Globule-coil transition of denatured globular protein investigated by a microwave dielectric technique

A mechanism for the gel-glass transition of denatured globular protein has been explained from the viewpoint of the globule-coil transition with microwave dielectric measurements using a time domain reflectometry (TDR) method. Boiled egg white, which is an aqueous gel of egg white prepared by heat treatment at 100 degrees C, becomes a glass on drying. In the gel state, the relaxation processes corresponding to the orientation of bulk water and the micro-Brownian motion of peptide chains of denatured protein were observed around 10 GHz and 10 MHz, respectively. When the gel-glass transition occurred, the relaxation strength for bulk water decreased rapidly as evaporation and breaking of water structure occurred. Simultaneously, the relaxation strength for micro-Brownian motion increased abruptly, as the structure of globular protein varied from globule state to coiled state. It is considered that the protein molecule spreads out and takes up a coiled state by reductions of hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions of the globular protein. These reductions occur through a decrease in the amount of water.