A Theorem and Proposal to Detect Directly Asymmetric Conformation in an Allosteric Protein Solution

Abstract

Electric birefringence and electric dichroism methods are proposed, which can decide the most plausible transition model for a given allosteric protein. Asymmetric quarternary conformations which appear at an intermediate concentration of ligand in the case of the KNF model or a more generalized model can be detected directly by the appearance of electric permanent dipole in birefringence of dichroism. A theorem concerning the maximum concentrations of asymmetric quarternary conformations is also derived, and suggested to be useful for evaluation of various thermodynamic parameters in transition models.