310-Helical Peptide Acting as a Dual Relay for Charge-Hopping Transfer in Proteins

Modulation of proton-coupled electron transfer reactions in lysine-containing alpha-helixes: alpha-helixes promoting long-range electron transfer

The proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction plays an important role in promoting many biological and chemical reactions. Usually, the rate of the PCET reaction increases with an increase in the electron transfer distance because long-range electron transfer requires more free energy barriers. Our density functional theory calculations here reveal that the mechanism of PCET occurring in lysine-containing alpha(α)-helixes changes with an increasing number of residues in the α-helical structure and the different conformations because of the modulation of the excess electron distribution by the α-helical structures. The rate constants of the corresponding PCET reactions are independent of or substantially shallower dependent on the electron transfer distances along α-helixes. This counter-intuitive behavior can be attributed to the fact that the formation of larger macro-cylindrical dipole moments in longer helixes can promote electron transfer along the α-helix with a low energy barrier. These findings may be useful to gain insights into long-range electron transfer in proteins and design α-helix-based electronics via the regulation of short-range proton transfer.

Dynamic relaying properties of a β-turn peptide in long-range electron transfer

The relay stations play a significant role in long-range charge hopping transfer in proteins. Although studies have clarified that many more protein structural motifs can function as relays in charge hopping transfers by acting as intermediate charge carriers, the relaying properties are still poorly understood. In this work, taking a β-turn oligopeptide as an example, we report a dynamic character of a relay with tunable relaying properties using the density functional theory calculations. Our main finding is that a β-turn peptide can serve as an effective electron relay in facilitating long-range electron migration and its relay properties is vibration-tunable. The vibration-induced structural transient distortions remarkably affect the lowest occupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy, vertical electron affinity and electron-binding mode of the β-turn oligopeptide and the singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) energy of the corresponding electron adduct and thus the relaying properties. Different vibration modes lead to different structural distortions and thus have different effects on the relaying properties and ability of the β-turn peptide. For the relaying properties, there approximately is a linear negative correlation of electron affinity with the LUMO energy of the β-turn or the SOMO energy of its electron adduct. Besides, such relaying properties also vary in the vibration evolution process, and the electron-binding modes may be tunable. As an important addition to the known static charge relaying properties occurring in various protein structural motifs, this work reports the dynamic electron-relaying characteristics of a β-turn oligopeptide with variable relaying properties governed by molecular vibrations which can be applied to different proteins in mediating long-range charge transfers. Clearly, this work reveals molecular vibration effects on the electron relaying properties of protein structural motifs and provides new insights into the dynamics of long-range charge transfers in proteins. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Peptide-based biosensors: From self-assembled interfaces to molecular probes in electrochemical assays

Redox-tagged peptides have emerged as functional materials with multiple applications in the area of sensing and biosensing applications due to their high stability, excellent redox properties and versatility of biomolecular interactions. They allow direct observation of molecular interactions in a wide range of affinity and enzymatic assays and act as electron mediators. Short helical peptides possess the ability to self-assemble in specific configurations with the possibility to develop in highly-ordered, stable 1D, 2D and 3D architectures in a hierarchical controlled manner. We provide here a brief overview of the electrochemical techniques available to study the electron transfer in peptide films with particular interest in developing biosensors with immobilized peptide motifs, for biological and clinical applications.

A controllable mechanistic transition of charge transfer in helical peptides: from hopping to superexchange

A controllable mechanistic transition of charge transfer in helical peptides is demonstrated as a direct result of side-bridge gating.

Excess electron reactivity in amino acid aqueous solution revealed by ab initio molecular dynamics simulation: anion-centered localization and anion-relayed electron transfer dissociation

Studies on the structure, states, and reactivity of excess electrons (EEs) in biological media are of great significance. Although there is information about EE interaction with desolvated biological molecules, solution effects are hardly explored. In this work, we present an ab initio molecular dynamics simulation study on the interaction and reactivity of an EE with glycine in solution. Our simulations reveal two striking results. Firstly, a pre-solvated EE partially localizes on the negatively charged -COO(-) group of the zwitterionic glycine and the remaining part delocalizes over solvent water molecules, forming an anion-centered quasi-localized structure, due to relative alignment of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels of potential sites for EE residence in the aqueous solution. Secondly, after a period of anion-centered localization of an EE, the zwitterionic glycine is induced to spontaneously fragment through the cleavage of the N-Cα bond, losing ammonia (deamination), and leaving a ˙CH2-COO(-) anion radical, in good agreement with experimental observations. Introduction of the same groups (-COO(-) or -NH3(+)) in the side chain (taking lysine and aspartic acid as examples) can affect EE localization, with the fragmentation of the backbone part of these amino acids dependent on the properties of the side chain groups. These findings provide insights into EE interaction mechanisms with the backbone parts of amino acids and low energy EE induced fragmentation of amino acids and even peptides and proteins.

Computational insights into the charge relaying properties of β-turn peptides in protein charge transfers

Density functional theory calculations suggest that β-turn peptide segments can act as a novel dual-relay elements to facilitate long-range charge hopping transport in proteins, with the N terminus relaying electron hopping transfer and the C terminus relaying hole hopping migration. The electron- or hole-binding ability of such a β-turn is subject to the conformations of oligopeptides and lengths of its linking strands. On the one hand, strand extension at the C-terminal end of a β-turn considerably enhances the electron-binding of the β-turn N terminus, due to its unique electropositivity in the macro-dipole, but does not enhance hole-forming of the β-turn C terminus because of competition from other sites within the β-strand. On the other hand, strand extension at the N terminal end of the β-turn greatly enhances hole-binding of the β-turn C terminus, due to its distinct electronegativity in the macro-dipole, but does not considerably enhance electron-binding ability of the N terminus because of the shared responsibility of other sites in the β-strand. Thus, in the β-hairpin structures, electron- or hole-binding abilities of both termini of the β-turn motif degenerate compared with those of the two hook structures, due to the decreased macro-dipole polarity caused by the extending the two terminal strands. In general, the high polarity of a macro-dipole always plays a principal role in determining charge-relay properties through modifying the components and energies of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals of the β-turn motif, whereas local dipoles with low polarity only play a cooperative assisting role. Further exploration is needed to identify other factors that influence relay properties in these protein motifs.