Studying submicrosecond protein folding kinetics using a photolabile caging strategy and time-resolved photoacoustic calorimetry

Folding kinetics of an entangled protein

The possibility of the protein backbone adopting lasso-like entangled motifs has attracted increasing attention. After discovering the surprising abundance of natively entangled protein domain structures, it was shown that misfolded entangled subpopulations might become thermosensitive or escape the homeostasis network just after translation. To investigate the role of entanglement in shaping folding kinetics, we introduce a novel indicator and analyze simulations of a coarse-grained, structure-based model for two small single-domain proteins. The model recapitulates the well-known two-state folding mechanism of a non-entangled SH3 domain. However, despite its small size, a natively entangled antifreeze RD1 protein displays a rich refolding behavior, populating two distinct kinetic intermediates: a short-lived, entangled, near-unfolded state and a longer-lived, non-entangled, near-native state. The former directs refolding along a fast pathway, whereas the latter is a kinetic trap, consistently with known experimental evidence of two different characteristic times. Upon trapping, the natively entangled loop folds without being threaded by the N-terminal residues. After trapping, the native entangled structure emerges by either backtracking to the unfolded state or threading through the already formed but not yet entangled loop. Along the fast pathway, trapping does not occur because the native contacts at the closure of the lasso-like loop fold after those involved in the N-terminal thread, confirming previous predictions. Despite this, entanglement may appear already in unfolded configurations. Remarkably, a longer-lived, near-native intermediate, with non-native entanglement properties, recalls what was observed in cotranslational folding.

Visible-to-NIR-Light Activated Release: From Small Molecules to Nanomaterials

Photoactivatable (alternatively, photoremovable, photoreleasable, or photocleavable) protecting groups (PPGs), also known as caged or photocaged compounds, are used to enable non-invasive spatiotemporal photochemical control over the release of species of interest. Recent years have seen the development of PPGs activatable by biologically and chemically benign visible and near-infrared (NIR) light. These long-wavelength-absorbing moieties expand the applicability of this powerful method and its accessibility to non-specialist users. This review comprehensively covers organic and transition metal-containing photoactivatable compounds (complexes) that absorb in the visible- and NIR-range to release various leaving groups and gasotransmitters (carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, and hydrogen sulfide). The text also covers visible- and NIR-light-induced photosensitized release using molecular sensitizers, quantum dots, and upconversion and second-harmonic nanoparticles, as well as release via photodynamic (photooxygenation by singlet oxygen) and photothermal effects. Release from photoactivatable polymers, micelles, vesicles, and photoswitches, along with the related emerging field of photopharmacology, is discussed at the end of the review.

Directly monitor protein rearrangement on a nanosecond-to-millisecond time-scale

In order to directly observe the refolding kinetics from a partially misfolded state to a native state in the bottom of the protein-folding funnel, we used a "caging" strategy to trap the β-sheet structure of ubiquitin in a misfolded conformation. We used molecular dynamics simulation to generate the cage-induced, misfolded structure and compared the structure of the misfolded ubiquitin with native ubiquitin. Using laser flash irradiation, the cage can be cleaved from the misfolded structure within one nanosecond, and we monitored the refolding kinetics of ubiquitin from this misfolded state to the native state by photoacoustic calorimetry and photothermal beam deflection techniques on nanosecond to millisecond timescales. Our results showed two refolding events in this refolding process. The fast event is shorter than 20 ns and corresponds to the instant collapse of ubiquitin upon cage release initiated by laser irradiation. The slow event is ~60 μs, derived from a structural rearrangement in β-sheet refolding. The event lasts 10 times longer than the timescale of β-hairpin formation for short peptides as monitored by temperature jump, suggesting that rearrangement of a β-sheet structure from a misfolded state to its native state requires more time than ab initio folding of a β-sheet.

Tightening up the structure, lighting up the pathway: Application of molecular constraints and light to manipulate protein folding, self-assembly and function

Chemical cross-linking provides an effective avenue to reduce the conformational entropy of polypeptide chains and hence has become a popular method to induce or force structural formation in peptides and proteins. Recently, other types of molecular constraints, especially photoresponsive linkers and functional groups, have also found increased use in a wide variety of applications. Herein, we provide a concise review of using various forms of molecular strategies to constrain proteins, thereby stabilizing their native states, gaining insight into their folding mechanisms, and/or providing a handle to trigger a conformational process of interest with light. The applications discussed here cover a wide range of topics, ranging from delineating the details of the protein folding energy landscape to controlling protein assembly and function.

Spectroscopic studies of protein folding: linear and nonlinear methods

Although protein folding is a simple outcome of the underlying thermodynamics, arriving at a quantitative and predictive understanding of how proteins fold nevertheless poses huge challenges. Therefore, both advanced experimental and computational methods are continuously being developed and refined to probe and reveal the atomistic details of protein folding dynamics and mechanisms. Herein, we provide a concise review of recent developments in spectroscopic studies of protein folding, with a focus on new triggering and probing methods. In particular, we describe several laser-based techniques for triggering protein folding/unfolding on the picosecond and/or nanosecond timescales and various linear and nonlinear spectroscopic techniques for interrogating protein conformations, conformational transitions, and dynamics.