Site-specific fluorescein-labeled cobra alpha-toxin. Biochemical and spectroscopic characterization.

Cobra alpha-toxin purified from Naja naja siamensis venom was labeled with near stoichiometric quantities of fluorescein isothiocyanate. A monofluorescein alpha-toxin was separated in 50-60% yield from unconjugated alpha-toxin and other reaction products by ion exchange chromatography. The isolated mono-conjugated alpha-toxin electrofocuses largely as a single entity with 92% appearing with a pI of 9.6. The unmodified toxin has a pI of 10.7. Thermolysin digestion and subsequent high pressure liquid chromatography of the peptides yield two dominant fluorescent peaks, both of which can be traced to the labeling of lysine 23. The NE-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-Lys-23 alpha-toxin shows an apparent reduction in quantum yield when compared with either free FITC or the denatured and reduced NE-FITC-Lys-23 alpha-toxin. The reduction of fluorescence is likely to be due to static quenching of the fluorescein by the tryptophanyl and tyrosyl residues (25 and 21, respectively) in the "central loop" region. Binding of the NE-FITC-Lys-23 alpha-toxin to the membrane-associated acetylcholine receptor is accompanied by a 95 +/- 22% increase in fluorescence which probably reflects perturbation of the beta-pleated sheet character of the region containing residues 20-25 of the alpha-toxin. Steady state fluorescence polarization measurements of NE-FITC-Lys-23 alpha-toxin yield a rotational correlation time of 3.7 ns, suggesting FITC is largely immobilized on the alpha-toxin. The NE-FITC-Lys-23 alpha-toxin binds with a dissociation constant of 4 nM determined by fluorescence polarization.