Nuclear relaxation rates study of GTP(gamma F)-tubulin interaction using 19F-nuclear magnetic resonance.

To study the relationship between the exchangeable GTP binding site (E-site) and the high affinity metal binding site we synthesized P3-fluoro P1-5'-guanosine tripaosphate (GTP(gamma F), an analog of GTP. Our results show that this analog binds to the exchangeable GTP binding site of calf brain tubulin. The values of the dissociation constant and the stoichiometry of the GTP(gamma F)-Mn(II) complex as determined by EPR spectroscopy were 1.64 x 10(-4) M and one mole of manganese per mole of nucleotide, respectively. The distance separating the high-affinity binding site for the divalent metal ion and the exchangeable nucleotide binding site was evaluated by using high-resolution 19F-NMR. The 31P- and 19F-NMR spectra of GTP(gamma F) were studied, both the fluorine and the gamma-phosphate were split in a doublet with a coupling constant of 936 Hz. Tubulin purified by the method of Weisenberg (Weisenberg, R.C., and Timashef, S.N. (1970) Biochemistry 9, 4110-4116) was treated with colchicine to stabilize it, GTP(gamma F) was added and the 254.1 MHz 19fluorine relaxation rates measured within the first four hours. Longitudinal and transversal relaxation rates were determined in the presence of colchicine-tubulin-Mn(II), (paramagnetic complex), or the ternary complex with magnesium (diamagnetic complex). The analysis of the temperature-dependent relaxation data indicates that the metal and the exchangeable nucleotide binding sites are separated by a maximal distance of 6 at 35 degrees C, to 8.1 A at 12 degrees C.