Conformational dynamics play a crucial role in biological function. Dynein light chain protein (DLC8) acts as a cargo adaptor, and exists as a dimer under physiological conditions and dissociates into monomer below pH 4. In the present NMR study, we identified some dynamic residues in the dimer using chemical shift perturbation approach by applying small pH change. As evidenced by gel filtration and CD studies, this small pH change does not alter the globular structural features of the protein. In fact, these changes result in small local stability perturbations as monitored using temperature dependence of amide proton chemical shifts, and influence the dynamics of the dimer substantially. Further, interaction studies of the protein with a peptide containing the recognition motif of cargo indicated that the efficacy of peptide binding decreases when the pH is reduced from 7 to 6. These observations taken together support the conception that dynamics can regulate cargo binding/trafficking by the DLC8 dimer. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.