Connecting high-temperature and low-temperature protein stability and aggregation

Protein aggregation is a long-standing problem for preservation of proteins in both laboratory settings and for commercial biotechnology products. It is well established that heating (cooling) can accelerate (slow) aggregation by populating (depopulating) unfolded or partially unfolded monomer states that are key intermediates in aggregation processes. However, there is a long-standing question of whether the same mechanism(s) that lead to aggregation under high-temperature stress are relevant for low-temperature stress such as in refrigerated or supercooled liquids. This report shows the first direct comparison of “hot” and “cold” aggregation kinetics and folding/unfolding thermodynamics, using bovine hemoglobin as a model system. The results suggest that the same mechanism for non-native aggregation holds from “hot” to “cold” temperatures, with an aggregation temperature-of-maximum-stability slightly below 0°C. This highlights that sub-zero temperatures can induce cold-mediated aggregation, even in the absence of freezing stresses. From a practical perspective, the results suggests the possibility that cold-stress may be a useful alternative to heat-stress for extrapolating predictions of protein shelf life at refrigerated conditions, as well as providing a foundation for more mechanistic studies of cold-stress conditions in future work. A comparison between isochoric and isobaric methods is also briefly discussed.