Measuring Biomolecular DSC Profiles with Thermolabile Ligands to Rapidly Characterize Folding and Binding Interactions

Summary

We present a protocol for rapid characterization of biomolecular folding and binding interactions with thermolabile ligands using differential scanning calorimetry.

Abstract

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is a powerful technique for quantifying thermodynamic parameters governing biomolecular folding and binding interactions. This information is critical in the design of new pharmaceutical compounds. However, many pharmaceutically relevant ligands are chemically unstable at the high temperatures used in DSC analyses. Thus, measuring binding interactions is challenging because the concentrations of ligands and thermally-converted products are constantly changing within the calorimeter cell. Here, we present a protocol using thermolabile ligands and DSC for rapidly obtaining thermodynamic and kinetic information on the folding, binding, and ligand conversion processes. We have applied our method to the DNA aptamer MN4 that binds to the thermolabile ligand cocaine. Using a new global fitting analysis that accounts for thermolabile ligand conversion, the complete set of folding and binding parameters are obtained from a pair of DSC experiments. In addition, we show that the rate constant for thermolabile ligand conversion may be obtained with only one supplementary DSC dataset. The guidelines for identifying and analyzing data from several more complicated scenarios are presented, including irreversible aggregation of the biomolecule, slow folding, slow binding, and rapid depletion of the thermolabile ligand.

Introduction

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is a powerful method for quantitating biomolecular binding and folding interactions^1,2,3. The strengths of DSC include its ability to elucidate binding and folding mechanisms, and to yield the corresponding thermodynamic parameters^2,3. Furthermore, DSC can be performed in solution under near-physiological conditions and does not require labeling of the biomolecule or ligand, e.g., with fluorophores, spin-labels or nuclear isotopes⁴. The instrumen....

Protocol

1. Sample Preparation

1. Purify the desired biomolecule¹³.
   NOTE: This protocol uses purchased cocaine-binding DNA aptamer MN4 after exchanging against 2 M NaCl three times followed by three rounds of deionized water using a centrifugal filter with a 3 kDa molecular weight cut-off membrane.
2. Synthesize and purify, or purchase the desired thermolabile ligand¹³.
   NOTE: MN4 binds the thermolabile ligand cocaine. MN4 also binds quinine, which is used as a negative control for ligand thermolability at these experimental temperatures.
3. Prepare buffers for dialysis of the purified biomolec....

Results

Representative data for the thermolabile ligand DSC are shown in Figure 1. The position and height of the thermolabile ligand-bound peak successively shifts down towards that of the unbound biomolecule as the thermolabile ligand is depleted with each scan (Figure 1a). The free denaturation profile is used as a reference for the endpoint of thermolabile ligand conversion (Figure 1b). Data for MN4 boun.......

Discussion

Modifications and troubleshooting

The details of the global fitting analysis used in Figure 1 and Figure 2 have been described previously⁴. Here, we outline practical aspects of performing and analyzing DSC binding experiments with thermolabile ligands. Note that a DSC baseline obtained for the thermolabile ligand alone is subtracted from the ligand + biomolecule dataset, effectively cancelling ou.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Sodium chloride	Chem Impex	#00829
Sodium phosphate monobasic dihydrate	Sigma Aldrich	71502
Sodium phosphate dibasic	Sigma Aldrich	S9763
Deioinized water for molecular biology	Millipore	H20MB1001
0.2 micron sterile syringe filters	VWR	CA28145-477
3 kDa centrifugal filters	Millipore	UFC900324
Dialysis tubing 0.5-1.0 kDa cutoff	Spectrum Laboratories	131048
Silicon tubing	VWR	89068-474
Plastic DSC flange caps	TA Instruments	6111
DNA aptamer MN4	Integrated DNA Technologies	https://www.idtdna.com/site/order/menu
Cocaine	Sigma Aldrich	C008
Quinine	Sigma Aldrich	22620
NanoDSC-III microcalorimeter	TA Instruments	http://www.tainstruments.com/nanodsc/
DSCRun software	TA Instruments	http://www.tainstruments.com/support/software-downloads-support/instruments-by-software/
NanoAnalyze software	TA Instruments	http://www.tainstruments.com/support/software-downloads-support/instruments-by-software/
Contrad-70	VWR	89233-152