Relationship between molecular weight of poly(ethylene)glycol and intermolecular interaction of Taka-amylase A monomers

Abstract

Dynamic and static light scattering investigations of Taka-amylase A (TAA) protein monomers were done using solutions containing poly(ethylene)glycol (PEG) with molecular weights of 1500, 4000, 8000, and 20 000. The anomalies observed in a previous study using a weight of 8000, in which the hydrodynamic TAA monomer radius at a zero protein concentration and the molecular weight of the monomers decreased when the PEG concentration was increased, were observed for all four weights. These anomalies became more pronounced as the PEG molecular weight was increased. The overall interaction parameter did not move further in the direction of the attractive force despite an increase in the PEG concentration from 6% to 12.5% for the PEG 8000 and 20 000 solutions. This was due to the change in the relative contributions of the static structure factor (direct interaction) and the hydrodynamic interaction factor (indirect interaction) against the overall interaction parameter. For the PEG 1500 and 4000 solutions, the change in the overall interaction parameter with an increase in the PEG concentration was controlled by changing the static structure factor. For the PEG 8000 and 20 000 solutions, a change in the hydrodynamic interaction factor with an increase in the PEG concentration offset the change in the static structure factor, unexpectedly resulting in the overall interaction parameter being independent of the PEG concentration. This suggests that the scale and density of a PEG network structure, which are thought to be the origin of the observed anomalies, change nonlinearly with the PEG molecular weight.