A buried lysine that titrates with a normal pKa: role of conformational flexibility at the protein-water interface as a determinant of pKa values.

摘要

Previously we reported that Lys, Asp, and Glu residues at positions 66 and 92 in staphylococcal nuclease (SNase) titrate with pK(a) values shifted by up to 5 pK(a) units in the direction that promotes the neutral state. In contrast, the internal Lys-38 in SNase titrates with a normal pK(a). The crystal structure of the L38K variant shows that the side chain of Lys-38 is buried. The ionizable moiety is approximately 7 A from solvent and ion paired with Glu-122. This suggests that the pK(a) value of Lys-38 is normal because the energetic penalty for dehydration is offset by a favorable Coulomb interaction. However, the pK(a) of Lys-38 was also normal when Glu-122 was replaced with Gln or with Ala. Continuum electrostatics calculations were unable to reproduce the pK(a) of Lys-38 unless the protein was treated with an artificially high dielectric constant, consistent with structural reorganization being responsible for the normal pK(a) value of Lys-38. This reorganization must be local because circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy indicate that the L38K protein is native-like under all conditions studied. In molecular dynamics simulations, the ion pair between Lys-38 and Glu-122 is unstable. The simulations show that a minor rearrangement of a loop is sufficient to allow penetration of water to the amino moiety of Lys-38. This illustrates both the important roles of local flexibility and water penetration as determinants of pK(a) values of ionizable groups buried near the protein-water interface, and the challenges faced by structure-based pK(a) calculations in reproducing these effects.