Key role of coulombic interactions for the folding transition state of the cold shock protein

The cold shock protein CspB shows a five-stranded beta-sheet structure, and it folds rapidly via a native-like transition state. A previous Phi value analysis showed that most of the residues with Phi values close to one reside in strand beta1, and two of them, Lys5 and Lys7 are partially exposed charged residues. To elucidate how coulombic interactions of these two residues contribute to the energetic organisation of the folding transition state we performed comparative folding experiments in the presence of an ionic denaturant (guanidinium chloride) and a non-ionic denaturant (urea) and a double-mutant analysis. Lys5 contributes 6.6 kJ mol(-1) to the stability of the transition state, and half of it originates from screenable coulombic interactions. Lys7 contributes 5.3 kJ mol(-1), and 3.4 kJ mol(-1) of it are screened by salt. In the folded protein Lys7 interacts with Asp25, and the screenable coulombic interaction between these two residues is fully formed in the transition state. This suggests that long-range coulombic interactions such as those originating from Lys5 and Lys7 of CspB can be important for organizing and stabilizing native-like structure early in protein folding.