Strong Adverse Contribution of Conformational Dynamics to Streptavidin–Biotin Binding

Molecular dynamics plays an important role for the biological function of proteins. For protein ligand interactions, changes of conformational entropy of protein and hydration layer are relevant for the binding process. Quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) was used to investigate differences in protein dynamics and conformational entropy of ligand-bound and ligand-free streptavidin. Protein dynamics were probed both on the fast picosecond time scale using neutron time-of-flight spectroscopy and on the slower nanosecond time scale using high-resolution neutron backscattering spectroscopy. We found the internal equilibrium motions of streptavidin and the corresponding mean square displacements (MSDs) to be greatly reduced upon biotin binding. On the basis of the observed MSDs, we calculated the difference of conformational entropy ΔS conf of the protein component between ligand-bound and ligand-free streptavidin. The rather large negative ΔS conf value (−2 kJ mol–1 K–1 on the nanosecond time scale) obtained for the streptavidin tetramer seems to be counterintuitive, given the exceptionally high affinity of streptavidin–biotin binding. Literature data on the total entropy change ΔS observed upon biotin binding to streptavidin, which includes contributions from both the protein and the hydration water, suggest partial compensation of the unfavorable ΔS conf by a large positive entropy gain of the surrounding hydration layer and water molecules that are displaced during ligand binding.