1
|
Vacek J, Zatloukalová M, Dorčák V, Cifra M, Futera Z, Ostatná V. Electrochemistry in sensing of molecular interactions of proteins and their behavior in an electric field. Mikrochim Acta 2023; 190:442. [PMID: 37847341 PMCID: PMC10582152 DOI: 10.1007/s00604-023-05999-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Electrochemical methods can be used not only for the sensitive analysis of proteins but also for deeper research into their structure, transport functions (transfer of electrons and protons), and sensing their interactions with soft and solid surfaces. Last but not least, electrochemical tools are useful for investigating the effect of an electric field on protein structure, the direct application of electrochemical methods for controlling protein function, or the micromanipulation of supramolecular protein structures. There are many experimental arrangements (modalities), from the classic configuration that works with an electrochemical cell to miniaturized electrochemical sensors and microchip platforms. The support of computational chemistry methods which appropriately complement the interpretation framework of experimental results is also important. This text describes recent directions in electrochemical methods for the determination of proteins and briefly summarizes available methodologies for the selective labeling of proteins using redox-active probes. Attention is also paid to the theoretical aspects of electron transport and the effect of an external electric field on the structure of selected proteins. Instead of providing a comprehensive overview, we aim to highlight areas of interest that have not been summarized recently, but, at the same time, represent current trends in the field.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jan Vacek
- Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Hnevotinska 3, 77515, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - Martina Zatloukalová
- Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Hnevotinska 3, 77515, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Vlastimil Dorčák
- Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, Hnevotinska 3, 77515, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Michal Cifra
- Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Chaberska 1014/57, 18200, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Zdeněk Futera
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 1760, 37005, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Veronika Ostatná
- Institute of Biophysics, The Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i., Kralovopolska 135, 61200, Brno, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Vargas-Rosales P, D’Addio A, Zhang Y, Caflisch A. Disrupting Dimeric β-Amyloid by Electric Fields. ACS PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AU 2023; 3:456-466. [PMID: 37780539 PMCID: PMC10540290 DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.3c00021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
The early oligomers of the amyloid Aβ peptide are implicated in Alzheimer's disease, but their transient nature complicates the characterization of their structure and toxicity. Here, we investigate the stability of the minimal toxic species, i.e., β-amyloid dimers, in the presence of an oscillating electric field. We first use deep learning (AlphaFold-multimer) for generating initial models of Aβ42 dimers. The flexibility and secondary structure content of the models are then analyzed by multiple runs of molecular dynamics (MD). Structurally stable models are similar to ensemble representatives from microsecond-long MD sampling. Finally, we employ the validated model as the starting structure of MD simulations in the presence of an external oscillating electric field and observe a fast decay of β-sheet content at high field strengths. Control simulations using the helical dimer of the 42-residue leucine zipper peptide show higher structural stability than the Aβ42 dimer. The simulation results provide evidence that an external electric field (oscillating at 1 GHz) can disrupt amyloid oligomers which should be further investigated by experiments with brain organoids in vitro and eventually in vivo.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Alessio D’Addio
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Amedeo Caflisch
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Zhao L, Zhang T, Luo Y, Li L, Cheng R, Shi Z, Wang G, Ren T. Effects of temperature and microwave on the stability of the blast effector complex APikL2A/sHMA25 as determined by molecular dynamics analyses. J Mol Model 2023; 29:134. [PMID: 37041399 DOI: 10.1007/s00894-023-05550-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2023]
Abstract
Magnaporthe oryzae is the causal agent of rice blast, and understanding how abiotic stress affects the resistance of plants to this disease is useful for designing disease control strategies. In this paper, the effects of temperature and microwave irradiation on the effector complex comprising APikL2A from M. oryzae and sHMA25 from foxtail millet were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations using the GROMACS software package. While the structure of APikL2A/sHMA25 remained relatively stable in a temperature range of 290 K (16.85 °C) to 320 K (46.85 °C), the concave shape of the temperature-dependent binding free energy curve indicated that there was maximum binding affinity between APikL2A and sHMA25 at 300 K-310 K. This coincided with the optimum infectivity temperature, thus suggesting that coupling of the two polypeptides may play a role in the infection process. A strong oscillating electric field destroyed the structure of APikL2A/sHMA25, although it was stable and not susceptible to weak electric fields.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ling Zhao
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Ting Zhang
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yanjie Luo
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Lin Li
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Ruhong Cheng
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Zhigang Shi
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Genping Wang
- Institute of Millet Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Utilization for Featured Coarse Cereals (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Afairs/National Foxtail Millet Improvement Center/Key Laboratory of Minor Cereal Crops of Hebei Province, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 050035, Shijiazhuang, China.
| | - Tiancong Ren
- School of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Shijiazhuang University, Shijiazhuang, 050035, China.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Jiao X, Chen W, Fan D. Behind the Veil: A multidisciplinary discussion on protein–microwave interactions. Curr Opin Food Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cofs.2022.100936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
5
|
Kuang Z, Luginsland J, Thomas RJ, Dennis PB, Kelley-Loughnane N, Roach WP, Naik RR. Molecular dynamics simulations explore effects of electric field orientations on spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virions. Sci Rep 2022; 12:12986. [PMID: 35906467 PMCID: PMC9334739 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17009-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its current worldwide spread have caused a pandemic of acute respiratory disease COVID-19. The virus can result in mild to severe, and even to fatal respiratory illness in humans, threatening human health and public safety. The spike (S) protein on the surface of viral membrane is responsible for viral entry into host cells. The discovery of methods to inactivate the entry of SARS-CoV-2 through disruption of the S protein binding to its cognate receptor on the host cell is an active research area. To explore other prevention strategies against the quick spread of the virus and its mutants, non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to explore the possibility of manipulating the structure–activity of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein by applying electric fields (EFs) in both the protein axial directions and in the direction perpendicular to the protein axis. We have found out the application of EFs perpendicular to the protein axis is most effective in denaturing the HR2 domain which plays critical role in viral-host membrane fusion. This finding suggests that varying irradiation angles may be an important consideration in developing EF based non-invasive technologies to inactivate the virus.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhifeng Kuang
- Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, WPAFB, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA.
| | - John Luginsland
- Work Performed With Confluent Sciences, LLC, Albuquerque, NM, 87111, USA
| | - Robert J Thomas
- 711th Human Performance Wing, Air Force Research Laboratory, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX, 78234, USA
| | - Patrick B Dennis
- Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, WPAFB, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA
| | - Nancy Kelley-Loughnane
- Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, WPAFB, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA
| | - William P Roach
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, VA, 22203, USA
| | - Rajesh R Naik
- 711Th Human Performance Wing, Air Force Research Laboratory, WPAFB, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA.
| |
Collapse
|