Location and aggregation of the spin-labeled peptide trichogin GA IV in a phospholipid membrane as revealed by pulsed EPR

The lipopeptaibol trichogin GA IV is a 10 amino acid-long residue and alpha-aminoisobutyric acid-rich antibiotic peptide of fungal origin. TOAC (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-4-amino-4-carboxylic acid) spin-labeled analogs of this membrane active peptide were investigated in hydrated bilayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine by electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy and pulsed electron-electron double resonance (PELDOR). Since, the ESEEM of the spin label appears to be strongly dependent on the presence of water molecules penetrated into the membrane, this phenomenon was used to study the location of this peptide in the membrane. This was achieved by comparing the ESEEM spectra for peptides labeled at different positions along the amino acid sequence with spectra known for lipids with spin labels at different positions along the hydrocarbon chain. To increase the ESEEM amplitude and to distinguish the hydrogen nuclei of water from lipid protons, membranes were hydrated with deuterated water. The PELDOR spectroscopy technique was chosen to study peptide aggregation and to determine the mutual distance distribution of the spin-labeled peptides in the membrane. The location of the peptide in the membrane and its aggregation state were found to be dependent on the peptide concentration. At a low peptide/lipid molar ratio (less than 1:100) the nonaggregated peptide chain of the trichogin molecules lie parallel to the membrane surface, with TOAC at the 4th residue located near the 9th-11th carbon positions of the sn-2 lipid chain. Increasing this ratio up to 1:20 leads to a change in peptide orientation, with the N-terminus of the peptide buried deeper into membrane. Under these conditions peptide aggregates are formed with a mean aggregate number of about N = 2. The aggregates are further characterized by a broad range of intermolecular distances (1.5-4 nm) between the labels at the N-terminal residues. The major population exhibits a distance of approximately 2.5 nm, which is of the same order as the length of the helical peptide. We suggest that the constituting monomers of the dimer are antiparallel oriented.

Self-assembling and membrane modifying properties of a lipopeptaibol studied by CW-ESR and PELDOR spectroscopies

Trichogin GA IV is a short lipopeptaibol antibiotic that is capable of enhancing the transport of small cations through the phospholipid double layer of the membrane. The antibiotic activity of the undecapeptide is thought to be based on either its self-assembling or membrane-modifying property. The chemical equilibrium between self-aggregated and non-aggregated molecular states was studied by CW-ESR spectroscopy using solutions of TOAC nitroxide spin-labelled trichogin analogues in an apolar solvent to mimic the membrane bound state. At room temperature the two different sets of signals observed in the spectrum were attributed to the presence of both monomers and aggregates in the sample. The ESR spectra of the monomeric and aggregated forms were separated and the dependence of the fraction of monomeric peptide molecules on concentration was obtained over the range 5 x 10(-6) to 7 x 10(-4) M. A two-step aggregation mechanism is proposed: dimerization of peptide molecules followed by aggregation of dimers to assemblies of four peptide molecules per aggregate. The equilibrium constants were estimated for both steps. In addition, the lower lifetime limit was determined for dimers and tetramers. It is shown that when the peptide concentration exceeds 10(-5) M. the major part of the peptide molecules in solution has the form of tetrameric aggregates. Independently, the PELDOR technique was used to investigate the concentration dependence of the parameters of the dipole-dipole interaction between spin labels in frozen (77 K] glassy solutions of aggregates of mono-labelled TOAC analogues. The number of molecules in aggregates as well as the frequency and amplitude of PELDOR signal oscillations were found to be concentration independent in the range 5 x 10(-4) to 8 x 10(-3) M. In the frozen glassy solution state, the number of peptide molecules per aggregate was determined to be close to four, which is in agreement with the value obtained for spin-labelled trichogin at room temperature. The present data provide experimental evidence in favour of a self-assembling rather than a membrane-modifying ion conduction mechanism.

Self-aggregation properties of spin-labeled zervamicin IIA as studied by PELDOR spectroscopy

In this article, the pulsed double electron-electron resonance in electron spin-echo (PELDOR) technique is applied to study the self-aggregation of spin-labeled zervamicin IIA, a hexadecapeptide antibiotic of fungal origin, which is known to form ion channels in a phospholipid double layer. Measurements of the ion channel forming properties and the antibiotic activity of the analog indicate that replacement of the C-terminal phenylalaninol by the amino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy (TEMPO) residue does not influence the biophysical and biological properties. The dipole-dipole interaction between the spin labels of the fully biologically active peptide analog was studied in frozen (77 K) glassy solutions in different ratios of toluene-methanol. The spin-labeled zervamicin IIA molecules were shown to form aggregates. An average distance between the spin labels in the aggregates was estimated to be in the range of 25-35 A (depending on the solvent composition), indicating that the amphiphilic helical peptide molecules are oriented in an antiparallel fashion. Increasing of methanol content in the solution results in a loosening of the aggregate structure. It was shown that the fraction of aggregated zervamicin IIA molecules is less than 44-67% depending on the solvent composition. The general usefulness of the method to obtain structural long-range information in a range of several tens of angstroms is demonstrated by comparison with the peptide cluster of trichogin GA IV.

Electron dipole-dipole ESEEM in field-step ELDOR of nitroxide biradicals

The use of a rapid stepping of the magnetic field for investigation of electron dipole-dipole ESEEM in pulsed X-band ELDOR is described. The magnetic field jump, synchronized with a microwave pumping pulse, is positioned between the second and the third pulses of the stimulated echo pulse sequence. This echo is measured as a function of the delay between the first and the second pulses. The data are analyzed for a Fourier transform resulting in a Pake resonance pattern. To remove the electron-nuclear contributions to ESEEM, time traces with pumping were divided by those without. This resulted in complete elimination of electron-nuclear contributions, which is seen from the absence of peaks at nuclear frequencies and the similarity of results for protonated and deuterated solvents. For increasing the electron-electron modulation depth, a scanning of the magnetic field during the microwave pumping is proposed. The interspin distances and their distribution are determined for two long-chained (ca. 2 nm) nitroxide biradicals in glassy toluene and in frozen nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-pentyl-biphenyl. For the latter solvent, the alignment of the axis connecting two nitroxides in biradicals is quantitatively analyzed.

The secondary structure of a membrane-modifying peptide in a supramolecular assembly studied by PELDOR and CW-ESR spectroscopies

The new technique of pulsed electron-electron double resonance in electron spin-echo (PELDOR) in combination with the CW-ESR method has been used to investigate the secondary structure of a double spin-labeled peptide (the [TOAC-1,8]-analogue of the peptaibol antibiotic trichogin GA IV) that is hidden into a tetrameric supramolecular assembly of unlabeled peptide molecules. The magnetic dipole-dipole relaxation of spin labels has been experimentally studied in glassy solutions of the double-labeled peptide frozen to 77 K in a mixture of chloroform-toluene with an excess of unlabeled peptide. The PELDOR signal oscillations have been observed at high degrees of dilution with unlabeled peptide. The intramolecular distance between the spin labels of the peptide molecule in the aggregate has been determined from the oscillation frequency to be 15.7 A which is close to the value of (approximately equal to) 14 A calculated for a 3(10)-helical structure. Estimation of the fraction of this ordered secondary structure shows that about 19% of the peptide molecules in aggregates are folded in the 3(10)-helical conformation. The present experimental results are consistent with our molecular model presented in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 3843-3848, wherein four amphiphilic 3(10)-helical peptide molecules form a vesicular system with the polar amino acid side chains pointing to the interior, and the apolar side chains, to the exterior of the cluster. The experimental data were compared with the results obtained with other techniques.

Pulsed EPR spin-probe study of intracellular glasses in seed and pollen

EPR spectra of 3-carboxy-proxyl (CP) in dry biological tissues exhibited a temperature-dependent change in the principal value A'(zz) of the hyperfine interaction tensor. The A'(zz) value changed sharply at a particular temperature that was dependent on water content. At elevated water contents, the break occurred at lower temperatures and appeared to be associated with the melting of the cytoplasmic glassy state. To investigate the reason for the change in A'(zz), we employed echo-detected EPR (ED EPR) spectroscopy. The shape of the ED EPR spectrum revealed the presence of librational motion of the spin probe, a motion typically present in glassy materials. The similarities in temperature dependency of A'(zz) and librational motion of CP in pea seed axes indicated that the change in A'(zz) arose from librational motion. ED EPR measurements of CP as a function of water content in Typha latifolia pollen showed that librational motion decreased with decreasing water contents until a plateau or minimum was reached. ED EPR spectroscopy is a valuable technique for characterizing the relation between molecular motion and storage kinetics of dry seed and pollen.