Refolding additive,dimethylbenzylammonium propane sulfonate (NDSB-256),accelerates gly-pro cis-trans isomerization

Proline cis-trans isomerization plays a key role in the rate-determining steps of protein folding,and many different peptide-proline cis-trans isomerases (ppiases) catalyze this reaction. the acceleration of isomerization would be beneficial for in vitro refolding of protein preparations for industrial and research purposes. so we analyzed whether low-molecular-weight compounds that have been reported to enhance protein refolding have the activity to accelerate the isomerization. to evaluate the effects of chemicals on the isomerization rate,we set up a new nmr (exsy) method that is invulnerable to their inhibitory activity,if any,and to their large nmr signals. with this method,we found that dimethylbenzylammonium propane sulfonate (ndsb-256) increase the isomerization rate in a concentration-dependent manner for the first time. acceleration by imidazole (suggested but not experimentally confirmed) was also demonstrated. arginine,a most popular refolding additive,did not show any significant effects on the isomerization reaction as expected. © 2015 bentham science publishers.