Influence of protein conformation on its adaptability under chaotropic conditions

The thermostability of serum albumin and beta-lactoglobulin in various salt solutions was studied using differential scanning calorimetry. Below 1.0 M salt concentrations, the relative effectiveness of various sodium salts on increasing the thermostability of beta-lactoglobulin followed the classic Hofmeister or lyotropic series, i.e. SO2-(4) greater than Cl- greater than Br- greater than ClO-4 greater than SCN-; however, in the case of serum albumin the above order was reversed, i.e. ClO-4 greater than SCN- greater than Br- greater than Cl- greater than SO2-(4), indicating that the thermostability of serum albumin was higher in chaotropic solution conditions. Circular dichroic analysis of serum albumin in NaClO4 solutions revealed that the alpha-helical content of the protein increased from 59% to 73% in 1.0 M NaClO4; no similar increase in secondary structure was observed for beta-lactoglobulin. These observations contradicted the general notion that the chaotropic effect of neutral salts on the stability of macromolecules is independent of any details of the macromolecular conformation itself. The results presented here indicate that the predisposition of the native conformation of a protein per se might affect whether the protein would undergo stabilization or destabilization (i.e. conformational adaptability) under moderate chaotropic solution conditions.