The amino terminal domain of enzyme I (residues
1–258 + Arg; EIN) and full length enzyme I (575 residues;
EI) harboring active-site mutations (H189E, expected to
have properties of phosphorylated forms, and H189A) have
been produced by protein bioengineering. Differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC) and temperature-induced changes in ellipticity
at 222 nm for monomeric wild-type and mutant EIN proteins
indicate two-state unfolding. For EIN proteins in 10 mM
K-phosphate (and 100 mM KCl) at pH 7.5, ΔH
≅ 140 ± 10 (160) kcal mol−1
and ΔCp ≅ 2.7 (3.3)
kcal K−1 mol−1. Transition
temperatures (Tm)
are 57 (59), 55 (58), and 53 (56) °C for wild-type,
H189A, and H189E forms of EIN, respectively. The order
of conformational stability for dephospho-His189, phospho-His189,
and H189 substitutions of EIN at pH 7.5 is: His > Ala
> Glu > His-PO32− due
to differences in conformational entropy. Although H189E
mutants have decreased Tm values for
overall unfolding the amino terminal domain, a small segment
of structure (3 to 12%) is stabilized (Tm
∼ 66–68 °C). This possibly arises from an
ion pair interaction between the γ-carboxyl of Glu189
and the ε-amino group of Lys69 in the docking region
for the histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein HPr.
However, the binding of HPr to wild-type and active-site
mutants of EIN and EI is temperature-independent (entropically
controlled) with about the same affinity constant at pH
7.5: K′A = 3 ±
1 × 105 M−1 for EIN and
∼1.2 × 105 M−1 for EI.