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Sentell Z, Spooner J, Weinberg N. Molecular Dynamics Calculations of Partial Molar Volumes of Amino Acids in Aqueous Solutions. CAN J CHEM 2022. [DOI: 10.1139/cjc-2021-0217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Partial molar volumes of amino acids in their zwitterionic and molecular forms have been calculated using molecular dynamics simulations of these systems in aqueous solutions. Calculations performed with the TIP4P, SPC (rigid and flexible), SPC/E, and polarizable water models show that the choice of water model can have a significant impact on the calculated volumes. The effect of treatment of long-range electrostatic interactions on the calculated results was also investigated. Volumes obtained in simulations with a properly chosen water model fit well the experimental data for both molecular and zwitterionic forms of amino acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary Sentell
- University of the Fraser Valley, 1011, Department of Chemistry, Abbotsford, Canada
| | - Jacob Spooner
- University of the Fraser Valley, 1011, Department of Chemistry, Abbotsford, Canada, V2S 7M8
| | - Noham Weinberg
- University of the Fraser Valley, 1011, Department of Chemistry, Abbotsford, Canada, V2S 7M8
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Gasic AG, Cheung MS. A Tale of Two Desolvation Potentials: An Investigation of Protein Behavior under High Hydrostatic Pressure. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:1619-1627. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b10734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrei G. Gasic
- Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, United States
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Margaret S. Cheung
- Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, United States
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
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Li Q, Scholl ZN, Marszalek PE. Unraveling the Mechanical Unfolding Pathways of a Multidomain Protein: Phosphoglycerate Kinase. Biophys J 2019; 115:46-58. [PMID: 29972811 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2018.05.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Revised: 03/31/2018] [Accepted: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) is a highly conserved enzyme that is crucial for glycolysis. PGK is a monomeric protein composed of two similar domains and has been the focus of many studies for investigating interdomain interactions within the native state and during folding. Previous studies used traditional biophysical methods (such as circular dichroism, tryptophan fluorescence, and NMR) to measure signals over a large ensemble of molecules, which made it difficult to observe transient changes in stability or structure during unfolding and refolding of single molecules. Here, we unfold single molecules of PGK using atomic force spectroscopy and steered molecular dynamic computer simulations to examine the conformational dynamics of PGK during its unfolding process. Our results show that after the initial forced separation of its domains, yeast PGK (yPGK) does not follow a single mechanical unfolding pathway; instead, it stochastically follows two distinct pathways: unfolding from the N-terminal domain or unfolding from the C-terminal domain. The truncated yPGK N-terminal domain unfolds via a transient intermediate, whereas the structurally similar isolated C-terminal domain has no detectable intermediates throughout its mechanical unfolding process. The N-terminal domain in the full-length yPGK displays a strong unfolding intermediate 13% of the time, whereas the truncated domain (yPGKNT) transitions through the intermediate 81% of the time. This effect indicates that the mechanical properties of yPGK cannot be simply deduced from the mechanical properties of its constituents. We also find that Escherichia coli PGK is significantly less mechanically stable as compared to yPGK, contrary to bulk unfolding measurements. Our results support the growing body of observations that the folding behavior of multidomain proteins is difficult to predict based solely on the studies of isolated domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Li
- Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Material Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
| | - Zackary N Scholl
- Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
| | - Piotr E Marszalek
- Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Material Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
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Spooner J, Wiebe H, Louwerse M, Reader B, Weinberg N. Theoretical analysis of high-pressure effects on conformational equilibria. CAN J CHEM 2018. [DOI: 10.1139/cjc-2017-0411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Along with temperature, pressure is the most important physical parameter determining the thermodynamic properties and reactivity of chemical systems. In this work, we discuss the effects of high pressure on conformational properties of organic molecules and propose an approach toward calculation of conformational volume changes based on molecular dynamics simulations. The results agree well with the experimental data. Furthermore, we demonstrate that pressure can be used as an instrument for fine-tuning of molecular conformations and to propel a properly constructed molecular rotor possessing a suitable combination of energy and volume profiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob Spooner
- Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Heather Wiebe
- Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Miranda Louwerse
- Department of Chemistry, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada
| | - Brandon Reader
- Department of Chemistry, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada
| | - Noham Weinberg
- Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
- Department of Chemistry, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada
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Abstract
Proteins are essential players in the vast majority of molecular level life processes. Since their structure is in most cases substantial for their correct function, study of their structural changes attracted great interest in the past decades. The three dimensional structure of proteins is influenced by several factors including temperature, pH, presence of chaotropic and cosmotropic agents, or presence of denaturants. Although pressure is an equally important thermodynamic parameter as temperature, pressure studies are considerably less frequent in the literature, probably due to the technical difficulties associated to the pressure studies. Although the first steps in the high-pressure protein study have been done 100 years ago with Bridgman's ground breaking work, the field was silent until the modern spectroscopic techniques allowed the characterization of the protein structural changes, while the protein was under pressure. Recently a number of proteins were studied under pressure, and complete pressure-temperature phase diagrams were determined for several of them. This review summarizes the thermodynamic background of the typical elliptic p-T phase diagram, its limitations and the possible reasons for deviations of the experimental diagrams from the theoretical one. Finally we show some examples of experimentally determined pressure-temperature phase diagrams.
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Affiliation(s)
- László Smeller
- Department of Biophysics and Radiation Biology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary,
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Abstract
Fluorescence is the most widely used technique to study the effect of pressure on biochemical systems. The use of pressure as a physical variable sheds light into volumetric characteristics of reactions. Here we focus on the effect of pressure on protein solutions using a simple unfolding example in order to illustrate the applications of the methodology. Topics covered in this review include the relationships between practical aspects and technical limitations; the effect of pressure and the study of protein cavities; the interpretation of thermodynamic and relaxation kinetics; and the study of relaxation amplitudes. Finally, we discuss the insights available from the combination of fluorescence and other methods adapted to high pressure, such as SAXS or NMR. Because of the simplicity and accessibility of high-pressure fluorescence, the technique is a starting point that complements appropriately multi-methodological approaches related to understanding protein function, disfunction, and folding from the volumetric point of view.
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Wiebe H, Weinberg N. Theoretical volume profiles as a tool for probing transition states: folding kinetics. J Chem Phys 2014; 140:124105. [PMID: 24697422 DOI: 10.1063/1.4868549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanism by which conformational changes, particularly folding and unfolding, occur in proteins and other biopolymers has been widely discussed in the literature. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of protein folding present a formidable challenge since these conformational changes occur on a time scale much longer than what can be afforded at the current level of computational technology. Transition state (TS) theory offers a more economic description of kinetic properties of a reaction system by relating them to the properties of the TS, or for flexible systems, the TS ensemble (TSE). The application of TS theory to protein folding is limited by ambiguity in the definition of the TSE for this process. We propose to identify the TSE for conformational changes in flexible systems by comparison of its experimentally determined volumetric property, known as the volume of activation, to the structure-specific volume profile of the process calculated using MD. We illustrate this approach by its successful application to unfolding of a model chain system.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Wiebe
- Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - N Weinberg
- Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
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Volume of Hsp90 ligand binding and the unfolding phase diagram as a function of pressure and temperature. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL: EBJ 2013; 42:355-62. [DOI: 10.1007/s00249-012-0884-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2012] [Revised: 11/15/2012] [Accepted: 12/13/2012] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Somkuti J, Houska M, Smeller L. Pressure and temperature stability of the main apple allergen Mal d1. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL: EBJ 2010; 40:143-51. [PMID: 20949267 DOI: 10.1007/s00249-010-0633-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2010] [Revised: 09/23/2010] [Accepted: 09/28/2010] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
High-pressure Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to determine the pressure and temperature stability of Mal d1. This study was triggered by contradictory results in the literature regarding the success of pressure treatment in the destruction of the allergen. The protein unfolded at 55°C when heated at normal atmospheric pressure. We also studied the effect exerted on pressure stability by environmental factors, which can be important for the stability of the protein in the apple. The pressure unfolding was measured under different pD conditions, and the effect of sugar mixture similar to that of the apple and the effect of ionic strength were also studied. In all cases the allergen unfolded with a transition midpoint in the range of 150-250 MPa. Unfolding was irreversible and was followed by aggregation of the unfolded protein. Lowering the pD destabilized the protein, while addition of sugar mixture and of KCl had stabilizing effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judit Somkuti
- Department of Biophysics and Radiation Biology, Semmelweis University, Tuzolto u. 37-47, PF 263, 1444 Budapest, Hungary
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