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1 School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-4660, USA
2 Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA
Reprint requests to: Dr. Linda L. Randall, Department of Biochemistry, 117 Schweitzer Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211; fax: (573) 882-5635.
(RECEIVED October 3, 2001; FINAL REVISION December 13, 2001; ACCEPTED December 14, 2001)
Article and publication are at http://www.proteinscience.org/cgi/doi/10.1110/ps.4090102.
3 Present address: Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA. ![]()
4 Present address: Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom Y01 5DD. ![]()
| Abstract |
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Keywords: SecA; protein export; homodimer; equilibrium constant; light scatter
| Introduction |
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In vivo,
50% of the SecA is found at the membrane and the remainder is free in the cytosol (Akita et al. 1991; Cabelli et al. 1991). The active form at the membrane is a homodimer with subunits of molecular weight 102,000 (Driessen 1993). Because SecA functions as a dimer, it is critical to characterize the self-association reaction. Here we investigate that reaction in solution and find evidence for multiple equilibria characterized by dissociation constants that, depending on temperature and ionic strength, vary from 0.1 to 1 µM.
| Results |
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200,000 as expected. SecA applied to the column at 8µM (monomer) at room temperature eluted with a molar mass of 160,000 at the leading edge of the peak compared with 125,000 when the chromatography was performed at 8°C (Fig. 4
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Estimation of apparent equilibrium constants
Because of the presence of multiple equilibria we could not rigorously determine equilibrium constants. However, we could estimate a weighted average apparent equilibrium constant by determining the weight average molar mass of the SecA as a function of concentration of the monomeric species present in the solution. To this end, we performed column chromatography on a series of SecA samples applied at increasingly greater concentration similar to those shown in Figure 1
. Because of the complication of multiple equilibria, we worked at 8°C; at this temperature the two equilibrium reactions appear to have similar equilibrium constants, thereby simplifying this very complex situation. For each chromatogram, the molar mass determined was highest at the apex of the peak and fell off on the trailing side, indicating that equilibration was occurring relatively rapidly (Fig 6
). Each chromatogram yielded one value for molar mass calculated from the light scatter data from the narrow region at the apex of the peak where the concentration was within 1% of the maximum. These values were plotted against the concentration, not of the sample applied, but of the protein in the same element of volume used for the mass calculation (Fig. 7
). It is of interest to note that the dilution factor between the peak and sample applied was routinely between five- and tenfold.
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The buffer conditions used for the determination of the equilibrium constant were chosen to mimic intracellular conditions. The solutions were buffered at pH 7.5 and 5 mM Mg2+ acetate was included because SecA is an ATPase. We used 300 mM K+ acetate as the salt in our studies because the cytosol of Escherichia coli contains high concentrations of K+. The thermodynamic activity of K+ was determined by Cayley et al. (1991) to vary between 0.14 M and 0.76 M depending on the osmolarity of the growth medium, whereas intracellular concentrations of Na+ (Rhoads et al. 1976; Castle et al. 1986) and NH4+ (Lubin and Ennis 1964) are low (<10 mM). Column chromatography performed in buffer containing different concentrations of K+ acetate showed that the equilibrium reactions SecA undergoes are sensitive to ionic strength. As the concentration of salt was decreased from 300 mM, the population of SecA shifted toward dimer. At 200 mM K+ acetate, when SecA was applied to the column at concentrations in the range required to shift the population toward monomer, the intensity of light scatter was too low to accurately determine the molar mass. Our best estimate of the approximate equilibrium constant at 200 mM K+ acetate at 8°C was 0.1 µM, based on several determinations of a mass of
140 kD when the protein in the peak was 0.1 µM (the weight average molar mass when half of the SecA is a dimeric form is 136 kD).
| Discussion |
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Ramamurthy and Oliver (1997) used a sulfhydryl-labeling reagent to show differences between soluble and membrane-bound SecA. The solution form identified by these groups might be a mixture of the equilibrating species described here and the membrane-bound form could represent the stabilization of one of the species present in solution. The two equilibrium reactions that we detect by column chromatography probably populate conformationally different dimeric states. The sedimentation velocity centrifugation studies provide support for different conformations. At high concentrations of SecA where the population was driven far toward dimer and the maximum velocity of sedimentation had been reached, that maximal value was different at 6°C and 20°C, indicating differences in shape. The species favored at 20°C has a higher s value consistent with a more compact state than that present at 6°C. It may be that SecA can form dimers by interaction at two different faces, such as front-to-front and back-to-back dimers. Alternatively, the dimeric interface might be the same with one form parallel and the other antiparallel. Another possibility is that the interface is the same but the C-terminal region might be extended in one form and compact in the other.
Because of the complication of the presence of at least two equilibrium reactions, we were only able to make estimates of apparent equilibrium constants. At 8°C with K+ acetate at 300 mM, both are in the micromolar range. At 20°C one of the equilibria is shifted more toward dimer than is the other, resulting in the resolution of two peaks during chromatography. Because two peaks resolve, the two equilibria are either not reversibly connected, as might be the case if there were two forms of SecA differing by covalent modification, or the equilibria might be connected by a very slow interconversion between two conformational states. Our best estimates of the equilibrium constant of dissociation for the reaction that becomes tighter at 20°C is between 0.25 µM and 0.5 µM. The tightening of the interactions at the interface with increased temperature indicates the involvement of hydrophobic interactions. The equilibria are sensitive not only to temperature but also to salt concentrations, indicating that electrostatic interactions must play a role. Association of the dimer was strengthened by decreasing the concentration of salt in the buffer. The decrease of K+ concentration from 300 mM to 200 mM resulted in a decrease in the equilibrium constant from micromolar to 0.1 µM, which corresponds to an increase of
15% in the binding energy. The equilibrium constant for SecA of <0.6 µM reported by Doyle et al. (2000) is consistent with our results. Their equilibrium centrifugation analysis was performed at 20°C and with very low salt concentration, conditions that we have shown drive the reaction toward dimer.
In vivo, the concentration of SecA is well above the equilibrium constant reported here, and because the effective concentration will be higher by a factor of 10 to 100 owing to excluded volume effects (Ross and Minton 1977; Cayley et al. 1991), it is clear that the majority of the population of SecA in the cell will be dimeric. However, it should be remembered that for a self-associating protein present at 10-fold above its equilibrium constant, only 80% of the mass is in the form of dimer. Considered in terms of molarity, this means that for every 4 µM dimer there would be a 2 µM monomer present. At 100-fold more than the equilibrium constant, 93% of the mass is dimer, or, in other words, there would be 4.65 µM dimer present for every 0.7 µM monomer. It is possible that in vivo the monomeric form plays a role in one of the many different interactions involving SecA.
The presence of a monomer-dimer equilibrium in solution will definitely affect the interpretation of a large number of studies performed in vitro. In many studies, soluble SecA has been used at low concentrations and at low temperature with the assumption that it remains a stable dimer. Under conditions in which the concentration of SecA is near its equilibrium constant, or the equilibrium constant of dissociation for SecA is near the Kd of a binding interaction under study, interpretation of data is complicated by the coupling of the dissociation reaction of SecA itself to the binding of other components. An experimentally determined Kd will necessarily incorporate the effects of the competing equilibria.
The population of SecA characterized here was purified from the soluble fraction of E. coli. It will be of interest to determine if the SecA that is purified from the membrane undergoes the same equilibrium reactions or will represent even another form. In any case, it is prudent to keep in mind the effects of temperature and buffer conditions on the oligomeric state of SecA.
| Materials and methods |
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The zinc content of purified SecA was determined using a spectroscopic assay for zinc as described (Zhou et al. 1999). The purified proteins were each analyzed to determine the sequence of the first 7 amino-acyl residues using an Applied Biosystems 475A sequencing system with pulsed liquid update.
Size exclusion column chromatography and molar mass determination
High performance liquid size exclusion chromatography was performed on a TSK G3000SW column (7.5 mm internal diameter x 60 cm) in 10 mM HEPES-KOH, 300 mM KOAc, 5 mM Mg(OAc)2, 1 mM TCEP, pH 7.5. We were able to determine the absolute molar mass directly, independent of position of elution, of proteins chromatographed on size exclusion columns by monitoring the eluant using a multiangle laser light scatter detector, a differential refractometer (DAWN-EOS and Optilab, respectively; Wyatt Technology Corporation), and a UV detector. The molar mass was determined using a specific refractive index increment of 0.182 mL/gm, an extinction coefficient of 0.77 mL/mg cm, and the Debye plotting formalism of the Astra software supplied by Wyatt Technology Corporation. The relationship between the excess Rayleigh ratio, R(
), which is the light scattered by the solution at angle
in excess of that scattered by the pure solvent divided by the incident light intensity, and the weight average molar mass (Mw) is given by:
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) is the form factor that describes the angular dependence of the scatter. K* is equal to 4
2 n02 (dn/dc) 2/[
04 NA] where n0 is the refractive index of the solvent, dn/dc is the specific refractive index increment of the protein, NA is Avogadro's number, and
is the vacuum wavelength of the incident light. Because the protein concentrations used in this study are low the equation is simplified to
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Analysis of solutions by multiangle static light scatter yields the weight average molecular mass of the macromolecular solutes present. SecA, the protein studied here, is a dimer.
Assuming a simple monomer-dimer equilibrium, the equilibrium constant, K, can be related to the weight average molar mass, M, and the total concentration, C0, expressed in terms of monomer ([A]+2[A2]) by the equation:
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Because we can measure C0 and M for any solution, we can obtain values of K. Conversely, we can predict values of M for any given K and C0 as shown in Figure 4
. However, it should be noted that for measured values of M near the limits, for SecA 102,000 or 204,000, slight errors in the value will lead to large errors in K. Thus, one obtains the most robust estimates of K in the middle of the range. This analysis can only be applied rigorously if the mixture is at equilibrium. For Figure 7
, the values used to calculate molar mass were taken from a narrow vertical section of the eluted peak: from the point on the leading edge where the concentration is 99% of the maximum to the equal point on the trailing edge. This is where the concentration is most constant, both with respect to time and volume. Although it is likely that the protein in this small element of volume has not reached true equilibrium, the fact that the molar mass does change across the peak of SecA indicates that equilibration is rapid relative to the dilution during chromatography.
Analytical ultracentrifugation
Solutions of SecA at indicated concentrations in 10mM HEPES-KOH, 300 mM KOAc, 5 mM Mg(OAc)2, 1 mM TCEP, pH 7.5 were subjected to centrifugation using the XL-A ultracentrifuge (Beckman Instruments). Samples were loaded into cells with two-sector centerpieces in the An-60 Ti rotor, equilibrated to the temperature indicated and centrifuged at 50,000 rpm for up to 4 h. Radial scans to measure the absorbance profile of the column of liquid in each of the three cells in a rotor were taken at 4-min intervals and the sedimentation coefficient of each sedimenting boundary was determined by the method of van Holde and Weischet (1978) using the Ultrascan Data Analysis Program version 4.1 from Borries Demeler (University of Texas Science Center, San Antonio, Texas). A minimum of 25 radial scans of each cell was subjected to this analysis. The values used for the density and viscosity of the buffer relative to water were 1.014 and 1.063, and the s values reported are all corrected to water at 20°C.
| Acknowledgments |
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The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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