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Protein stability analysis in ionic liquids by 19F NMR

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Abstract

Ionic liquids have been extensively used as environmentally friendly solvents for enzymatic reactions and other biological systems. Understanding the mechanism of how ionic liquids affect protein stability is crucial for the biological reaction processes and protein storage using ionic liquids as solvents. Although effects of ionic liquids on protein stability have been studied, equilibrium thermodynamics of protein stability in ionic liquids has not been quantitatively measured. Herein, we utilized 19F NMR to measure the equilibrium thermodynamics of protein stability in ionic liquid [C4-mim]Br. Our results show that proteins are significantly destabilized in [C4-mim]Br ionic liquids. Our results suggest that 19F NMR provides a simple and effective way to study the thermodynamics of protein stability in ionic liquids. 19F NMR will be applicable to facilitate the protein–protein interaction study in ionic liquids.

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Funding

This work is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China grant 2017YFA0505400, Innovation team of Hubei Province grant 2016CFA002, National Natural Sciences Foundation of China grant 21575156, and K.C. Wong Education Foundation and Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDJ-SSW-SLH027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China

    Kai Cheng, Qiong Wu, Ling Jiang, Maili Liu & Conggang Li

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  1. Kai Cheng
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Published in the topical collection Young Investigators in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry with guest editors Erin Baker, Kerstin Leopold, Francesco Ricci, and Wei Wang.

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Cheng, K., Wu, Q., Jiang, L. et al. Protein stability analysis in ionic liquids by 19F NMR. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 4929–4935 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01804-3

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