Fluorescence quenching and time-resolved fluorescence studies on Trichosanthes dioica seed lectin

Fluorescence quenching and time-resolved fluorescence studies have been carried out on the Trichosanthes dioica seed lectin (TDSL). The emission lambdamax of native TDSL, seen at 328nm, shifts to 343nm upon denaturation with 6M guanidinium chloride. Quenching titrations were performed with neutral (acrylamide and succinimide) and ionic (I(-) and Cs(+)) quenchers in order to probe the exposure and accessibility of tryptophan residues of the protein. Maximum quenching was observed with acrylamide, followed by succinimide, iodide and Cs(+). Dramatic increase in the extent of quenching and other quenching parameters by all the quenchers were observed upon denaturation of TDSL, suggesting that all the tryptophan residues in native TDSL are buried in the hydrophobic core of the protein. Increase in the extent of quenching upon denaturation of TDSL was maximum with I(-) and minimum with Cs(+), suggesting the presence of positively charged residue(s), near at least one tryptophan residue. Addition of saccharide ligands such as methyl-beta-d-galactopyranoside and lactose led to a small, but reproducible decrease in the fluorescence intensity of the lectin. The presence of lactose provided a partial protection against quenching by I(-), Cs(+) and succinimide, but not acrylamide. In time-resolved fluorescence measurements the fluorescence decay curves could be best fitted to biexponential patterns with lifetimes of 4.09 and 1.53ns for native lectin, 3.40 and 1.65ns for the lectin in presence of 0.1M lactose and 3.50 and 1.40ns for denatured lectin.     

STUDIES OF THE EFFICIENCY and MECHANISM OF FLUORESCENCE QUENCHING REACTIONS USING ACRYLAMIDE and SUCCINIMIDE AS QUENCHERS

Abstract Here we report data for the quenching by acrylamide and succinimide of the fluorescence of a number of simple aromatic fluorophores in aqueous solution. Acrylamide is an efficient quencher of the fluorescence of most of these aromatic fluorophores, but succinimide is less efficient for all fluorophores and shows a very crude dependence on the ionization potential of the fluorophore. When the solvent is ethanol, the quenching efficiency by acrylamide and succinimide is found to decrease for the fluorophores, indole, naphthalene, and carbazole. These studies are consistent with an electron transfer quenching mechanism for the two quenchers. Quenching parameters (by acrylamide, succinimide, and iodide) are also reported for a number of fluorescent probes commonly used in biochemical studies. In general, the efficiency of acrylamide and succinimide quenching of these probes is low in aqueous solution.     

TRYPTOPHANYL FLUORESCENCE QUENCHING OF UROCANASE FROM Pseudomonas putida BY ACRYLAMIDE, CESIUM, IODIDE, and IMIDAZOLEPROPIONATE

Abstract— Urocanase from Pseudomonas putida can be photoactivated by UV radiation. Because of the action spectrum peak at 280 nm, tryptophan has been implicated in the photoactivation by energy transfer. In these studies, tryptophan was determined, the exposure and environment of tryptophanyl residues were studied with collisional quenchers, and the involvement of tryptophanyl residues in the photoactivation of urocanase was investigated. There are sixteen tryptophanyl residues per urocanase molecule as measured by two methods. Fluorescence quenching with acrylamide, cesium, and iodide was used to describe the accessibility and environment of urocanase tryptophanyl residues. Quenching constants indicated there is little difference in the accessibility of tryptophanyl residues between active and inactive enzyme. Tryptophanyl residues of native enzyme were most accessible to acrylamide ( f _a, = 0.6–0.7), less accessible to iodide ( f _a= 0.4), and not accessible to cesium ion, suggesting that surface residues were in regions of positive charge. Stern-Volmer plots indicated a heterogeneous population of tryptophanyl residues with different accessibilities. A competitive inhibitor, imidazolepropionate, quenched fluorescence; the quenching was used to determine the dissociation constant for the enzyme-inhibitor complex ( K _d= 0.20 mM). Kinetic data showed K _i= 0.25 mM. Mixed quencher experiments indicated that the tryptophanyl residues quenched by imidazolepropionate were more accessible to acrylamide and less accessible to iodide. These studies suggest that the residues involved in putative energy transfer during photoactivation are not fully exposed.     

Fluorescence quenching, time-resolved fluorescence and chemical modification studies on the tryptophan residues of snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina) seed lectin

Fluorescence quenching and time-resolved fluorescence studies have been performed on the galactose-specific lectin purified from snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina) seeds, in order to investigate the tryptophan accessibility and environment in the native protein and in the presence of bound ligand. Estimation of the tryptophan content by N-bromosuccinimide modification in the presence of 8 M urea yields four residues per dimeric molecule. The emission spectrum of native lectin in the absence as well as in the presence of 50 mM methyl--d-galatopyranoside (MeGal) shows a maximum around 331 nm, which shifts to 361.8 nm upon reduction of the disulfide bonds and denaturation with 8 M urea, indicating that all four tryptophan residues in the native state of this protein are in a hydrophobic environment. The extent of quenching that is observed is highest with acrylamide, intermediate with succinimide, and low with Cs⁺ and I⁻, further supporting the idea that the tryptophan residues are predominantly buried in the hydrophobic core of the protein. The presence of MeGal (50 mM) affects the quenching only marginally. Time-resolved fluorescence measurements yield bi-exponential decay curves with lifetimes of 1.45 and 4.99 ns in the absence of sugar, and 1.36 and 4.8 ns in its presence. These results suggest that the tryptophan residues are not directly involved in the saccharide binding activity of the T. anguina lectin. Of the four quenchers employed in this study, the cationic quencher, Cs⁺, is found to be a very sensitive probe for the tryptophan environment of this lectin and may be useful in investigating the environment of partially buried tryptophan residues and unfolding processes in other proteins as well.     

ACRYLAMIDE QUENCHING OF TRYPTOPHAN PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOPHYSICS

Studies of acrylamide quenching of tryptophan (Trp) fluorescence, photochemistry, and photoionization have been conducted. Quenching of Trp fluorescence in aqueous solution by addition of acrylamide in the concentration range 0.0-0.5 M was measured and resulted in a Stern-Volmer quenching constant of KSV = 21 +/- 3 M-1. Photolysis experiments were performed in which Trp was photolyzed at 295 nm in the presence of varying concentrations of acrylamide. The loss of Trp was monitored using reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and was observed to follow first order kinetics. Production of N-formylkynurenine (NFK) was observed by RP-HPLC in irradiated Trp samples both in the presence and absence of added acrylamide. In addition, no new photochemical product was detected. This was taken as evidence that acrylamide did not alter the photochemical pathway but just reduced the reaction rate as expected for a physical quenching mechanism. Plotting the reciprocal of photolysis rate constant versus acrylamide concentration produced a Stern-Volmer constant for quenching of Trp photochemistry of KSV = 6 +/- 2 M-1. The KSV values for both fluorescence quenching and photolysis quenching were thus large, implying efficient quenching of both processes by acrylamide. Assuming an excited singlet state lifetime of 2.8 ns, the calculated second-order quenching rate constants for fluorescence and photolysis were kq = 7.5 x 10(9) and 2.1 x 10(9) M-1 s-1 respectively. The possible involvement of photoionization in the photolysis mechanism was investigated by studies of acrylamide quenching of voltage transients produced by xenon flash lamp excitation of Trp at aqueous/teflon or aqueous/mica interfaces.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Rhodotorula aurantiaca penicillin V acylase: Active site characterization and fluorometric studies

Penicillin V acylase (PVA), a member of newly evolved Ntn-hydrolase superfamily, is a pharmaceutically important enzyme to produce 6-aminopenicillanic acid. Active site characterization of recently purified monomeric PVA from Rhodotorula aurantiaca (Ra-PVA), the yeast source, showed the involvement of serine and tryptophan in the enzyme activity. Modification of the protein with serine and tryptophan specific reagents such as PMSF and NBS showed partial loss of PVA activity and substrate protection. Ra-PVA was found to be a multi-tryptophan protein exhibiting one tryptophan, in native and, four in its denatured condition. Various solute quenchers and substrate were used to probe the microenvironment of the putative reactive tryptophan through fluorescence quenching. The results obtained indicate that the tryptophan residues of Ra-PVA were largely buried in hydrophobic core of the protein matrix. Quenching of the fluorescence by acrylamide was collisional. Acrylamide was the most effective quencher amongst all the used quenchers, which quenched 71.6% of the total intrinsic fluorescence of the protein, at a very less final concentration of 0.1 M. Surface tryptophan residues were found to have predominantly more electropositively charged amino acids around them, however differentially accessible for ionic quenchers. Denaturation led to shift in λ_max from 336, in native state, to 357 nm and more exposed to the solvent, consequently increase in fluorescence quenching with all quenchers. This is an attempt towards the conformational studies of Ra-PVA.     

菊粉酶中色氨酸残基的化学修饰及其荧光光谱

用N-溴代琥珀酰亚胺为修饰剂, 研究菊粉酶中的Trp残基的分布及其对酶生物学功能的影响, 为进一步研究菊粉酶结构与其功能之间的关系提供了新的信息.     

ROLE OF THE TRYPTOPHAN FLUORESCENT STATE IN THE ULTRAVIOLET-INDUCED INACTIVATION OF β-TRYPSIN*

Abstract— Stern-Volmer quenching constants for β-trypsin at pH 3 were determined for fluorescence quenching by histidine, acrylamide, and nitrate ion. A modified Stern-Volmer plot (Lehrer, 1971) was employed to show that all of the fluorescent tryptophanyl residues of β-trypsin were equally susceptible to quenching by acrylamide at pH 3 when the enzyme was either in its native conformation or denatured in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl). Fluorescence lifetime measurements indicated that acrylamide quenched β-trypsin fluorescence by a purely collisional mechanism. Solvation of tryptophanyl residues of the protein was maximal at 2.5 M GuHCl, as monitored by fluorescence emission wavelength.
Investigations of the ultraviolet-induced inactivation of β-trypsin at 295 nm were performed in the presence of acrylamide at pH 3. The quantum yields for enzyme inactivation and indole destruction (determined using the PDAB reagent) were unchanged upon depopulation of the fluorescent state by 65 per cent, whether the enzyme was in its native conformation or denatured by 6 M GuHCl. It is concluded that the fluorescent state of tryptophanyl residues of β-trypsin is not involved in enzyme inactivation or tryptophan destruction.     

Photophysics of anthracene-indole systems in unilamellar vesicles of DMPC and POPC: Exciplex formation and temperature effects

The quenching of anthracene fluorescence by indole (IN), 1,2-dimethylindole (DMI), tryptophan (Trp) and indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) in dimiristoylphophatidylcholine (DMPC) and palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) lipid bilayers was investigated. The studies were carried out at 25 degrees C in POPC vesicles and below (15 degrees C) and above (35 degrees C) the phase transition temperature (24 degrees C) of DMPC. A very efficient quenching of the anthracene fluorescence by IN and DMI in the lipid membrane is observed in all cases. It is less efficient in the case of Trp and IAA. Stern-Volmer plots are linear for DMI but present a downward curvature for the other quenchers. This was interpreted as an indication of the presence of an inaccessible fraction of anthracene molecules. By a modified Stern-Volmer analysis the fraction accessible to the quenchers and the quenching constant were determined. Partition constants of the quenchers were obtained from the changes in the fluorescence emission of the indole moiety caused by the presence of the phospholipid. Using the partition constants bimolecular quenching rate constants were determined in terms of the local concentration of quencher in the lipid bilayer. These corrected rate constants are lower than those in homogeneous solvents. In the case of DMPC values the gel phase are higher than in the liquid-crystalline phase. In the quenching by IN and DMI a new, red shifted, emission band appears which could be assigned to an exciplex emission. The exciplex band is absent in the quenching by IAA and Trp.     

Fluorescence quenching of anthracene by indole derivatives in phospholipid bilayers

The quenching of anthracene fluorescence by indole, 1,2-dimethylindole (DMI), tryptophan (Trp) and indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) in palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) lipid bilayers was investigated. A very efficient quenching of the anthracene fluorescence in the lipid membrane is observed. Stern-Volmer plots are linear for DMI but present a downward curvature for the other quenchers. This was interpreted as an indication of the presence of an inaccessible fraction of anthracene molecules. By a modified Stern-Volmer analysis the fraction accessible to the quenchers and the quenching constant were determined. The changes in the fluorescence emission spectrum of indole and DMI have been used to calculate the partition constants of these probes into the membranes, and bimolecular quenching rate constants were determined in terms of the local concentration of quencher in the lipid bilayer. The rate constants are lower than those in homogeneous solvents, which may be ascribed to a higher viscosity of the bilayer. No changes in the emission spectra of Trp and IAA are observed in the presence of vesicles, indicating that these probes locate preferentially in the aqueous phase, or in close proximity to the vesicular external interface in a medium resembling pure water. In these cases quenching rate constants were determined in terms of the analytical concentration. In the quenching by DMI a new, red shifted, emission band appears; it is similar to that observed in non-polar solvents and it is ascribable to an exciplex emission. The exciplex band is absent in the quenching by IAA and Trp and only very weakly present when the quencher is indole. From the position of the maximum of the exciplex emission, a relatively high local polarity could be estimated for the region of the bilayer where the quenching reaction takes place.     

透明质酸酶的色氨酸残基修饰与荧光光谱研究

北五味子[Schisandra chinensis（Turcz．）Baill．]属广义木兰科植物,主产于我国东北,故又称“辽五味”,中药五味子的主要药材为北五味子的干燥果实,作为一种传统中药,五味子具有收敛固涩,益气生津,补肾宁心的功效,用于肺喘虚咳,心悸失眠诸病。     

在不同激发波长下的单壁碳纳米管的拉曼光谱研究

采用直流电弧法制备单壁碳纳米管样品,用457.5和632.8nm两种不同的激发光分别测得单壁碳纳米管的正常拉曼光谱和共振拉曼光谱.通过理论分析得到了单壁碳纳米管的直径分布,进一步推测了其类型及结构参数;对单壁碳纳米管的正切拉伸模的成分进行了归属.在632.8nm激发波长下得到了IG/ID值随激光功率变化的曲线,认为在2.5mW时,单壁碳纳米管缺陷的结构可能发生了改变.在用457.5nm波长激发的单壁碳纳米管的拉曼光谱中,首次发现了1421cm-1的拉曼谱峰.     

Tryptophan Modification and Fluorescence Spectrum of Hyaluronidase

Tryptophan residues in hyaluronidase （HAase） were modified by N-bromosuccinimide （NBS）, the results indicated that there were eleven tryptophan residues in HAase, one of which was exposed and essential for the activity of the enzyme. The study on fluorescence quenching showed that KI could not quench all of the fluorescence from Trp residues in HAase, while acrylamide （Acr） could quench almost all of the fluorescence from Trp residues in HAase. The collisional quenching constants （KD） of HAase at different concentrations of Acr were calculated in terms of Stern-Volmer equation. The results implied that some of the Trp residues were buried in the interior of HAase and the Trp residue on the surface of HAase was not located in the hydrophobic pocket.     

家蝇幼虫抗菌肽MDL-1的荧光特性分析

本文研究了家蝇幼虫抗菌肽MDL-1的荧光光谱和淬灭剂对内源性荧光的影响。家蝇幼虫抗菌肽MDL-1在激发波长280 nm时,其荧光光谱为酪氨酸（Tyr）残基和色氨酸（Trp）残基共同提供。结果表明,KI不能淬灭抗菌肽MDL-1的Trp残基的荧光,而丙烯酰胺（Acr）能淬灭几乎所有的Trp残基的荧光（f-0．92）;这说明,Trp残基不是位于抗菌肽分子的表面,而是位于分子的内部。     

Quenching of tryptophyl fluorescence in proteins by n'-methylnicotinamide chloride

Abstract— N‘-methylnicotinamide chloride has been investigated as a quencher of the intrinsic fluorescence of tryptophyl residues in proteins. Quenching of the tryptophyl fluorescence (excitation at 305 nm) of model compounds and a select group of proteins provide evidence for a mechanism that follows the classical Stern-Volmer relation. The apparent number of exposed tryptophyl residues was obtained in 6M guanidine hydrochloride and aqueous solution at constant pH. Evidence that quenching occurs predominantly by a collisional mechanism was obtained by comparing the equilibrium constant of the non-fluorescent static state with the much larger quenching constant of the excited state.     

2-Methyl Naphthalene as Fluorescence Probe in Ionic and Nonionic Micelles: Fluorescence Quenching by Halides

The fluorescence characteristics of 2-methyl naphthalene have been studied in ionic micelles of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and in nonionic micellar medium of p-t-octylphenyl polyethoxyethanol (Triton X-100). The fluorescence quenching of fluorophore by halides and pseudohalide obeys the Stern-Volmer Equation up to a certain concentration of quencher. A quenching sphere of action model has been considered to explain the deviations from Stern-Volmer behaviour. The distribution of quenchers in the micellar phase has been calculated.     

An investigation on electron transfer quenching of zinc(II) meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) by colloidal TiO(2)

The interaction of zinc(II) meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) with colloidal TiO(2) was studied by absorption, steady state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The quenching was found to obey the Stern-Volmer equation and the corresponding Stern-Volmer plots were linear in the range of quencher concentration used 0-5 x 10(-4)M. The bimolecular quenching rate constants (k(q)) were 20.5 x 10(10)M(-1)s(-1) (steady-state) and 2.85 x 10(10)M(-1)s(-1) (time resolved). The quenching process is suggested to involve electron transfer from the ZnTPP to TiO(2) considering the experimental evidences obtained.     

Two-dimensional fluorescence correlation spectroscopy IV: resolution of fluorescence of tryptophan residues in alcohol dehydrogenase and lysozyme

Generalized two-dimensional (2D) fluorescence correlation spectroscopy has been used to resolve the fluorescence spectra of two tryptophan (Trp) residues in alcohol dehydrogenase and lysozyme. In each protein, one Trp residue is buried in a hydrophobic domain of the protein matrix and the other Trp residue is located at a hydrophilic domain close to the protein-water interface. Fluorescence quenching by iodide ion, a hydrophilic quencher, was employed as a perturbation to induce the intensity change in the spectra. The Trp residue which is located at the hydrophilic domain is effectively quenched by the quencher, while the Trp residue located at the hydrophobic domain is protected from the quenching. Therefore, the fluorescence of these two Trp residues have a different sensitivity to the quenching, showing a different response to the concentration of the quencher. Fluorescence spectra of the two Trp residues in alcohol dehydrogenase, which are heavily overlapped in conventional one-dimensional spectra, have been successfully resolved by the 2D correlation technique. From the asynchronous correlation map, it was revealed that the quenching of Trp located at the hydrophobic part was brought about after that of Trp located at the hydrophilic part. In contrast, the fluorescence spectra of the two Trp residues could not be resolved after the alcohol dehydrogenase was denatured with guanidine hydrochloride. These results are consistent with the well-known structure of alcohol dehydrogenase. Furthermore, it was elucidated that the present 2D analysis is not interfered by Raman bands of the solvent, which sometimes bring difficulty into the conventional fluorescence analysis. Fluorescence spectra of the Trp residues in lysozyme could not be resolved by the 2D correlation technique. The differences between the two proteins are attributed to the fact that the Trp residue in the hydrophobic site of lysozyme is not sufficiently protected from the quenching.     

ACRYLAMIDE FLUORESCENCE QUENCHING APPLIED TO TYROSYL RESIDUES IN PROTEINS

Abstract— The quenching of the tyrosyl emission of proteins which lack tryptophanyl residues was investigated with the neutral quencher, acrylamide. The screening effect of acrylamide at the excitation wavelength, considered until now, as an obstacle to its use in tyrosine quenching studies, was allowed for by means of a theoretical correction. The value of this method was demonstrated by a comparative study using cesium ions as quenchers, which gave similar results on fluorophore location in the protein.     

Anomalous "unquenching" of the fluorescence decay times of beta-lactoglobulin induced by the known quencher acrylamide

Picosecond time-resolved fluorescence, together with the addition of quenching agents, was employed to discriminate the fluorescence contributions of the two tryptophans of beta-lactoglobulin (Trp19 and Trp61) to the fluorescence decays of the protein. The fluorescence decays of beta-lactoglobulin at pH 3, 5 and 8 are best fitted using sums of three exponentials and show a dominant contribution (98%) of the components associated with the buried Trp19, which decays according to a double exponential function. The addition of acrylamide (0.05 M) causes an increase of the decay times associated with Trp19. This effect is observed at all pH values studied, but the effect is stronger at pH 3 and pH 5, than at pH 8. The unexpected increase of the decay times of Trp19 and the variation of the respective amplitudes were rationalized in terms of alterations of Trp19 mobility. The hindrance of Trp19 upon acrylamide binding was also monitored and supported by fluorescence anisotropy measurements.