Mutational effects on the folding dynamics of a minimized hairpin

The fold stabilities and folding dynamics of a series of mutants of a model hairpin, KTW-NPATGK-WTE (HP7), are reported. The parent system and the corresponding DPATGK loop species display submicrosecond folding time constants. The mutational studies revealed that ultrafast folding requires both some prestructuring of the loop and a favorable interaction between the chain termini in the transition state. In the case of YY-DPETGT-WY, another submicrosecond folding species [Davis, C. M., Xiao, S., Raleigh, D. P., and Dyer, R. B. (2012) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 14476-14482], a hydrophobic cluster provides the latter. In the case of HP7, the Coulombic interaction between the terminal NH3(+) and CO2(-) units provides this; a C-terminal Glu to amidated Ala mutation results in a 5-fold retardation of the folding rate. The effects of mutations within the reversing loop indicate the balance between loop flexibility (favoring fast conformational searching) and turn formation in the unfolded state is a major factor in determining the folding dynamics. The -NAAAKX- loops examined display no detectable turn formation propensity in other hairpin constructs but do result in stable analogues of HP7. Peptide KTW-NAAAKK-WTE displays the same fold stability as HP7, but both the folding and unfolding time constants are greater by a factor of 20.