Differential Scanning Calorimetry of the Effects of Ca²⁺ on the Thermal Unfolding of Pseudomonas cepacia Lipase

Abstract

  Thermal unfolding of P. cepacia lipase was observed by adiabatic differential scanning microcalorimetry in the absence and presence of calcium ions at pH 8, and thermodynamic parameters of unfolding were evaluated to analyze the unfolding mechanism of the enzyme. The temperature of unfolding was higher at higher concentrations of Ca²⁺. From the Ca²⁺ concentration-dependence of the unfolding temperature, the number of calcium ions that dissociated from the enzyme molecule upon unfolding was estimated to be one. These results confirmed the validity of the unfolding mechanism proposed previously: NCa²⁺↔D+Ca²⁺, where N and D represent the native and denatured states, respectively, of the enzyme.