Parvalbumin conformers revealed by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy

The binding of calcium to whiting (one tryptophan residue) and pike (one tyrosine residue) parvalbumins has been studied by means of kinetic and steady-state fluorescence techniques. The decay curves of the tryptophan and tyrosine fluorescence of the parvalbumins are best fitted by a sum of two exponents for any metal state of the proteins. The data can be interpreted as a nonexponential decay of the fluorescence of a single-type chromophore or in terms of equilibria between compact and relaxed conformers of the parvalbumins in each metal state. Fluorescence quenching by I − ions and effects of H 20/D 20 substitution confirm the second interpretation. The constants of the equilibria have been evaluated.