A light-scattering study of the effect of calcium chloride on the molecular weight of Busycon hemocyanin

Recent aspects of the subunit organization and dissociation of hemocyanins

1. The hemocyanins of the arthropod phylum are built of multiples of hexamers consisting of 1,2,4,6 and 8 of such basic assemblies. Their molecular weights range from about 0.45 x 10(6) to 3.9 x 10(6) daltons. The basic hexameric unit consists of bean-shaped monomers organized in the form of two layers of trimers placed on top of one another. The subunits are heterogeneous, in most cases consisting of four or more electrophoretically different polypeptide chains. 2. Molluscan hemocyanins have an entirely different structure and pattern of assembly from the arthropodan hemocyanins. The basic assembly of the molluscan hemocyanins are decamers organized in the form of right-handed cylinders approximately 300 A in diameter and 140-190 A in height. Different species have one, two and sometimes more than two such assemblies forming correspondingly longer cylindrical particles with molecular weights ranging from about 3.3 x 10(6) to 13 x 10(6) daltons. Cephalopod and chiton hemocyanins consist of single decameric particles, while gastropods have hemocyanins organized of di-decamers or higher assemblies. The subunits of these hemocyanins are elongated protein chains with seven or eight folded globular domains, each housing a binuclear copper center capable of binding and delivering oxygen. 3. The dissociation behavior of the arthropod hemocyanin hexamers and di-hexamers with the hydrophobic urea series of reagents suggest polar and ionic interactions as the main sources of stabilization of the hexamers and the hexamer to hexamer contacts within the di-hexamers. 4. Dissociation studies with the same urea probes with the molluscan hemocyanins, however, suggest a different pattern of stabilization. The stabilization of the decamer to decamer contacts within the gastropod di-decamers appear to be predominantly polar and ionic with relatively few hydrophobic interaction sites. The dimer contacts within the decamers and the monomer to monomer contacts within the dimers observed in the octopus and chiton hemocyanins appear to be predominantly hydrophobic in nature. 5. The urea and the pH dissociation profiles of the single decameric assemblies of some of the octopus and chiton hemocyanins investigated by light-scattering molecular weight methods, have been fitted using either a two-species, decamer to dimer and decamer to monomer scheme of subunit dissociation or a three-species, decamer to dimer to monomer scheme of dissociation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Subunit dissociation of Busycon canaliculatum hemocyanin

The hemocyanin of the channeled whelk, Busycon canaliculatum, is a multisubunit protein with a molecular weight close to 9 X 10(6). The increase in pH above neutrality and the addition of 0-5 M urea and 0-2 M GdnHCl is found to dissociate the whole molecules to half-molecules and smaller dimeric and monomeric fragments of one-tenth and one-twentieth mass of the parent hemocyanin. The molecular weight transitions investigated at constant protein concentration of 5 X 10(-2) g X l-1 show no clearly discernible plateau regions, where essentially only half-molecules and one-tenth molecules are present. The ultracentrifugation patterns in much of the dissociation region produced by urea at pH 6.9 suggests the presence of three distinct components consisting of whole molecules, half-molecules and largely one-tenth molecular weight fragments. At pH 8.2 and higher, where whole molecules are largely absent, the effects of urea on the dissociation of half-molecules to tenths and tenth-molecules to twentieth molecule was investigated by means of light scattering. Analysis of the urea data based on a decamer to dimer and dimer to monomer scheme of dissociation used in our earlier studies gave apparent estimates of about 90 amino acid groups at the contact areas of the dimers in the half-molecules and 110 groups at the monomer contacts forming the dimers. The latter relatively large estimate of groups suggests that the dissociation of the tenth molecules or dimers must occur by longitudinal splitting of the contact areas along both the folded domains and the connecting chain segments of the twentieth molecules. Circular dichroism, absorbance and viscosity data suggest that the secondary structure and conformation of the folded domains of the hemocyanin subunits are largely retained at both high pH and in 3-8 M urea solutions. The molecular weights at pH 9.0-10.6 and in 3-8 M urea are found to be (4.2-4.7) X 10(5), close to one-twentieth of the mass of the parent hemocyanin. Denaturation and unfolding of the subunit domains is observed between 3 and 6 M GdnHCl solutions, as evidenced by the abolition of the characteristic copper absorbance in the neighborhood of 346 nm and the relatively pronounced changes in circular dichroism at 222 nm and intrinsic viscosity. The further decrease in molecular weights to about (2.6-3.2) X 10(5), below one-twentieth of the mass of hemocyanin suggests the presence of hidden breaks or scissions in the polypeptide chains suffered during isolation, which become exposed as a result of complete unfolding in GdnHCl solutions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)