An integrative approach combining ion mobility mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the conformational dynamics of alpha sub(1)-antitrypsin upon ligand binding

• Published in: Protein science 2015-08, Vol.24 (8), p.1301-1312
• Main Authors: Nyon, Mun Peak, Prentice, Tanya, Day, Jemma, Kirkpatrick, John, Sivalingam, Ganesh N, Levy, Geraldine, Haq, Imran, Irving, James A, Lomas, David A, Christodoulou, John, Gooptu, Bibek, Thalassinos, Konstantinos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0961-8368; 1469-896X
• DOI: 10.1002/pro.2706

Native mass spectrometry (MS) methods permit the study of multiple protein species within solution equilibria, whereas ion mobility (IM)-MS can report on conformational behavior of specific states. We used IM-MS to study a conformationally labile protein ( alpha sub(1)-antitrypsin) that undergoes pathological polymerization in the context of point mutations. The folded, native state of the Z-variant remains highly polymerogenic in physiological conditions despite only minor thermodynamic destabilization relative to the wild-type variant. Various data implicate kinetic instability (conformational lability within a native state ensemble) as the basis of Z alpha sub(1)-antitrypsin polymerogenicity. We show the ability of IM-MS to track such disease-relevant conformational behavior in detail by studying the effects of peptide binding on alpha sub(1)-antitrypsin conformation and dynamics. IM-MS is, therefore, an ideal platform for the screening of compounds that result in therapeutically beneficial kinetic stabilization of native alpha sub(1)-antitrypsin. Our findings are confirmed with high-resolution X-ray crystallographic and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies of the same event, which together dissect structural changes from dynamic effects caused by peptide binding at a residue-specific level. IM-MS methods, therefore, have great potential for further study of biologically relevant thermodynamic and kinetic instability of proteins and provide rapid and multidimensional characterization of ligand interactions of therapeutic interest. PDB Code(s):