Direct Determination of Site-Specific Noncovalent Interaction Strengths of Proteins from NMR-Derived Fast Side Chain Motional Parameters.

A novel approach to accurately determine residue-specific noncovalent interaction strengths (ξ) of proteins from NMR-measured fast side chain motional parameters (Oaxis2) is presented. By probing the environmental sensitivity of side chain conformational energy surfaces of individual residues of a diverse set of proteins, the microscopic connections between ξ, Oaxis2, conformational entropy (Sconf), conformational barriers, and rotamer stabilities established here are found to be universal among proteins. The results reveal that side chain flexibility and conformational entropy of each residue decrease with increasing ξ and that for each residue type there exists a critical range of ξ, determined primarily by the mean side chain conformational barriers, within which flexibility of any residue can be reversibly tuned from highly flexible (with Oaxis2 ∼ 0) to highly restricted (with Oaxis2 ∼ 1) by increasing ξ by ∼3 kcal/mol. Beyond this critical range of ξ, both side chain flexibility and conformational entropy are insensitive to ξ. The interrelationships between conformational dynamics, conformational entropy, and noncovalent interactions of protein side chains established here open up new avenues to probe perturbation-induced (for example, ligand-binding, temperature, pressure) changes in fast side chain dynamics and thermodynamics of proteins by comparing their conformational energy surfaces in the native and perturbed states.