An evidence for the equilibrium unfolding intermediates of ribonuclease A by tritium labeling method.

A formation of a molten globule in the unfolding of ribonuclease A could be considered as an evidence supporting a hypothesis on the existence of such intermediates on the pathway of a protein folding. Using a novel technique (tritium labeling method) we have showed that the ribonuclease A equilibrium unfolding in urea and guanidinium chloride (GuCl) solutions proceeds through a formation of intermediates whose properties (compactness, retention of the larger part hydrophobic core, secondary structure, and native-like folding pattern) correspond to the fundamental characteristics of the molten globule state. The both intermediates are the "wet" molten globules (the globule interior contains the water molecules).

The in situ spatial arrangement of the influenza A virus matrix protein M1 assessed by tritium bombardment.

Intact influenza A virions were bombarded with thermally activated tritium atoms, and the intramolecular distribution of the label in the matrix protein M1 was analyzed to determine the in situ accessibility of its tryptic fragments. These data were combined with the previously reported x-ray crystal structure of the M1 fragment 2-158 [Sha, B. & Luo, M.

Tritium planigraphy: from the accessible surface to the spatial structure of a protein.

The method of tritium planigraphy, which provides comprehensive information on the accessible surface of macromolecules, allows an attempt at reconstructing the three-dimensional structure of a protein from the experimental data on residue accessibility for labeling. The semiempirical algorithm proposed for globular proteins involves (i) predicting theoretically the secondary structure elements (SSEs), (ii) experimentally determining the residue-accessibility profile by bombarding the whole protein with a beam of hot tritium atoms, (iii) generating the residue-accessibility profiles for isolated SSEs by computer simulation, (iv) locating the contacts between SSEs by collating the experimental and simulated accessibility profiles, and (v) assembling the SSEs into a compact model via these contact regions in accordance with certain rules. For sperm whale myoglobin, carp and pike parvalbumins, the lambda cro repressor, and hen egg lysozyme, this algorithm yields the most realistic models when SSEs are assembled sequentially from the amino to the carboxyl end of the protein chain.

[Comparison of dynamic properties of various globular proteins and polyglutamic acid in alpha-helical and coil states. Rayleigh scattering of Mossbauer radiation data].

Classical model system: Poly-L-glutamic acid (Poly-Glu) was investigated in a disordered coil state (at pH-7.0) and in helix state (at pH 2.0) by Rayleigh scattering of Moessbauer radiation technique.

Determination of the accessible surface of globular proteins by means of tritium planigraphy.

Results are presented for proteins with known three-dimensional structure (lysozyme, myoglobin, ribonuclease), which show that the probability of label incorporation upon bombardment by "hot" tritium atoms may be quantitatively linked with the surface area of the protein accessible to water molecules. Possible deviations from simple linear dependency caused by particular mechanisms of label introduction are discussed. The data obtained in experiments with model systems were used to determine the accessible surface area of human serum albumin, for which structural data is not sufficiently accurate to allow estimation of accessible surface area.

[Study of the dynamics of human serum albumin by coherent Rayleigh dispersion of Mossbauer radiation].

The measurements of angle dependencies of total and elastic Rayleigh scattering of Mossbauer radiation intensities have been performed for human serum albumin (HSA) with hydration degrees h = 0.13 and h = 0.4.

On inherited fertility in biological systems: a model of correlated fluctuations in the stochastic branching process.

A new evolutionary model with hereditary modes considered as correlated fluctuations of fertility has been proposed. It has been demonstrated that the model allows the global statistical properties of the system to be evaluated, e.g.

Handedness, origin of life and evolution.

Biological polymers have a preferred chirality ond can replicate themselves. Physical arguments provide insight into which of these unique and apparently related properties evolved first, and by what mechanism.

Hemoglobin dynamics in rat erythrocytes investigated by Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Rats have been enriched in 57Fe and erythrocytes were isolated from the blood. Mössbauer absorption spectroscopy on the hemoglobin of these erythrocytes has shown rather similar dynamics as found earlier in crystals of myoglobin, in frozen solutions of human hemoglobin and in a number of other proteins. The results strongly indicate that the motion of the heme and presumably some part of the F-helix is mainly influenced by the average viscosity of the sample determined by a network of hydrogen bridges and other weak interactions.

Homochirality and stereospecific activity: evolutionary aspects.

The problem discussed in this paper is the connection between the unique property of biopolymers (proteins, DNA and RNA), i.e. homochirality, and their main functional property, i.

Mössbauer spectroscopy of oxygenated haemoglobins.

Murine tetrameric oxyhaemoglobin and insect monomeric erythrocruorin were studied. A doublet with the Lorentz form of lines (delta EQ = 2.22 mm s-1; delta alpha-Fe = 0.

The use of thermally activated tritium atoms for structural-biological investigations: the topography of the TMV protein-accessible surface of the virus.

Thermally activated tritium atoms were used for studying the topography of the TMV protein-accessible surface of the virus. The accessibility profile of amino acid residues in a protein polypeptide chain was determined from data on the intramolecular distribution of a tritium label in the TMV protein. It was shown that tryptic peptides T3, T4, T12, the N-terminal region of peptide T1 and the proximal tryptic peptide T8 (located 20 to 25 A (1 A = 0.

[Study of protein dynamics using Mössbauer spectroscopy].

Last experimental results of the study of protein dynamics by Mössbauer absorption spectroscopy and Rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation are reviewed. Dynamical properties of proteins following from the theoretical treatment of these data are described.

[Study of the effect of hydration on the dynamics of various globular proteins by Rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation].

Hydration relationships of the elastic scattering fraction of Mössbauer radiation were studied for human serum albumin (HSA), pancreatic trypsin inhibitor and lysozyme within hydration degrees 0 less than or equal to h less than or equal to 0.75 g/g (at T = 295 degrees K) and temperatures 100K less than or equal to T less than or equal to 320 K (for HSA only at h = 0.03; 0.

Chiral purity of nucleotides as a necessary condition of complementarity.

This work discusses the question about the role of chiral purity (homochirality) of nucleotides in the formation of complementary replicas. A qualitative answer to this question can be obtained from molecular models constructed to simulate the chiral defect in the polynucleotidic chain. It shows the necessity of homochirality of nucleotides for the complementarity preservation.

[Role of conformational sub-states on the reaction capacity of protein molecules].

A review of the recent data on protein dynamics (mainly myoglobin) by X-ray technique, Mössbauer spectroscopy and Rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation is given. The connection between dynamical and functional properties of biological systems are discussed.

[Mössbauer spectroscopy of intramolecular mobility in chromatophores from Rhodopseudomonas spheroides].

Mobility of the Mössbauer label attached to the membrane proteins and the Mössbauer probe embedded into the lipid matrix of the bacterial chromatophores were studied. Positive correlation was established between the dynamic properties of hydrophobic compartments in the chromatophores and functional electron--transport activity at the level of quinone cofactors associated with the photosynthetic reaction centres.