An Investigation of the Molecular Interactions of Diacetylcurcumin with Ribonuclease A

Curcumin is a natural product with diverse pharmacological activities. Studies of curcumin and its structural derivatives have been a subject of growing interest as a result of their diverse biological activities. We report the interaction of diacetylcurcumin (DAC) with Ribonuclease A (RNase A). The binding constant of DAC with RNase A was found to be of the order of 104 M-1. The intrinsic fluorescence of RNase A was quenched by DAC with a quenching constant of 2.2 x 104 M-1. The distance between the fluorophore of RNase A and DAC was found to be 2.6 nm, calculated from a Förster type fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Secondary structural changes of RNase A after binding were analyzed from circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared studies. Protein-ligand docking studies were conducted to determine the residues involved in the interaction of RNase A with DAC and changes in the accessible surface of the interacting residues were calculated accordingly.