Direct Observation of Kinetic Pathways of Biomolecular Recognition

The pathways of molecular recognition, which is a central event in all biological processes, belong to the most important subjects of contemporary research in biomolecular science. By using fluorescence spectroscopy in a microfluidics channel, it can be determined that molecular recognition of α-chymotrypsin in hydrous surroundings at two different pH values (3.6 and 6.3) follows two distinctly different pathways. Whereas one corroborates an induced-fit model (pH 3.6), the other one (pH 6.3) is consistent with the selected-fit model of biomolecular recognition. The role of massive structural perturbations of differential recognition pathways could be ruled out by earlier XRD studies, rather was consistent with the femtosecond-resolved observation of dynamic flexibility of the protein at different pH values. At low concentrations of ligands, the selected-fit model dominates, whereas increasing the ligand concentration leads to the induced-fit model. From molecular modelling and experimental results, the timescale associated with the conformational flexibility of the protein plays a key role in the selection of a pathway in biomolecular recognition.