Contrasting effect of ficoll on apo and holo forms of bacterial chemotaxis protein Y: Selective destabilization of the conformationally altered holo form

Abstract

Chemotaxis Y (CheY), upon metal binding, displays a drastic alteration in its structure and stability. This premise prompted us to study the effect of crowding on the two conformationally distinct states of the same test protein. A comparative analysis on the structure and thermal stability in the presence and absence of the macromolecular crowder, ficoll, and its monomeric unit, sucrose, revealed a contrasting effect of ficoll on the apo and holo forms. In the presence of ficoll while the thermal stability (Tm) of the apo form is enhanced, the thermal stability of the holo form is reduced. The selective lowering of Tm for the holo form in the combined presence of ficoll and sucrose and not in sucrose alone suggests that the contrasting effect is due to the macromolecular nature of ficoll. Since metal–protein interaction remains unperturbed in the presence of ficoll and Mg2+ sequestration is ruled out in a systematic manner the alternative possibility for the exclusive reduction in the thermal stability of the holo form is the ficoll-induced modulation of the relative population of apo and holo forms of CheY.