Time-resolved fluorescence of bacteriophage Pf1 DNA-binding protein. Determination of oligonucleotide and polynucleotide binding parameters

Abstract

The binding of oligonucleotides and polynucleotides to the Pf1 DNA‐binding protein was followed by fluorescence spectral shift and lifetime measurements, which gave an anomalous value for the stoichiometry of binding. The anomaly was investigated in detail using fluorescence depolarisation to measure the aggregation during the titration and showed that all the fluorescence parameters are related to the specific aggregation of dimers on ligand binding. At saturation, complexes of the protein with the octanucleotide d(GCGTTGCG) and the hexadecanucleotide (dT)₁₆ have rotational correlation times, ϕ, of 50 ns and 85 ns, corresponding to protein tetramers and octamers, respectively. In the presence of the tetranucleotide d(CGCA) the protein remains as the native dimer (ϕ= 19 ns). The titration curves could be analysed in terms of two non‐equivalent binding sites, with binding constants K₁ and K₂. Comparison of K₁ values for oligonucleotide binding leads to an estimated (single‐site) intrinsic binding constant K_int∼ 3 × 10⁴ M⁻¹ and a cooperativity parameter ω∼ 100, in agreement with the apparent binding constant K_app∼ 3 × 10⁶ M⁻¹ for polynucleotides. Binding to the second site on the protein dimer is greatly reduced and cannot be determined accurately. The results suggest that the protein dimers bind cooperatively by lateral association along the DNA and that occupation of only one of the two DNA‐binding sites of the protein dimers is sufficient to stabilize the nucleoprotein complexes.