Studying the allosteric energy cycle by isothermal titration calorimetry

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is a powerful biophysical technique which allows a complete thermodynamic characterization of protein interactions with other molecules. The possibility of dissecting the Gibbs energy of interaction into its enthalpic and entropic contributions, as well as the detailed additional information experimentally accessible on the intermolecular interactions (stoichiometry, cooperativity, heat capacity changes, and coupled equilibria), make ITC a suitable technique for studying allosteric interactions in proteins. Two experimental methodologies for the characterization of allosteric heterotropic ligand interactions by ITC are described in this chapter, illustrated with two proteins with markedly different structural and functional features: a photosynthetic electron transfer protein and a drug target viral protease.