub-unit species. This compound is sufficiently stable to permit a direct test of this idea by sedimentation velocity studies in the analytical ultracentrifuge.