Progressive rearrangement of subtilisin Carlsberg into orderly and inflexible conformation with Ca(2+) binding

Fluorescence depolarization and decay kinetic profiles, together with differential scanning calorimetric thermograms and circular dichroism spectra, are measured to understand the respective roles of Ca(2+) ions at the strong (Ca1) and weak binding sites (Ca2) of subtilisin Carlsberg (sC). Thermal denaturation temperature decreases considerably with Ca1 removal, whereas it does slightly with Ca2 removal. The fraction of random coil structure increases significantly with Ca2 removal as well as with Ca1 removal. sC shows three fluorescence decay times of 100, 1100, and 3300 ps. Although the fast and the slow do not change noticeably, the medium one decreases progressively with Ca(2+) removal. sC has two fluorescence anisotropic decay components of 340 and 12,000 ps. The fast one arises from the internal rotation of Tyr, whereas the slow results from the global rotation of sC. Although both become significantly faster with Ca2 removal, only the slow one becomes slightly faster with further Ca1 removal. Overall, sC undergoes progressive rearrangement into disorderly and flexible conformation with Ca(2+) removal, indicating that both Ca1 and Ca2 are indispensable for the stable structure of sC.