[Point amino acid substitutions in Ca2+-binding centers of recoverin. III. Mutant with the fourth reconstructed Ca2+-binding site].

Unlike wild type recoverin with only two (the second and the third) functioning Ca(2+)-binding sites out of four potential ones, the +EF4 mutant contains a third active Ca(2+)-binding site. This site was reconstructed from the fourth potential Ca(2+)-binding domain by the introduction of several amino acid substitutions in it by site-directed mutagenesis. The effect of these mutations in the fourth potential Ca(2+)-binding site of myristoylated recoverin on the structural features and conformational stability of the protein was studied by fluorimetry and circular dichroism.

[Single amino acid substitutions in the Ca2+-binding site of recoverin.II.The unusual behavior of the protein upon the binding of calcium ions].

The structural properties of myristoylated forms of recombinant recoverin of the wild type and of its mutants with damaged second and/or third Ca(2+)-binding sites were studied by fluorimetry and circular dichroism. The interaction of wild-type recoverin with calcium ions was shown to induce unusual structural rearrangements in its molecule. In particular, protein binding with Ca2+ ions results in an increase in the mobility of the environment of Trp residues, in higher hydrophobicity, and in elevated thermal stability (its thermal transition shifts by 15 degrees C to higher temperatures) but has almost no effect on its secondary structure.

[Point amino acid substitutions in the Ca2+-binding centers of recoverin. I. Mechanism of successive filling of Ca2+-binding centers].

The molecule of photoreceptor Ca(2+)-binding protein recoverin contains four potential Ca(2+)-binding sites of the EF-hand type, but only two of them (the second and the third) can actually bind calcium ions. We studied the interaction of Ca2+ with recoverin and its mutant forms containing point amino acid substitutions at the working Ca(2+)-binding sites by measuring the intrinsic protein fluorescence and found that the substitution of Gln for Glu residues chelating Ca2+ in one (the second or the third) or simultaneously in both (the second and the third) Ca(2+)-binding sites changes the affinity of the protein to Ca2+ ions in different ways. The Gln for Glu121 substitution in the third site and the simultaneous Gln substitutions in the second (for Glu85) and in the third (for Glu121) sites result in the complete loss of the capability of recoverin for a strong binding of Ca(2+)-ions.

[Preparation of the myristoylated and nonmyristoylated form of recombinant recoverin in E. coli cells and comparison of their functional activity].

A recombinant plasmid was constructed for expressing a gene for bovine recoverin under the control of the lac promoter. Coexpression of the recoverin and N-myristoyl transferase genes was performed to prepare recombinant myristoylated recoverin. The obtained systems provide high levels of biosynthesis of the recombinant recoverins in the E.