Static quenching of tryptophan fluorescence by oxidized dithiothreitol

Calcium-induced conformational change in fragment 1-86 of factor X

Time-resolved fluorescence of the single tryptophan residue Trp41 in fragment 1-86 of factor X (FX F1-86) is studied using a time-correlated single photon counting technique with synchrotron radiation as the excitation source. Calcium ions are believed to induce a conformational change in the N-termini of the activated factor X and other vitamin K dependent proteins, which is accompanied by a decrease in fluorescence intensity. The titration with calcium yields a sigmoidal fluorescence titration curve with a transition midpoint concentration of 0.44 mM. The wavelength-dependent tryptophan fluorescence decays of the apo-FX F1-86 (in the absence of calcium) and Ca-FX F1-86 are characterized by conventional multiexponential analysis and fluorescence lifetime distribution analysis. In the absence of calcium there are three significant classes of fluorescence lifetimes (ns) that are nearly wavelength independent: 0.55 +/- 0.08 (component A), 2.6 +/- 0.1 (component B), and 5.3 +/- 0.3 (component C). However, their preexponential amplitudes vary with wavelength. The decay associated emission spectra of the individual components show that components B and C contribute over 85% to the total fluorescence for all examined wavelengths. However, in the presence of calcium, the analysis of the time-resolved fluorescence data of Ca-FX F1-86 yields four wavelength-independent lifetimes (ns) of 0.30 +/- 0.09 (component D), 0.65 +/- 0.10 (component A), 2.7 +/- 0.2 (component B), and 5.4 +/- 0.3 (component C). Calcium addition to the apo-FX F1-86 leads to a decrease in the fluorescence intensities of components B and C while their decay times remain unaffected. In Ca-FX F1-86 an additional component D arises that has a decay time of 0.30 ns and that contributes up to 35% to the total fluorescence intensity. A comparison with a previous investigation of prothrombin fragment 1 demonstrates the extensive structural and functional homology between the N termini of prothrombin and factor X(a).

Time-resolved fluorescence study of a calcium-induced conformational change in prothrombin fragment 1

The wavelength dependent fluorescence decay properties of bovine prothrombin fragment 1 have been investigated employing a picosecond time-correlated single photon counting technique. All observations are discussed with using the crystal structure (Soriano-Garcia et al., Biochemistry 31:2554-2566, 1992). Fluorescence lifetimes distribution and conventional multiexponential analysis, as well as acrylamide quenching studies lead to the identification of six distinguishable tryptophan excited-states. Accessibility to the quencher and the known structure are used to associate a fluorescence decay of the tryptophan present in the Gla domain (Trp42) with two red shifted components (2.3 and 4.9 ns). The two kringle domain tryptophans (Trp90 and Trp126) exhibit four decay times (0.06, 0.24, 0.68, and 2.3 ns), which are blue shifted. The calcium-induced fluorescence quenching is a result of static quenching: the five decay times remain unchanged, whereas the fluorescence intensity of Trp42 is decreased. The static quenching process is a consequence of a ground state interaction between the Cys18-Cys23 disulfide bridge and Trp42. The monomolecular equilibrium constant for this disulfide-pi-electron interaction is found as 4.8.

Temperature dependence of the phosphorescence quantum yield of various alpha-lactalbumins and of hen egg-white lysozyme

The radiative quantum yield, phi op, of the triplet state of human alpha-lactalbumin (HLA) has been measured in the temperature range between 6 K and the softening point of the aqueous glass (approximately 150 K). phi op has little temperature dependence below approximately 30 K, but above this it decreases sharply with increasing temperature. The unusual temperature dependence is fitted by a phenomenological two-state model in which the phosphorescence originates primarily from a donor, tryptophan (Trp) 104, and an acceptor, Trp 60, the populations of which are coupled by a thermally activated triplet-triplet energy transfer process. The model assumes that the acceptor (Trp 60) triplet state undergoes radiationless deactivation by a proximal disulfide residue, while the donor (Trp 104) has no such extrinsic quencher. The decrease of phi op with increasing temperature is accounted for by the thermally activated triplet-triplet energy transfer process. The disulfide quenching rate constant itself is assumed to be temperature independent, in accord with recent measurements of simple disulfide quenching in long chain snake venom neurotoxins (Schlyer, B. D., E. Lau, and A. H. Maki. 1992. Biochemistry. 31:4375-4383; Li, Z., A. Bruce, and W. C. Galley. 1992. Biophys. J. 61:1364-1371). We find that the phosphorescence quenching in HLA occurs with an activation energy of 97 cm-1, which we associate with a barrier to the energy transfer process. The data are fit well by the model if we assume a value for the temperature-independent disulfide quenching constant of kQ > 3 s-1 that is consistent with recent measurements on indole-disulfide model systems (Li, Z., A. Bruce, and W. C. Galley. 1992. Biophys. J. 61:1364-1371). Similar results are reported for bovine alpha-lactalbumin (BLA) and for hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) that contains the structural equivalents of Trp 104 and Trp 60 of HLA. HLA provides the best agreement with calculations since it is the simplest, lacking Trp 26, a residue not considered in the model, that probably contributes significantly to the phosphorescence of BLA, guinea pig alpha-lactalbumin (GPLA), and HEWL. GPLA, which contains Trp 104 but lacks Trp 60, shows qualitatively less thermally induced phosphorescence quenching than HLA, BLA, and HEWL, thus supporting the postulated quenching model.

Relaxation and quenching of the excited states of tryptophan in keratin

The temperature dependence of the fluorescence and phosphorescence originating from tryptophan residues in the solid protein keratin was studied. The position of the tryptophan fluorescence spectral maximum was measured as a function of temperature and was found to be substantially Stokes shifted even at 77 K. The activation energies for non-radiative relaxation of the singlet and triplet states of tryptophan in wool keratin, derived from Arrhenius plots of the fluorescence and phosphorescence yields, are 580 cm-1 and 995 cm-1 respectively. One possible fluorescence quenching mechanism which is consistent with these observations is a very effective, thermally induced mixing of the 1La and 1Lb excited singlet states which results in enhanced internal conversion apparent as a low fluorescent yield even at low temperatures. The phosphorescence decay from keratin in the absence of oxygen following excitation at 265 nm is non-single exponential. At room temperature it is dominated by a short-lived component with more than 80% of the decay completed within 3 microseconds of the flash. Longer living components with first-order lifetimes as long as 2-3 s were also observed.