Native ESI-MS and Collision-Induced Unfolding (CIU) of the Complex between Bacterial Elongation Factor-Tu and the...

Collision-induced unfolding (CIU) of protein ions, monitored by ion mobility-mass spectrometry, can be used to assess the stability of their compact gas-phase fold and hence provide structural information. The bacterial elongation factor EF-Tu, a key protein for mRNA translation in prokaryotes and hence a promising antibiotic target, has been studied by CIU. The major [M + 12H]¹²⁺ ion of EF-Tu unfolded in collision with Ar atoms between 40 and 50 V, corresponding to an E_lab energy of 480-500 eV. Binding of the cofactor analogue GDPNP and the antibiotic enacyloxin IIa stabilized the compact fold of EF-Tu, although dissociation of the latter from the complex diminished its stabilizing effect at higher collision energies. Molecular dynamics simulations of the [M + 12H]¹²⁺ EF-Tu ion showed similar qualitative behavior to the experimental results.