Effect of secondary structure on the potential of mean force for poly-l-lysine in the α-helix and β-sheet conformations Original Research Article

Because poly-l-lysine (PLL) can exist in the α-helix or β-sheet conformation depending on solution preparation and solution conditions, PLL is a suitable candidate to probe the dependence of protein interactions on secondary structure. The osmotic second virial coefficient and weight-average molecular weight are reported from low-angle laser-light scattering measurements for PLL as a function of NaCl concentration, pH, and α-helix or β-sheet content. Interactions between PLL molecules become more attractive as salt concentration increases due to screening of PLL charge by salt ions and at low salt concentration become more attractive as pH increases due to decreased net charge on PLL. The experimental results show that interactions are stronger for the β-sheet conformation than for the α-helix conformation. A spherically-symmetric model for the potential of mean force is used to account for specific interactions not described by DLVO theory and to show how differences in secondary structure affect PLL interactions.