The role of covalent dimerization on the physical and chemical stability of the EC1 domain of human E-cadherin

✍ Scribed by Maulik Trivedi; R. Andrew Davis; Yumna Shabaik; Ambrish Roy; Gennady Verkhivker; Jennifer S. Laurence; C. Russell Middaugh; Teruna J. Siahaan

• Book ID: 102912394
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 729 KB
• Volume: 98
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3549
• DOI: 10.1002/jps.21686

✦ Synopsis

The objective of this work was to evaluate the solution stability of the EC1 domain of E-cadherin under various conditions. The EC1 domain was incubated at various temperatures (4, 37, and 70 degrees C) and pH values (3.0, 7.0, and 9.0). At pH 9.0 and 37 or 70 degrees C, a significant loss of EC1 was observed due to precipitation and a hydrolysis reaction. The degradation was suppressed upon addition of dithiothreitol (DTT), suggesting that the formation of EC1 dimer facilitated the EC1 degradation. At 4 degrees C and various pH values, the EC1 secondary and tertiary showed changes upon incubation up to 28 days, and DTT prevented any structural changes upon 28 days of incubation. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the dimer of EC1 has higher mobility than does the monomer; this higher mobility of the EC1 dimer may contribute to instability of the EC1 domain.