Structural dissection of alkaline-denatured pepsin

It has been established in a number of studies that the alkaline-denatured state of pepsin (the I-p state) is composed of a compact C-terminal lobe and a largely unstructured N-terminal lobe. In the present study, we have investigated the residual structure in the I-p state in more detail, using limited proteolysis to isolate and characterize a tightly folded core region from this partially denatured pepsin. The isolated core region corresponds to the 141 C-terminal residues of the pepsin molecule, which in the fully native state forms one of the two lobes of the structure. A comparative study using NMR and CD spectroscopy has revealed, however, that the N-terminal lobe contributes a substantial amount of additional residual structure to the Ip state of pepsin. CD spectra indicate in addition that significant normative alpha-helical structure is present in the C-terminal lobe of the structure when the N-terminal lobe of pepsin is either unfolded or removed by proteolysis. This study demonstrates that the structure of pepsin in the I-p state is significantly more complex than that of a fully folded C-terminal lobe connected, to an unstructured N-terminal lobe.