Structural and dynamic aspects of β‐glycosidase from mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria by multitryptophanyl emission decay studies

The tryptophanyl emission decay of β‐glycosidase from the extremophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus(Sβgly) has been investigated by frequency domain fluorometry. The data were analyzed in terms of sum of discrete lifetimes as well as in terms of quasi‐ continuous lifetime distributions of different shape. At neutral pH the emission decay is characterized by two components: a long‐lived component, centered at 7.4 ns, and a short one at 2.7 ns, irrespective of the decay scheme used for the interpretation of the experimental results. The effects of an irreversible inhibitor, that is, cyclophellitol, and that of a powerful denaturant such as guanidinium hydrochloride on the dynamics of Sβgly has been investigated by observing the changes induced in the two components of the tryptophanyl emission decay. The addition of cyclophellitol to native Sβgly reduces the contribution of the short‐lived component but does not affect the long‐lived one. Increasing concentrations of guanidinium hydrochloride differently affect the contributions of the two emission components. Higher concentrations were required to unfold the molecular regions containing the long‐lived indolic fluorophores. These results indicate that the long‐lived contribution arises from tryptophanyl residues deeply clustered in the interior of the protein matrix, whereas the short‐lived one includes residues located in less rigid and more solvent accessible regions, some of which might be located in functionally important parts of protein. The knowledge of the crystallographic structure of Sβgly allowed us to evaluate some average parameters for each tryptophanyl microenvironment in the Sβgly such as hydrophobicity, structural flexibility, and ability of side chains to act as fluorescence quenchers. These results permitted to divide the tryptophanyl fluorescence of Sβgly in the contribution of two emitting groups: one consisting of eight closely clustered tryptophans, that is, Trp 33, 36, 60, 84, 151 174, 425, and 433, responsible for the long‐lived emission component and the other one, composed of nine tryptophans nearer to the subunit surface, that is, Trp 12, 156, 192, 287, 288, 316, 361, 376, 455, associable to the short‐lived emission component. Finally, the examination of the tryptophanyl emission decay of the mesophilic β‐galactosidase from Escherichia coli(Cβgal) and the Arrhenius analysis of its dependence on temperature indicated that the tryptophanyl environments of the mesophilic enzyme are rather homogeneous in consequence of a larger protein dynamics. Proteins 1999;35:163–172. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.