Determination of glutathione-binding to proteins by fluorescence spectroscopy

Glutathione (GSH) is the most abundant non-protein thiol and its cellular concentration has been reported as 17 mM in Escherichia coli. This study introduces a label-free method to determine the binding affinity of GSH to proteins, utilizing the intrinsic fluorescence of proteins; the dissociation constants of GSH for d-arabinose 5-phosphate isomerase KdsD, fumarase C, malate dehydrogenase, and RNA polymerase subunit α have been determined as 96 ± 8, 246 ± 42, 292 ± 78, and 296 ± 97 μM, respectively. The dissociation constants, less than 2% of the cellular concentration of GSH, suggests that protein-GSH interactions are strong enough to make all of the GSH-binding sites occupied fully. The method described here may be applicable to other proteins.