The denaturant-induced (un)folding of apoflavodoxin
from Azotobacter vinelandii has been followed
at the residue level by NMR spectroscopy. NH groups of
21 residues of the protein could be followed in a series
of 1H–15N heteronuclear single-quantum
coherence spectra recorded at increasing concentrations
of guanidinium hydrochloride despite the formation of protein
aggregate. These NH groups are distributed throughout the
whole apoflavodoxin structure. The midpoints of unfolding
determined by NMR coincide with the one obtained by fluorescence
emission spectroscopy. Both techniques give rise to unfolding
curves with transition zones at significantly lower denaturant
concentrations than the one obtained by circular dichroism
spectroscopy. The NMR (un)folding data support a mechanism
for apoflavodoxin folding in which a relatively stable
intermediate is involved. Native apoflavodoxin is shown
to cooperatively unfold to a molten globule-like state
with extremely broadened NMR resonances. This initial unfolding
step is slow on the NMR chemical shift timescale. The subsequent
unfolding of the molten globule is faster on the NMR chemical
shift timescale and the limited appearance of
1H–15N HSQC cross peaks of unfolded
apoflavodoxin in the denaturant range studied indicates that it
is noncooperative.