1
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Birch-Price Z, Hardy FJ, Lister TM, Kohn AR, Green AP. Noncanonical Amino Acids in Biocatalysis. Chem Rev 2024; 124:8740-8786. [PMID: 38959423 PMCID: PMC11273360 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.4c00120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2024] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
In recent years, powerful genetic code reprogramming methods have emerged that allow new functional components to be embedded into proteins as noncanonical amino acid (ncAA) side chains. In this review, we will illustrate how the availability of an expanded set of amino acid building blocks has opened a wealth of new opportunities in enzymology and biocatalysis research. Genetic code reprogramming has provided new insights into enzyme mechanisms by allowing introduction of new spectroscopic probes and the targeted replacement of individual atoms or functional groups. NcAAs have also been used to develop engineered biocatalysts with improved activity, selectivity, and stability, as well as enzymes with artificial regulatory elements that are responsive to external stimuli. Perhaps most ambitiously, the combination of genetic code reprogramming and laboratory evolution has given rise to new classes of enzymes that use ncAAs as key catalytic elements. With the framework for developing ncAA-containing biocatalysts now firmly established, we are optimistic that genetic code reprogramming will become a progressively more powerful tool in the armory of enzyme designers and engineers in the coming years.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Anthony P. Green
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology,
School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 7DN, U.K.
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2
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Feng RR, Wang M, Zhang W, Gai F. Unnatural Amino Acids for Biological Spectroscopy and Microscopy. Chem Rev 2024; 124:6501-6542. [PMID: 38722769 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
Due to advances in methods for site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into proteins, a large number of UAAs with tailored chemical and/or physical properties have been developed and used in a wide array of biological applications. In particular, UAAs with specific spectroscopic characteristics can be used as external reporters to produce additional signals, hence increasing the information content obtainable in protein spectroscopic and/or imaging measurements. In this Review, we summarize the progress in the past two decades in the development of such UAAs and their applications in biological spectroscopy and microscopy, with a focus on UAAs that can be used as site-specific vibrational, fluorescence, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes. Wherever applicable, we also discuss future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran-Ran Feng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Manxi Wang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Wenkai Zhang
- Department of Physics and Applied Optics Beijing Area Major Laboratory, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Feng Gai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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3
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Kirsh J, Weaver JB, Boxer SG, Kozuch J. Critical Evaluation of Polarizable and Nonpolarizable Force Fields for Proteins Using Experimentally Derived Nitrile Electric Fields. J Am Chem Soc 2024; 146:6983-6991. [PMID: 38415598 PMCID: PMC10941190 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c14775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Revised: 02/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are frequently carried out for proteins to investigate the role of electrostatics in their biological function. The choice of force field (FF) can significantly alter the MD results, as the simulated local electrostatic interactions lack benchmarking in the absence of appropriate experimental methods. We recently reported that the transition dipole moment (TDM) of the popular nitrile vibrational probe varies linearly with the environmental electric field, overcoming well-known hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) issues for the nitrile frequency and, thus, enabling the unambiguous measurement of electric fields in proteins (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144 (17), 7562-7567). Herein, we utilize this new strategy to enable comparisons of experimental and simulated electric fields in protein environments. Specifically, previously determined TDM electric fields exerted onto nitrile-containing o-cyanophenylalanine residues in photoactive yellow protein are compared with MD electric fields from the fixed-charge AMBER FF and the polarizable AMOEBA FF. We observe that the electric field distributions for H-bonding nitriles are substantially affected by the choice of FF. As such, AMBER underestimates electric fields for nitriles experiencing moderate field strengths; in contrast, AMOEBA robustly recapitulates the TDM electric fields. The FF dependence of the electric fields can be partly explained by the presence of additional negative charge density along the nitrile bond axis in AMOEBA, which is due to the inclusion of higher-order multipole parameters; this, in turn, begets more head-on nitrile H-bonds. We conclude by discussing the implications of the FF dependence for the simulation of nitriles and proteins in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob
M. Kirsh
- Department
of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5012, United
States
| | - Jared Bryce Weaver
- Department
of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5012, United
States
| | - Steven G. Boxer
- Department
of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5012, United
States
| | - Jacek Kozuch
- Experimental
Molecular Biophysics, Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
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4
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Zhou L, Feng RR, Zhang W, Gai F. Triple-Bond Vibrations: Emerging Applications in Energy and Biological Sciences. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:187-200. [PMID: 38156972 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Triple bonds, such as that formed between two carbon atoms (i.e., C≡C) or that formed between one carbon atom and one nitrogen atom (i.e., C≡N), afford unique chemical bonding and hence vibrational characteristics. As such, they are not only frequently used to construct molecules with tailored chemical and/or physical properties but also employed as vibrational probes to provide site-specific chemical and/or physical information at the molecular level. Herein, we offer our perspective on the emerging applications of various triple-bond vibrations in energy and biological sciences with a focus on C≡C and C≡N triple bonds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liang Zhou
- Department of Physics and Applied Optics Beijing Area Major Laboratory, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ran-Ran Feng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Wenkai Zhang
- Department of Physics and Applied Optics Beijing Area Major Laboratory, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Feng Gai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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5
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Perera SM, Aikawa T, Shaner SE, Moran SD, Wang L. Effects of the Intramolecular Group and Solvent on Vibrational Coupling Modes and Strengths of Fermi Resonances in Aryl Azides: A DFT Study of 4-Azidotoluene and 4-Azido- N-phenylmaleimide. J Phys Chem A 2023; 127:8911-8921. [PMID: 37819373 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.3c06312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
The high transition dipole strength of the azide asymmetric stretch makes aryl azides good candidates as vibrational probes (VPs). However, aryl azides have complex absorption profiles due to Fermi resonances (FRs). Understanding the origin and the vibrational modes involved in FRs of aryl azides is critically important toward developing them as VPs for studies of protein structures and structural changes in response to their surroundings. As such, we studied vibrational couplings in 4-azidotoluene and 4-azido-N-phenylmaleimide in two solvents, N,N-dimethylacetamide and tetrahydrofuran, to explore the origin and the effects of intramolecular group and solvent on the FRs of aryl azides using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the B3LYP functional and seven basis sets, 6-31G(d,p), 6-31+G(d,p), 6-31++G(d,p), 6-311G(d,p), 6-311+G(d,p), 6-311++G(d,p), and 6-311++G(df,pd). Two combination bands consisting of the azide symmetric stretch and another mode form strong FRs with the azide asymmetric stretch for both molecules. The FR profile was altered by replacing the methyl group with maleimide. Solvents change the relative peak position and intensity more significantly for 4-azido-N-phenylmaleimide, which makes it a more sensitive VP. Furthermore, the DFT results indicate that a comparison among the results from different basis sets can be used as a means to predict more reliable vibrational spectra.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sathya M Perera
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, United States
| | - Tenyu Aikawa
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, United States
| | - Sarah E Shaner
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701, United States
| | - Sean D Moran
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, United States
| | - Lichang Wang
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, United States
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6
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Lin YC, Ren P, Webb LJ. AMOEBA Force Field Predicts Accurate Hydrogen Bond Counts of Nitriles in SNase by Revealing Water-Protein Interaction in Vibrational Absorption Frequencies. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:5609-5619. [PMID: 37339399 PMCID: PMC10851345 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c02060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/22/2023]
Abstract
Precisely quantifying the magnitude and direction of electric fields in proteins has long been an outstanding challenge in understanding biological functions. Nitrile vibrational Stark effect probes have been shown to be minimally disruptive to the protein structure and can be better direct reporters of local electrostatic field in the native state of a protein than other measures such as pKa shifts of titratable residues. However, interpretations of the connection between measured vibrational energy and electric field rely on the accurate molecular understanding of interactions of the nitrile group and its environment, particularly from hydrogen bonding. In this work, we compared the extent of hydrogen bonding calculated in two common force fields, the fixed charge force field Amber03 and polarizable force field AMOEBA, at 10 locations of cyanocysteine (CNC) in staphylococcal nuclease (SNase) against the experimental nitrile absorption frequency in terms of full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and frequency temperature line slope (FTLS). We observed that the number of hydrogen bonds correlated well in AMOEBA trajectories with respect to both the FWHM (r = 0.88) and the FTLS (r = -0.85), whereas the correlation of Amber03 trajectories was less reliable because the Amber03 force field predicted more hydrogen bonds in some mutants. Moreover, we demonstrated that contributions from the interactions between CNC and nearby water molecules were significant in AMOEBA trajectories but were not predicted by Amber03. We conclude that although the nitrile absorption peak shape could be qualitatively predicted by the fixed charge Amber03 force field, the detailed electrostatic environment measured by the nitrile probe in terms of the extent of hydrogen bonding could only be accurately observed in the AMOEBA trajectories, where the permanent dipole, quadrupole, and dipole-induced-dipole polarizable interactions were all taken into account. The significance of this finding to the goal of accurately predicting electric fields in complex biomolecular environments is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Chun Lin
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Program, The University of Texas at Austin, 105 E 24th St. STOP A5300, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Pengyu Ren
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Program, The University of Texas at Austin, 105 E 24th St. STOP A5300, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
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7
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Yan S, Ji X, Peng W, Wang B. Evaluating the Transition State Stabilization/Destabilization Effects of the Electric Fields from Scaffold Residues by a QM/MM Approach. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:4245-4253. [PMID: 37155960 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c01054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The protein scaffolds of enzymes not only provide structural support for the catalytic center but also exert preorganized electric fields for electrostatic catalysis. In recent years, uniform oriented external electric fields (OEEFs) have been widely applied to enzymatic reactions to mimic the electrostatic effects of the environment. However, the electric fields exerted by individual residues in proteins may be quite heterogeneous across the active site, with varying directions and strengths at different positions of the active site. Here, we propose a QM/MM-based approach to evaluate the effects of the electric fields exerted by individual residues in the protein scaffold. In particular, the heterogeneity of the residue electric fields and the effect of the native protein environment can be properly accounted for by this QM/MM approach. A case study of the O-O heterolysis reaction in the catalytic cycle of TyrH shows that (1) for scaffold residues that are relatively far from the active site, the heterogeneity of the residue electric field in the active site is not very significant and the electrostatic stabilization/destabilization due to each residue can be well approximated with the interaction energy between a uniform electric field and the QM region dipole; (2) for scaffold residues near the active site, the residue electric fields can be highly heterogeneous along the breaking O-O bond. In such a case, approximating the residue electric fields as uniform fields may misrepresent the overall electrostatic effect of the residue. The present QM/MM approach can be applied to evaluate the residues' electrostatic impact on enzymatic reactions, which also can be useful in computational optimization of electric fields to boost the enzyme catalysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shengheng Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, P. R. China
| | - Xinwei Ji
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, P. R. China
| | - Wei Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, P. R. China
| | - Binju Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, P. R. China
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8
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Lee B, Papoutsis BM, Wong NY, Piacentini J, Kearney C, Huggins NA, Cruz N, Ng TT, Hao KH, Kramer JS, Fenlon EE, Nerenberg PS, Phillips-Piro CM, Brewer SH. Unraveling Complex Local Protein Environments with 4-Cyano-l-phenylalanine. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:8957-8969. [PMID: 36317866 PMCID: PMC10234312 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c05954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
We present a multifaceted approach to effectively probe complex local protein environments utilizing the vibrational reporter unnatural amino acid (UAA) 4-cyano-l-phenylalanine (pCNPhe) in the model system superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP). This approach combines temperature-dependent infrared (IR) spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to provide a molecular interpretation of the local environment of the nitrile group in the protein. Specifically, a two-step enantioselective synthesis was developed that provided an 87% overall yield of pCNPhe in high purity without the need for chromatography. It was then genetically incorporated individually at three unique sites (74, 133, and 149) in sfGFP to probe these local protein environments. The incorporation of the UAA site-specifically in sfGFP utilized an engineered, orthogonal tRNA synthetase in E. coli using the Amber codon suppression protocol, and the resulting UAA-containing sfGFP constructs were then explored with this approach. This methodology was effectively utilized to further probe the local environments of two surface sites (sites 133 and 149) that we previously explored with room temperature IR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography and a new interior site (site 74) featuring a complex local environment around the nitrile group of pCNPhe. Site 133 was found to be solvent-exposed, while site 149 was partially buried. Site 74 was found to consist of three distinct local environments around the nitrile group including nonspecific van der Waals interactions, hydrogen-bonding to a structural water, and hydrogen-bonding to a histidine side chain.
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Affiliation(s)
- ByungUk Lee
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Brianna M. Papoutsis
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Nathan Y. Wong
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Juliana Piacentini
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Caroline Kearney
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Nia A. Huggins
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
| | - Nicole Cruz
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
| | - Tracey T. Ng
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
| | - Kexin Heather Hao
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Jeremy S. Kramer
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Edward E. Fenlon
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
| | - Paul S. Nerenberg
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
| | | | - Scott H. Brewer
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
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9
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Polêto MD, Lemkul JA. TUPÃ: Electric field analyses for molecular simulations. J Comput Chem 2022; 43:1113-1119. [PMID: 35460102 PMCID: PMC9098685 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.26873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
We introduce TUPÃ, a Python-based algorithm to calculate and analyze electric fields in molecular simulations. To demonstrate the features in TUPÃ, we present three test cases in which the orientation and magnitude of the electric field exerted by biomolecules help explain biological phenomena or observed kinetics. As part of TUPÃ, we also provide a PyMOL plugin to help researchers visualize how electric fields are organized within the simulation system. The code is freely available and can be obtained at https://mdpoleto.github.io/tupa/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo D. Polêto
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States
| | - Justin A. Lemkul
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States
- Center for Drug Discovery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States
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10
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Ruppert M, Creon A, Tidow H, Huse N. Population Dynamics of Stretching Excitations of p-Azido-phenylalanine Incorporated in Calmodulin-Peptide Complexes. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:368-375. [PMID: 34990136 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c06775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
We genetically incorporated the unnatural amino acid p-azido-phenylalanine (AzF) into the ubiquitous Ca2+ sensor protein calmodulin (CaM) in complex with different peptides to explore the response of the azido stretching line shape to varying binding motifs with femtosecond infrared spectroscopy. The dynamic response of the azido stretching mode varies in different CaM-peptide complexes. We model these dynamics as coherent excitations of Fermi resonances and extract a lifetime of the azido stretching vibration of about 1 ps. The resulting model parameters are commensurate with the linear infrared absorption lineshapes which suggests that the conformation-sensitive vibrational lineshape could be composed of Fermi resonances that differ between the protein-peptide complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Ruppert
- Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry, Institute for Nanostructure and Solid-State Physics, Department of Physics, and Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Anne Creon
- Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry, Institute for Nanostructure and Solid-State Physics, Department of Physics, and Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany.,Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Henning Tidow
- Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany.,The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee, 149, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Nils Huse
- Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry, Institute for Nanostructure and Solid-State Physics, Department of Physics, and Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany.,The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee, 149, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
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11
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Dhakad A, Jena S, Sahoo DK, Biswal HS. Quantification of the electric field inside protein active sites and fullerenes. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:14755-14763. [PMID: 34195713 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp01769a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
While electrostatic interactions are exceedingly accountable for biological functions, no simple method exists to directly estimate or measure the electrostatic field in protein active sites. The electrostatic field inside the protein is generally inferred from the shift in the vibrational stretching frequencies of nitrile and thionitrile probes at the active sites through several painstaking and time-consuming experiments like vibrational Stark effect spectroscopy (VSS). Here we present a simple, fast, and reliable methodology, which can efficiently predict the vibrational Stark tuning rates (VSRs) of a large variety of probes within 10% error of the reported experimental data. Our methodology is based on geometry optimization and frequency calculations in the presence of an external electric field to predict the accurate VSR of newly designed nitrile/thionitrile probes. A priori information of VSRs is useful for difficult experiments such as catalytic/enzymatic study and in structural biology. We also applied our methodology successfully to estimate the electric field inside fullerenes and nano-onions, which is encouraging for researchers to adopt it for further applications in materials science and supramolecular chemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ambuj Dhakad
- School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) PO- Bhimpur-Padanpur, Via-Jatni, District- Khurda, PIN - 752050, Bhubaneswar, India. and Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Subhrakant Jena
- School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) PO- Bhimpur-Padanpur, Via-Jatni, District- Khurda, PIN - 752050, Bhubaneswar, India. and Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Dipak Kumar Sahoo
- School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) PO- Bhimpur-Padanpur, Via-Jatni, District- Khurda, PIN - 752050, Bhubaneswar, India. and Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Himansu S Biswal
- School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) PO- Bhimpur-Padanpur, Via-Jatni, District- Khurda, PIN - 752050, Bhubaneswar, India. and Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India
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12
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Bhattacharyya D, Videla PE, Cattaneo M, Batista VS, Lian T, Kubiak CP. Vibrational Stark shift spectroscopy of catalysts under the influence of electric fields at electrode-solution interfaces. Chem Sci 2021; 12:10131-10149. [PMID: 34377403 PMCID: PMC8336477 DOI: 10.1039/d1sc01876k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
External control of chemical processes is a subject of widespread interest in chemical research, including control of electrocatalytic processes with significant promise in energy research. The electrochemical double-layer is the nanoscale region next to the electrode/electrolyte interface where chemical reactions typically occur. Understanding the effects of electric fields within the electrochemical double layer requires a combination of synthesis, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and theory. In particular, vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy is a powerful technique to probe the response of molecular catalysts at the electrode interface under bias. Fundamental understanding can be obtained via synthetic tuning of the adsorbed molecular catalysts on the electrode surface and by combining experimental VSFG data with theoretical modelling of the Stark shift response. The resulting insights at the molecular level are particularly valuable for the development of new methodologies to control and characterize catalysts confined to electrode surfaces. This Perspective article is focused on how systematic modifications of molecules anchored to surfaces report information concerning the geometric, energetic, and electronic parameters of catalysts under bias attached to electrode surfaces. Heterogeneous electrocatalysis: characterization of interfacial electric field within the electrochemical double layer.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Dhritiman Bhattacharyya
- Department of Chemistry, Emory University 1515 Dickey Drive Northeast Atlanta Georgia 30322 USA
| | - Pablo E Videla
- Department of Chemistry and Energy Sciences Institute, Yale University 225 Prospect Street New Haven Connecticut 06520 USA
| | - Mauricio Cattaneo
- INQUINOA-UNT-CONICET, Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia, Instituto de Química Física, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Ayacucho 471 (4000) San Miguel de Tucumán Argentina
| | - Victor S Batista
- Department of Chemistry and Energy Sciences Institute, Yale University 225 Prospect Street New Haven Connecticut 06520 USA
| | - Tianquan Lian
- Department of Chemistry, Emory University 1515 Dickey Drive Northeast Atlanta Georgia 30322 USA
| | - Clifford P Kubiak
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0358 La Jolla California 92093 USA
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13
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Lang X, Welsher K. Mapping solvation heterogeneity in live cells by hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering microscopy. J Chem Phys 2020; 152:174201. [PMID: 32384848 DOI: 10.1063/1.5141422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Water provides a dynamic matrix in which all biochemical processes occur in living organisms. The structure and dynamics of intracellular water constitute the cornerstone for understanding all aspects of cellular function. Fundamentally, direct visualization of subcellular solvation heterogeneity is essential but remains challenging with commonly used nuclear magnetic resonance methods due to poor spatial resolution. To explore this question, we demonstrate a vibrational-shift imaging approach by combining the spectral-focusing hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering technique with an environmentally sensitive nitrile probe. The sensing ability of a near-infrared nitrile-containing molecule is validated in the solution phase, microscopic droplets, and cellular environments. Finally, we quantitatively measure the subcellular solvation variance between the cytoplasm (29.5%, S.E. 1.8%) and the nucleus (57.3%, S.E. 1.0%), which is in good agreement with previous studies. This work sheds light on heterogeneous solvation in live systems using coherent Raman microscopy and opens up new avenues to explore environmental variance in complex systems with high spatiotemporal resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqi Lang
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
| | - Kevin Welsher
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
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14
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First JT, Novelli ET, Webb LJ. Beyond pKa: Experiments and Simulations of Nitrile Vibrational Probes in Staphylococcal Nuclease Show the Importance of Local Interactions. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:3387-3399. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c00747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy T. First
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology The University of Texas at Austin 105 East 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Elisa T. Novelli
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology The University of Texas at Austin 105 East 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology The University of Texas at Austin 105 East 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
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15
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Goldsmith Z, Secor M, Hammes-Schiffer S. Inhomogeneity of Interfacial Electric Fields at Vibrational Probes on Electrode Surfaces. ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2020; 6:304-311. [PMID: 32123749 PMCID: PMC7047426 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.9b01297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Electric fields control chemical reactivity in a wide range of systems, including enzymes and electrochemical interfaces. Characterizing the electric fields at electrode-solution interfaces is critical for understanding heterogeneous catalysis and associated energy conversion processes. To address this challenge, recent experiments have probed the response of the nitrile stretching frequency of 4-mercaptobenzonitrile (4-MBN) attached to a gold electrode to changes in the solvent and applied electrode potential. Herein, this system is modeled with periodic density functional theory using a multilayer dielectric continuum treatment of the solvent and at constant applied potentials. The impact of the solvent dielectric constant and the applied electrode potential on the nitrile stretching frequency computed with a grid-based method is in qualitative agreement with the experimental data. In addition, the interfacial electrostatic potentials and electric fields as a function of applied potential were calculated directly with density functional theory. Substantial spatial inhomogeneity of the interfacial electric fields was observed, including oscillations in the region of the molecular probe attached to the electrode. These simulations highlight the microscopic inhomogeneity of the electric fields and the role of molecular polarizability at electrode-solution interfaces, thereby demonstrating the limitations of mean-field models and providing insights relevant to the interpretation of vibrational Stark effect experiments.
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16
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Chalyavi F, Adeyiga O, Weiner JM, Monzy JN, Schmitz AJ, Nguyen JK, Fenlon EE, Brewer SH, Odoh SO, Tucker MJ. 2D-IR studies of cyanamides (NCN) as spectroscopic reporters of dynamics in biomolecules: Uncovering the origin of mysterious peaks. J Chem Phys 2020; 152:074201. [PMID: 32087671 PMCID: PMC7028433 DOI: 10.1063/1.5138654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Cyanamides (NCN) have been shown to have a larger transition dipole strength than cyano-probes. In addition, they have similar structural characteristics and vibrational lifetimes to the azido-group, suggesting their utility as infrared (IR) spectroscopic reporters for structural dynamics in biomolecules. To access the efficacy of NCN as an IR probe to capture the changes in the local environment, several model systems were evaluated via 2D IR spectroscopy. Previous work by Cho [G. Lee, D. Kossowska, J. Lim, S. Kim, H. Han, K. Kwak, and M. Cho, J. Phys. Chem. B 122(14), 4035-4044 (2018)] showed that phenylalanine analogues containing NCN show strong anharmonic coupling that can complicate the interpretation of structural dynamics. However, when NCN is embedded in 5-membered ring scaffolds, as in N-cyanomaleimide and N-cyanosuccinimide, a unique band structure is observed in the 2D IR spectrum that is not predicted by simple anharmonic frequency calculations. Further investigation indicated that electron delocalization plays a role in the origins of the band structure. In particular, the origin of the lower frequency transitions is likely a result of direct interaction with the solvent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farzaneh Chalyavi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Olajumoke Adeyiga
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Julia M. Weiner
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604-3003, USA
| | - Judith N. Monzy
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604-3003, USA
| | - Andrew J. Schmitz
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Justin K. Nguyen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Edward E. Fenlon
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604-3003, USA
| | - Scott H. Brewer
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604-3003, USA
| | - Samuel O. Odoh
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Matthew J. Tucker
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
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17
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Abstract
Many proteins can be split into fragments that spontaneously reassemble, without covalent linkage, into a functional protein. For split green fluorescent proteins (GFPs), fragment reassembly leads to a fluorescent readout, which has been widely used to investigate protein-protein interactions. We review the scope and limitations of this approach as well as other diverse applications of split GFPs as versatile sensors, molecular glues, optogenetic tools, and platforms for photophysical studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew G Romei
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA; ,
| | - Steven G Boxer
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA; ,
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18
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Saggu M, Fried SD, Boxer SG. Local and Global Electric Field Asymmetry in Photosynthetic Reaction Centers. J Phys Chem B 2019; 123:1527-1536. [PMID: 30668130 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b11458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The origin of unidirectional electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) has been widely discussed. Despite the high level of structural similarity between the two branches of pigments that participate in the initial electron transfer steps of photosynthesis, electron transfer only occurs along one branch. One possible explanation for this functional asymmetry is the differences in the electrostatic environment between the active and the inactive branches arising from the charges and dipoles of the organized protein structure. We present an analysis of electric fields in the RC of the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides using the intrinsic carbonyl groups of the pigments as vibrational reporters whose vibrational frequency shifts can be converted into electric fields based on the vibrational Stark effect and also provide Stark effect data for plant pigments that can be used in future studies. The carbonyl stretches of the isolated pigments show pronounced Stark effects. We use these data, solvatochromism, molecular dynamics simulations, and data in the literature from IR and Raman spectra to evaluate differences in fields at symmetry-related positions, in particular at the 9-keto and 2-acetyl positions of the pigments involved in primary charge separation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Saggu
- Department of Chemistry , Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305-5080 , United States
| | - Stephen D Fried
- Department of Chemistry , Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305-5080 , United States
| | - Steven G Boxer
- Department of Chemistry , Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305-5080 , United States
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19
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Vibrational Approach to the Dynamics and Structure of Protein Amyloids. Molecules 2019; 24:molecules24010186. [PMID: 30621325 PMCID: PMC6337179 DOI: 10.3390/molecules24010186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Revised: 12/31/2018] [Accepted: 01/02/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Amyloid diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are linked to a poorly understood progression of protein misfolding and aggregation events that culminate in tissue-selective deposition and human pathology. Elucidation of the mechanistic details of protein aggregation and the structural features of the aggregates is critical for a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of protein oligomerization and fibrillization. Vibrational spectroscopies, such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman, are powerful tools that are sensitive to the secondary structure of proteins and have been widely used to investigate protein misfolding and aggregation. We address the application of the vibrational approaches in recent studies of conformational dynamics and structural characteristics of protein oligomers and amyloid fibrils. In particular, introduction of isotope labelled carbonyl into a peptide backbone, and incorporation of the extrinsic unnatural amino acids with vibrational moieties on the side chain, have greatly expanded the ability of vibrational spectroscopy to obtain site-specific structural and dynamic information. The applications of these methods in recent studies of protein aggregation are also reviewed.
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20
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Biava H, Schreiber T, Katz S, Völler JS, Stolarski M, Schulz C, Michael N, Budisa N, Kozuch J, Utesch T, Hildebrandt P. Long-Range Modulations of Electric Fields in Proteins. J Phys Chem B 2018; 122:8330-8342. [PMID: 30109934 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b03870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Electrostatic interactions are essential for controlling the protein structure and function. Whereas so far experimental and theoretical efforts focused on the effect of local electrostatics, this work aims at elucidating the long-range modulation of electric fields in proteins upon binding to charged surfaces. The study is based on cytochrome c (Cytc) variants carrying nitrile reporters for the vibrational Stark effect that are incorporated into the protein via genetic engineering and chemical modification. The Cytc variants were thoroughly characterized with respect to possible structural perturbations due to labeling. For the proteins in solution, the relative hydrogen bond occupancy and the calculated electric fields, both obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and the experimental nitrile stretching frequencies were used to develop a relationship for separating hydrogen-bonding and non-hydrogen-bonding electric field effects. This relationship provides an excellent description for the stable Cytc variants in solution. For the proteins bound to Au electrodes coated with charged self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), the underlying MD simulations can only account for the electric field changes Δ Eads due to the formation of the electrostatic SAM-Cytc complexes but not for the additional contribution, Δ Eint, representing the consequences of the potential drops over the electrode/SAM/protein interfaces. Both Δ Eads and Δ Eint, determined at distances between 20 and 30 Å with respect to the SAM surface, are comparable in magnitude to the non-hydrogen-bonding electric field in the unbound protein. This long-range modulation of the internal electric field may be of functional relevance for proteins in complexes with partner proteins (Δ Eads) and attached to membranes (Δ Eads + Δ Eint).
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Affiliation(s)
- Hernan Biava
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. L1, Müller-Breslau-Straße 10 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Toni Schreiber
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Sagie Katz
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Jan-Stefan Völler
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. L1, Müller-Breslau-Straße 10 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Michael Stolarski
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Claudia Schulz
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Norbert Michael
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Nediljko Budisa
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. L1, Müller-Breslau-Straße 10 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Jacek Kozuch
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Tillmann Utesch
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
| | - Peter Hildebrandt
- Institut für Chemie , Technische Universität Berlin , Sekr. PC14, Straße des 17. Juni 135 , D-10623 Berlin , Germany
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21
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Zhang J, Wang L, Zhang J, Zhu J, Pan X, Cui Z, Wang J, Fang W, Li Y. Identifying and Modulating Accidental Fermi Resonance: 2D IR and DFT Study of 4-Azido-l-phenylalanine. J Phys Chem B 2018; 122:8122-8133. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b03887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jia Zhang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
| | - Li Wang
- Laboratory of RNA Biology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jin Zhang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jiangrui Zhu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xin Pan
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
- College of Physics and Electric Information, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhifeng Cui
- College of Physics and Electric Information, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jiangyun Wang
- Laboratory of RNA Biology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
| | - Weihai Fang
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yunliang Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
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22
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First JT, Slocum JD, Webb LJ. Quantifying the Effects of Hydrogen Bonding on Nitrile Frequencies in GFP: Beyond Solvent Exposure. J Phys Chem B 2018; 122:6733-6743. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b03907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy T. First
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105E 24th Street, STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Joshua D. Slocum
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105E 24th Street, STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department of Chemistry, Texas Materials Institute, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105E 24th Street, STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
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23
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Dalton SR, Vienneau AR, Burstein SR, Xu RJ, Linse S, Londergan CH. Cyanylated Cysteine Reports Site-Specific Changes at Protein-Protein-Binding Interfaces Without Perturbation. Biochemistry 2018; 57:3702-3712. [PMID: 29787228 PMCID: PMC6034165 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.8b00283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
![]()
To investigate the
cyanylated cysteine vibrational probe group’s
ability to report on binding-induced changes along a protein–protein
interface, the probe group was incorporated at several sites in a
peptide of the calmodulin (CaM)-binding domain of skeletal muscle
myosin light chain kinase. Isothermal titration calorimetry was used
to determine the binding thermodynamics between calmodulin and each
peptide. For all probe positions, the binding affinity was nearly
identical to that of the unlabeled peptide. The CN stretching infrared
band was collected for each peptide free in solution and bound to
calmodulin. Binding-induced shifts in the IR spectral frequencies
were correlated with estimated solvent accessibility based on molecular
dynamics simulations. This work generally suggests (1) that site-specific
incorporation of this vibrational probe group does not cause major
perturbations to its local structural environment and (2) that this
small probe group might be used quite broadly to map dynamic protein-binding
interfaces. However, site-specific perturbations due to artificial
labeling groups can be somewhat unpredictable and should be evaluated
on a site-by-site basis through complementary measurements. A fully
quantitative, simulation-based interpretation of the rich probe IR
spectra is still needed but appears to be possible given recent advances
in simulation techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon R Dalton
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , 370 Lancaster Ave , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041-1392 , United States
| | - Alice R Vienneau
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , 370 Lancaster Ave , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041-1392 , United States
| | - Shana R Burstein
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , 370 Lancaster Ave , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041-1392 , United States
| | - Rosalind J Xu
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , 370 Lancaster Ave , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041-1392 , United States
| | - Sara Linse
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , Lund University , Kemicentrum, Box 118 , 221 00 Lund , Sweden
| | - Casey H Londergan
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , 370 Lancaster Ave , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041-1392 , United States
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24
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Xu RJ, Blasiak B, Cho M, Layfield JP, Londergan CH. A Direct, Quantitative Connection between Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Vibrational Probe Line Shapes. J Phys Chem Lett 2018; 9:2560-2567. [PMID: 29697984 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b00969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
A quantitative connection between molecular dynamics simulations and vibrational spectroscopy of probe-labeled systems would enable direct translation of experimental data into structural and dynamical information. To constitute this connection, all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed for two SCN probe sites (solvent-exposed and buried) in a calmodulin-target peptide complex. Two frequency calculation approaches with substantial nonelectrostatic components, a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM)-based technique and a solvatochromic fragment potential (SolEFP) approach, were used to simulate the infrared probe line shapes. While QM/MM results disagreed with experiment, SolEFP results matched experimental frequencies and line shapes and revealed the physical and dynamic bases for the observed spectroscopic behavior. The main determinant of the CN probe frequency is the exchange repulsion between the probe and its local structural neighbors, and there is a clear dynamic explanation for the relatively broad probe line shape observed at the "buried" probe site. This methodology should be widely applicable to vibrational probes in many environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosalind J Xu
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania , United States
| | - Bartosz Blasiak
- Department of Physical and Quantum Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry , Wrocław University of Science and Technology , Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27 , 50-370 Wrocław , Poland
| | - Minhaeng Cho
- Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics , Institute for Basic Science (IBS) , Seoul 02841 , Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry , Korea University , Seoul 02841 , Republic of Korea
| | - Joshua P Layfield
- Department of Chemistry , St. Thomas University , Minneapolis , Minnesota , United States
| | - Casey H Londergan
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania , United States
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25
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Bag SS, De S. Multipurpose isothiocyanyl alanine/lysine: Use as solvatochromic IR probes and in site specific labeling/ligation of short peptides. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2018; 28:1404-1409. [PMID: 29555154 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2018.02.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2017] [Revised: 01/27/2018] [Accepted: 02/10/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The solvatochromic IR responsivity of small side chain -NCS in two unexplored unnatural amino acids, isothiocyanyl alanine (NCSAla = Ita) and lysine (NCSLys = Itl), without perturbing the conformation is demonstrated in two designed short tripeptide (BocAla-NCSAla-Ala-OMe) and hexapeptide (BocLeu-Val-Phe-Phe-NCSLys-Gly-OMe). Demonstration of site specific fluorescent labeling in both the peptides and ligation type reaction in NCSLys indicates the novelty of these two amino acids as alternative to the available canonical amino acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Subhendu Sekhar Bag
- Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India.
| | - Suranjan De
- Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India
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26
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Slocum JD, Webb LJ. Measuring Electric Fields in Biological Matter Using the Vibrational Stark Effect of Nitrile Probes. Annu Rev Phys Chem 2018; 69:253-271. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-physchem-052516-045011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua D. Slocum
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, USA
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, USA
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27
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Kelly KL, Dalton SR, Wai RB, Ramchandani K, Xu RJ, Linse S, Londergan CH. Conformational Ensembles of Calmodulin Revealed by Nonperturbing Site-Specific Vibrational Probe Groups. J Phys Chem A 2018; 122:2947-2955. [PMID: 29400461 PMCID: PMC5867645 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.8b00475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Seven native residues on the regulatory
protein calmodulin, including
three key methionine residues, were replaced (one by one) by the vibrational
probe amino acid cyanylated cysteine, which has a unique CN stretching
vibration that reports on its local environment. Almost no perturbation
was caused by this probe at any of the seven sites, as reported by
CD spectra of calcium-bound and apo calmodulin and
binding thermodynamics for the formation of a complex between calmodulin
and a canonical target peptide from skeletal muscle myosin light chain
kinase measured by isothermal titration. The surprising lack of perturbation
suggests that this probe group could be applied directly in many protein–protein
binding interfaces. The infrared absorption bands for the probe groups
reported many dramatic changes in the probes’ local environments
as CaM went from apo- to calcium-saturated to target
peptide-bound conditions, including large frequency shifts and a variety
of line shapes from narrow (interpreted as a rigid and invariant local
environment) to symmetric to broad and asymmetric (likely from multiple
coexisting and dynamically exchanging structures). The fast intrinsic
time scale of infrared spectroscopy means that the line shapes report
directly on site-specific details of calmodulin’s variable
structural distribution. Though quantitative interpretation of the
probe line shapes depends on a direct connection between simulated
ensembles and experimental data that does not yet exist, formation
of such a connection to data such as that reported here would provide
a new way to evaluate conformational ensembles from data that directly
contains the structural distribution. The calmodulin probe sites developed
here will also be useful in evaluating the binding mode of calmodulin
with many uncharacterized regulatory targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen L Kelly
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041 , United States
| | - Shannon R Dalton
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041 , United States
| | - Rebecca B Wai
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041 , United States
| | - Kanika Ramchandani
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041 , United States
| | - Rosalind J Xu
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041 , United States
| | - Sara Linse
- Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology , Lund University , 221 00 Lund , Sweden
| | - Casey H Londergan
- Department of Chemistry , Haverford College , Haverford , Pennsylvania 19041 , United States
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28
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Slocum JD, First JT, Webb LJ. Orthogonal Electric Field Measurements near the Green Fluorescent Protein Fluorophore through Stark Effect Spectroscopy and pKa Shifts Provide a Unique Benchmark for Electrostatics Models. J Phys Chem B 2017. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b03935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua D. Slocum
- Department of Chemistry,
Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute
for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105
E 24th St. STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Jeremy T. First
- Department of Chemistry,
Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute
for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105
E 24th St. STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department of Chemistry,
Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute
for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105
E 24th St. STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
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29
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Abstract
What happens inside an enzyme's active site to allow slow and difficult chemical reactions to occur so rapidly? This question has occupied biochemists' attention for a long time. Computer models of increasing sophistication have predicted an important role for electrostatic interactions in enzymatic reactions, yet this hypothesis has proved vexingly difficult to test experimentally. Recent experiments utilizing the vibrational Stark effect make it possible to measure the electric field a substrate molecule experiences when bound inside its enzyme's active site. These experiments have provided compelling evidence supporting a major electrostatic contribution to enzymatic catalysis. Here, we review these results and develop a simple model for electrostatic catalysis that enables us to incorporate disparate concepts introduced by many investigators to describe how enzymes work into a more unified framework stressing the importance of electric fields at the active site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen D Fried
- Proteins and Nucleic Acid Chemistry Division, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom;
| | - Steven G Boxer
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305;
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30
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Le Sueur AL, Ramos S, Ellefsen JD, Cook S, Thielges MC. Evaluation of p-(13C,15N-Cyano)phenylalanine as an Extended Time Scale 2D IR Probe of Proteins. Anal Chem 2017; 89:5254-5260. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Amanda L. Le Sueur
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
| | - Sashary Ramos
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
| | - Jonathan D. Ellefsen
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
| | - Silas Cook
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
| | - Megan C. Thielges
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
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31
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Ramos S, Scott KJ, Horness RE, Le Sueur AL, Thielges MC. Extended timescale 2D IR probes of proteins: p-cyanoselenophenylalanine. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2017; 19:10081-10086. [PMID: 28367555 PMCID: PMC6252261 DOI: 10.1039/c7cp00403f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The importance of dynamics to the function of proteins is well appreciated, but the difficulty in their measurement impedes investigation into their precise role(s). 2D IR spectroscopy is a developing approach for the study of dynamics and has motivated efforts to develop spectrally resolved IR probe groups that enable its application for measuring the dynamics at specific sites in a protein. A challenge with this approach is that the timescales accessible are limited by the vibrational lifetimes of the probes. Toward development of better probes for 2D IR spectroscopy of protein dynamics, we report the characterization of p-cyano-seleno-phenylalanine (CNSePhe), a derivative of the well established IR probe p-cyano-phenylalanine (CNPhe), by FT IR, pump-probe, and 2D IR spectroscopy. The incorporation of the heavy Se atom decouples the CN vibration from the rest in the molecule. Although this leads to a reduction of the transition dipole strength, and thus a reduction in signal intensity, it also dramatically increases the vibrational lifetime, enabling collection of 2D IR spectra for analysis of molecular dynamics on much longer timescales. Interestingly, we also find that the lifetime for CNSePhe shows increased sensitivity to the presence of hydrogen bonding interactions with the CN, suggesting that the probe should be useful for interpretation of CN spectra and possibly for the study of solvation.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Ramos
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA.
| | - K. J. Scott
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA.
| | - R. E. Horness
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA.
| | - A. L. Le Sueur
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA.
| | - M. C. Thielges
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA.
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32
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Ruhland K, Haase N, Fischer A. Detailed examination of nitrile stretching vibrations relevant for understanding the behavior of thermally treated polyacrylonitrile. J Appl Polym Sci 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/app.44936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Klaus Ruhland
- Materials Resource Management Institute; University of Augsburg; Universitätsstrasse 1 D-86159 Augsburg Germany
| | - Nino Haase
- Materials Resource Management Institute; University of Augsburg; Universitätsstrasse 1 D-86159 Augsburg Germany
| | - Andreas Fischer
- Chemische Physik und Materialwissenschaften; University of Augsburg; Universitätsstrasse 1 D-86159 Augsburg Germany
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33
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Sorenson SA, Patrow JG, Dawlaty JM. Solvation Reaction Field at the Interface Measured by Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy. J Am Chem Soc 2017; 139:2369-2378. [DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b11940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shayne A. Sorenson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Joel G. Patrow
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Jahan M. Dawlaty
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
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34
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Adhikary R, Zimmermann J, Romesberg FE. Transparent Window Vibrational Probes for the Characterization of Proteins With High Structural and Temporal Resolution. Chem Rev 2017; 117:1927-1969. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ramkrishna Adhikary
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Jörg Zimmermann
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Floyd E. Romesberg
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
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35
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Ahmed IA, Gai F. Simple method to introduce an ester infrared probe into proteins. Protein Sci 2017; 26:375-381. [PMID: 27813296 DOI: 10.1002/pro.3076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2016] [Revised: 10/25/2016] [Accepted: 10/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The ester carbonyl stretching vibration has recently been shown to be a sensitive and convenient infrared (IR) probe of protein electrostatics due to the linear dependence of its frequency on local electric field. While an ester moiety can be easily incorporated into peptides via solid-phase synthesis, currently there is no method available to site-specifically incorporate it into a large protein. Herein, we show that it is possible to use a cysteine alkylation reaction to achieve this goal and demonstrate the feasibility of this simple method by successfully incorporating a methyl ester group (CH2 COOCH3 ) into a model peptide (YGGCGG), two amyloid-forming peptides derived from the insulin B chain and Aβ, and bovine serum albumin (BSA). IR results obtained with those peptide and protein systems further confirm the utility of this vibrational probe in monitoring, for example, the structural integrity of amyloid fibrils and ligand binding-induced changes in protein local hydration status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ismail A Ahmed
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104
| | - Feng Gai
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104
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36
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DiMaio JTM, Raymond DM, Nilsson BL. Display of functional proteins on supramolecular peptide nanofibrils using a split-protein strategy. Org Biomol Chem 2017. [DOI: 10.1039/c7ob01057e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The display of functional proteins on self-assembled peptide nanofibrils is accomplished by noncovalent attachment using a split-protein strategy.
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37
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Garrett BF, Azuri I, Kronik L, Chelikowsky JR. Real-space pseudopotential method for computing the vibrational Stark effect. J Chem Phys 2016; 145:174111. [DOI: 10.1063/1.4965918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin F. Garrett
- Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
| | - Ido Azuri
- Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth 76100, Israel
| | - Leeor Kronik
- Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth 76100, Israel
| | - James R. Chelikowsky
- Center for Computational Materials, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Departments of Physics and Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
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38
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Wang X, Zhang JZH, He X. Quantum mechanical calculation of electric fields and vibrational Stark shifts at active site of human aldose reductase. J Chem Phys 2016; 143:184111. [PMID: 26567650 DOI: 10.1063/1.4935176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent advance in biophysics has made it possible to directly measure site-specific electric field at internal sites of proteins using molecular probes with C = O or C≡N groups in the context of vibrational Stark effect. These measurements directly probe changes of electric field at specific protein sites due to, e.g., mutation and are very useful in protein design. Computational simulation of the Stark effect based on force fields such as AMBER and OPLS, while providing good insight, shows large errors in comparison to experimental measurement due to inherent difficulties associated with point charge based representation of force fields. In this study, quantum mechanical calculation of protein's internal electrostatic properties and vibrational Stark shifts was carried out by using electrostatically embedded generalized molecular fractionation with conjugate caps method. Quantum calculated change of mutation-induced electric field and vibrational Stark shift is reported at the internal probing site of enzyme human aldose reductase. The quantum result is in much better agreement with experimental data than those predicted by force fields, underscoring the deficiency of traditional point charge models describing intra-protein electrostatic properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianwei Wang
- Center for Optics and Optoelectronics Research, College of Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310023, China
| | - John Z H Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xiao He
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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39
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Slocum JD, Webb LJ. Nitrile Probes of Electric Field Agree with Independently Measured Fields in Green Fluorescent Protein Even in the Presence of Hydrogen Bonding. J Am Chem Soc 2016; 138:6561-70. [DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b02156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua D. Slocum
- Department
of Chemistry,
Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute
for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105
E 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department
of Chemistry,
Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute
for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 105
E 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
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40
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Deb P, Haldar T, Kashid SM, Banerjee S, Chakrabarty S, Bagchi S. Correlating Nitrile IR Frequencies to Local Electrostatics Quantifies Noncovalent Interactions of Peptides and Proteins. J Phys Chem B 2016; 120:4034-46. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b02732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pranab Deb
- Physical and Materials Chemistry
Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, India
| | - Tapas Haldar
- Physical and Materials Chemistry
Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, India
| | - Somnath M Kashid
- Physical and Materials Chemistry
Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, India
| | - Subhrashis Banerjee
- Physical and Materials Chemistry
Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, India
| | - Suman Chakrabarty
- Physical and Materials Chemistry
Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, India
| | - Sayan Bagchi
- Physical and Materials Chemistry
Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, India
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41
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Dippel AB, Olenginski GM, Maurici N, Liskov MT, Brewer SH, Phillips-Piro CM. Probing the effectiveness of spectroscopic reporter unnatural amino acids: a structural study. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2016; 72:121-30. [PMID: 26894540 PMCID: PMC4756619 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798315022858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2015] [Accepted: 11/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The X-ray crystal structures of superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) containing the spectroscopic reporter unnatural amino acids (UAAs) 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNF) or 4-ethynyl-L-phenylalanine (pCCF) at two unique sites in the protein have been determined. These UAAs were genetically incorporated into sfGFP in a solvent-exposed loop region and/or a partially buried site on the β-barrel of the protein. The crystal structures containing the UAAs at these two sites permit the structural implications of UAA incorporation for the native protein structure to be assessed with high resolution and permit a direct correlation between the structure and spectroscopic data to be made. The structural implications were quantified by comparing the root-mean-square deviation (r.m.s.d.) between the crystal structure of wild-type sfGFP and the protein constructs containing either pCNF or pCCF in the local environment around the UAAs and in the overall protein structure. The results suggest that the selective placement of these spectroscopic reporter UAAs permits local protein environments to be studied in a relatively nonperturbative fashion with site-specificity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew B. Dippel
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA
| | - Gregory M. Olenginski
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA
| | - Nicole Maurici
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA
| | - Melanie T. Liskov
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA
| | - Scott H. Brewer
- Department of Chemistry, Franklin and Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA
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42
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Błasiak B, Ritchie AW, Webb LJ, Cho M. Vibrational solvatochromism of nitrile infrared probes: beyond the vibrational Stark dipole approach. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2016; 18:18094-111. [DOI: 10.1039/c6cp01578f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Systematic probing of local environments around biopolymers is important for understanding their functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bartosz Błasiak
- Center of Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics
- Institute of Basic Science (IBS)
- Seoul 02841
- Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry
| | - Andrew W. Ritchie
- Department of Chemistry
- Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Austin
- USA
| | - Lauren J. Webb
- Department of Chemistry
- Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Austin
- USA
| | - Minhaeng Cho
- Center of Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics
- Institute of Basic Science (IBS)
- Seoul 02841
- Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry
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43
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Tookmanian EM, Phillips-Piro CM, Fenlon EE, Brewer SH. Azidoethoxyphenylalanine as a Vibrational Reporter and Click Chemistry Partner in Proteins. Chemistry 2015; 21:19096-103. [PMID: 26608683 PMCID: PMC4815431 DOI: 10.1002/chem.201503908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
An unnatural amino acid, 4-(2-azidoethoxy)-L-phenylalanine (AePhe, 1), was designed and synthesized in three steps from known compounds in 54% overall yield. The sensitivity of the IR absorption of the azide of AePhe was established by comparison of the frequency of the azide asymmetric stretch vibration in water and dimethyl sulfoxide. AePhe was successfully incorporated into superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) at the 133 and 149 sites by using the amber codon suppression method. The IR spectra of these sfGFP constructs indicated that the azide group at the 149 site was not fully solvated despite the location in sfGFP and the three-atom linker between the azido group and the aromatic ring of AePhe. An X-ray crystal structure of sfGFP-149-AePhe was solved at 1.45 Å resolution and provides an explanation for the IR data as the flexible linker adopts a conformation which partially buries the azide on the protein surface. Both sfGFP-AePhe constructs efficiently undergo a bioorthogonal strain-promoted click cycloaddition with a dibenzocyclooctyne derivative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elise M Tookmanian
- Department of Chemistry Franklin & Marshall College, P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604 (USA)
| | | | - Edward E Fenlon
- Department of Chemistry Franklin & Marshall College, P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604 (USA).
| | - Scott H Brewer
- Department of Chemistry Franklin & Marshall College, P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604 (USA).
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44
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Adhikary R, Zimmermann J, Dawson PE, Romesberg FE. Temperature Dependence of CN and SCN IR Absorptions Facilitates Their Interpretation and Use as Probes of Proteins. Anal Chem 2015; 87:11561-7. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b03437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ramkrishna Adhikary
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North
Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Jörg Zimmermann
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North
Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Philip E. Dawson
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North
Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Floyd E. Romesberg
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North
Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
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45
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Ritchie AW, Webb LJ. Understanding and Manipulating Electrostatic Fields at the Protein-Protein Interface Using Vibrational Spectroscopy and Continuum Electrostatics Calculations. J Phys Chem B 2015; 119:13945-57. [PMID: 26375183 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b06888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Biological function emerges in large part from the interactions of biomacromolecules in the complex and dynamic environment of the living cell. For this reason, macromolecular interactions in biological systems are now a major focus of interest throughout the biochemical and biophysical communities. The affinity and specificity of macromolecular interactions are the result of both structural and electrostatic factors. Significant advances have been made in characterizing structural features of stable protein-protein interfaces through the techniques of modern structural biology, but much less is understood about how electrostatic factors promote and stabilize specific functional macromolecular interactions over all possible choices presented to a given molecule in a crowded environment. In this Feature Article, we describe how vibrational Stark effect (VSE) spectroscopy is being applied to measure electrostatic fields at protein-protein interfaces, focusing on measurements of guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins of the Ras superfamily binding with structurally related but functionally distinct downstream effector proteins. In VSE spectroscopy, spectral shifts of a probe oscillator's energy are related directly to that probe's local electrostatic environment. By performing this experiment repeatedly throughout a protein-protein interface, an experimental map of measured electrostatic fields generated at that interface is determined. These data can be used to rationalize selective binding of similarly structured proteins in both in vitro and in vivo environments. Furthermore, these data can be used to compare to computational predictions of electrostatic fields to explore the level of simulation detail that is necessary to accurately predict our experimental findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Ritchie
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin , 105 East 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Lauren J Webb
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin , 105 East 24th Street STOP A5300, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
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46
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Fried SD, Boxer SG. Measuring electric fields and noncovalent interactions using the vibrational stark effect. Acc Chem Res 2015; 48:998-1006. [PMID: 25799082 DOI: 10.1021/ar500464j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 318] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Over the past decade, we have developed a spectroscopic approach to measure electric fields inside matter with high spatial (<1 Å) and field (<1 MV/cm) resolution. The approach hinges on exploiting a physical phenomenon known as the vibrational Stark effect (VSE), which ultimately provides a direct mapping between observed vibrational frequencies and electric fields. Therefore, the frequency of a vibrational probe encodes information about the local electric field in the vicinity around the probe. The VSE method has enabled us to understand in great detail the underlying physical nature of several important biomolecular phenomena, such as drug-receptor selectivity in tyrosine kinases, catalysis by the enzyme ketosteroid isomerase, and unidirectional electron transfer in the photosynthetic reaction center. Beyond these specific examples, the VSE has provided a conceptual foundation for how to model intermolecular (noncovalent) interactions in a quantitative, consistent, and general manner. The starting point for research in this area is to choose (or design) a vibrational probe to interrogate the particular system of interest. Vibrational probes are sometimes intrinsic to the system in question, but we have also devised ways to build them into the system (extrinsic probes), often with minimal perturbation. With modern instruments, vibrational frequencies can increasingly be recorded with very high spatial, temporal, and frequency resolution, affording electric field maps correspondingly resolved in space, time, and field magnitude. In this Account, we set out to explain the VSE in broad strokes to make its relevance accessible to chemists of all specialties. Our intention is not to provide an encyclopedic review of published work but rather to motivate the underlying framework of the methodology and to describe how we make and interpret the measurements. Using certain vibrational probes, benchmarked against computer models, it is possible to use the VSE to measure absolute electric fields in arbitrary environments. The VSE approach provides an organizing framework for thinking generally about intermolecular interactions in a quantitative way and may serve as a useful conceptual tool for molecular design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen D. Fried
- Department
of Chemistry; Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5080, United States
| | - Steven G. Boxer
- Department
of Chemistry; Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5080, United States
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47
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Shrestha R, Cardenas AE, Elber R, Webb LJ. Measurement of the membrane dipole electric field in DMPC vesicles using vibrational shifts of p-cyanophenylalanine and molecular dynamics simulations. J Phys Chem B 2015; 119:2869-76. [PMID: 25602635 DOI: 10.1021/jp511677j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The magnitude of the membrane dipole field was measured using vibrational Stark effect (VSE) shifts of nitrile oscillators placed on the unnatural amino acid p-cyanophenylalanine (p-CN-Phe) added to a peptide sequence at four unique positions. These peptides, which were based on a repeating alanine-leucine motif, intercalated into small unilamellar DMPC vesicles which formed an α-helix as confirmed by circular dichroic (CD) spectroscopy. Molecular dynamics simulations of the membrane-intercalated helix containing two of the nitrile probes, one near the headgroup region of the lipid (αLAX(25)) and one buried in the interior of the bilayer (αLAX(16)), were used to examine the structure of the nitrile with respect to the membrane normal, the assumed direction of the dipole field, by quantifying both a small tilt of the helix in the bilayer and conformational rotation of the p-CN-Phe side chain at steady state. Vibrational absorption energies of the nitrile oscillator at each position showed a systematic blue shift as the nitrile was stepped toward the membrane interior; for several different concentrations of peptide, the absorption energy of the nitrile located in the middle of the bilayer was ∼3 cm(-1) greater than that of the nitrile closest to the surface of the membrane. Taken together, the measured VSE shifts and nitrile orientations within the membrane resulted in an absolute magnitude of 8-11 MV/cm for the dipole field, at the high end of the range of possible values that have been accumulated from a variety of indirect measurements. Implications for this are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebika Shrestha
- Department of Chemistry, ‡Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, §Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, and ∥Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States
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48
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Abstract
Infrared spectroscopy has played an instrumental role in the study of a wide variety of biological questions. However, in many cases, it is impossible or difficult to rely on the intrinsic vibrational modes of biological molecules of interest, such as proteins, to reveal structural and environmental information in a site-specific manner. To overcome this limitation, investigators have dedicated many recent efforts to the development and application of various extrinsic vibrational probes that can be incorporated into biological molecules and used to site-specifically interrogate their structural or environmental properties. In this review, we highlight recent advancements in this rapidly growing research area.
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49
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Horness RE, Basom EJ, Thielges MC. Site-selective Characterization of Src Homology 3 Domain Molecular Recognition with Cyanophenylalanine Infrared Probes. ANALYTICAL METHODS : ADVANCING METHODS AND APPLICATIONS 2015; 7:7234-7241. [PMID: 26491469 PMCID: PMC4609639 DOI: 10.1039/c5ay00523j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Local heterogeneity of microenvironments in proteins is important in biological function, but difficult to characterize experimentally. One approach is the combination of infrared (IR) spectroscopy and site-selective incorporation of probe moieties with spectrally resolved IR absorptions that enable characterization within inherently congested protein IR spectra. We employed this method to study molecular recognition of a Src homology 3 (SH3) domain from the yeast protein Sho1 for a peptide containing the proline-rich recognition sequence of its physiological binding partner Pbs2. Nitrile IR probes were introduced at four distinct sites in the protein by selective incorporation of p-cyanophenylalanine via the amber codon suppressor method and characterized by IR spectroscopy. Variation among the IR absorption bands reports on heterogeneity in local residue environments dictated by the protein structure, as well as on residue-dependent changes upon peptide binding. The study informs on the molecular recognition of SH3 Sho1 and illustrates the speed and simplicity of this approach for characterization of select microenvironments within proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Edward J. Basom
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
| | - Megan C. Thielges
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
- Corresponding authors,
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Calero G, Cohen AE, Luft JR, Newman J, Snell EH. Identifying, studying and making good use of macromolecular crystals. ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F-STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS 2014; 70:993-1008. [PMID: 25084371 PMCID: PMC4118793 DOI: 10.1107/s2053230x14016574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2014] [Accepted: 07/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
As technology advances, the crystal volume that can be used to collect useful X-ray diffraction data decreases. The technologies available to detect and study growing crystals beyond the optical resolution limit and methods to successfully place the crystal into the X-ray beam are discussed. Structural biology has contributed tremendous knowledge to the understanding of life on the molecular scale. The Protein Data Bank, a depository of this structural knowledge, currently contains over 100 000 protein structures, with the majority stemming from X-ray crystallography. As the name might suggest, crystallography requires crystals. As detectors become more sensitive and X-ray sources more intense, the notion of a crystal is gradually changing from one large enough to embellish expensive jewellery to objects that have external dimensions of the order of the wavelength of visible light. Identifying these crystals is a prerequisite to their study. This paper discusses developments in identifying these crystals during crystallization screening and distinguishing them from other potential outcomes. The practical aspects of ensuring that once a crystal is identified it can then be positioned in the X-ray beam for data collection are also addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Calero
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Aina E Cohen
- Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Joseph R Luft
- Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
| | - Janet Newman
- CSIRO Collaborative Crystallisation Centre, 343 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Edward H Snell
- Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
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