Measurement of the length of the a helical section of a peptide directly using atomic force microscopy

Ultrasensitive Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide Using Methylene Blue Grafted on Molecular Wires as Nanozyme with Catalase-like Activity

In this study, we present the development of an electrochemical sensor designed for ultrasensitive detection of endogenous H2O2. This sensor relies on signal amplification achieved through nanozyme activity exhibited by methylene blue (MB) grafted onto a peptide support. The sensor exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity, with a limit of detection of 18 nM and a linear detection range of 20-200 nM. Thus, we have validated the concept of the MB-peptide system, serving as both an electroactive label and a catalyst for H2O2 decomposition under electrochemical conditions. The implemented signal amplification system enables the rapid detection of H2O2, with an overall assay time of 1-2 min, a significant improvement compared to amperometric detection using surface-immobilized enzymes.

Contribution of Hydrophobic Interactions to Protein Mechanical Stability

The role of hydrophobic and polar interactions in providing thermodynamic stability to folded proteins has been intensively studied, but the relative contribution of these interactions to the mechanical stability is less explored. We used steered molecular dynamics simulations with constant-velocity pulling to generate force-extension curves of selected protein domains and monitor hydrophobic surface unravelling upon extension. Hydrophobic contribution was found to vary between one fifth and one third of the total force while the rest of the contribution is attributed primarily to hydrogen bonds. Moreover, hydrophobic force peaks were shifted towards larger protein extensions with respect to the force peaks attributed to hydrogen bonds. The higher importance of hydrogen bonds compared to hydrophobic interactions in providing mechanical resistance is in contrast with the relative importance of the hydrophobic interactions in providing thermodynamic stability of proteins. The different contributions of these interactions to the mechanical stability are explained by the steeper free energy dependence of hydrogen bonds compared to hydrophobic interactions on the relative positions of interacting atoms. Comparative analyses for several protein domains revealed that the variation of hydrophobic forces is modest, while the contribution of hydrogen bonds to the force peaks becomes increasingly important for mechanically resistant protein domains.

Environment-dependent single-chain mechanics of synthetic polymers and biomacromolecules by atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force spectroscopy and the implications for advanced polymer materials

"The Tao begets the One. One begets all things of the world." This quote from Tao Te Ching is still inspiring for scientists in chemistry and materials science: The "One" can refer to a single molecule. A macroscopic material is composed of numerous molecules. Although the relationship between the properties of the single molecule and macroscopic material is not well understood yet, it is expected that a deeper understanding of the single-chain mechanics of macromolecules will certainly facilitate the development of materials science. Atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force spectroscopy (AFM-SMFS) has been exploited extensively as a powerful tool to study the single-chain behaviors of macromolecules. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the emerging field of environment-dependent single-chain mechanics of synthetic polymers and biomacromolecules by means of AFM-SMFS. First, the single-chain inherent elasticities of several typical linear macromolecules are introduced, which are also confirmed by one of three polymer models with theoretical elasticities of the corresponding macromolecules obtained from quantum mechanical (QM) calculations. Then, the effects of the external environments on the single-chain mechanics of synthetic polymers and biomacromolecules are reviewed. Finally, the impacts of single-chain mechanics of macromolecules on the development of polymer science especially polymer materials are illustrated.

How strong are hydrogen bonds in the peptide model?

We provide a methodology based on the steered molecular dynamics simulations and dynamic force spectroscopy calculations to determine the kinetic and energetic characteristics of hydrogen bonds.

Direct measurement of interaction forces between a platinum dichloride complex and DNA molecules

The interaction forces between a platinum dichloride complex and DNA molecules have been studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The platinum dichloride complex, di-dimethylsulfoxide-dichloroplatinum (II) (Pt(DMSO)₂Cl₂), was immobilized on an AFM probe by coordinating the platinum to two amino groups to form a complex similar to Pt(en)Cl₂, which is structurally similar to cisplatin. The retraction forces were measured between the platinum complex and DNA molecules immobilized on mica plates using force curve measurements. The histogram of the retraction force for λ-DNA showed several peaks; the unit retraction force was estimated to be 130 pN for a pulling rate of 60 nm/s. The retraction forces were also measured separately for four single-base DNA oligomers (adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine). Retraction forces were frequently observed in the force curves for the DNA oligomers of guanine and adenine. For the guanine DNA oligomer, the most frequent retraction force was slightly lower than but very similar to the retraction force for λ-DNA. A higher retraction force was obtained for the adenine DNA oligomer than for the guanine oligomer. This result is consistent with a higher retraction activation energy of adenine with the Pt complex being than that of guanine because the kinetic rate constant for retraction correlates to exp(FΔx - ΔE) where ΔE is an activation energy, F is an applied force, and Δx is a displacement of distance.

Computational prediction of circular dichroism spectra and quantification of helicity loss upon peptide adsorption on silica

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is one of the few experimental techniques sensitive to the structural changes that peptides undergo when they adsorb on inorganic material surfaces, a problem of deep significance in medicine, biotechnology, and materials science. Although the theoretical calculation of the CD spectrum of a molecule in a given conformation can be routinely performed, the inverse problem of extracting atomistic structural details from a measured spectrum is not uniquely determined. Especially complicated is the case of oligopeptides, whose folding/unfolding energy landscapes are often very broad and shallow. This means that the CD spectra measured for either dissolved or adsorbed peptides arise from a multitude of different structures, each present with a probability dictated by their relative free-energy variations, according to Boltzmann statistics. Here we present a modeling method based on replica exchange with solute tempering in combination with metadynamics, which allows us to predict both the helicity loss of a small peptide upon interaction with silica colloids in water and to compute the full CD spectra of the adsorbed and dissolved states, in quantitative agreement with experimental measurements. In our method, the CD ellipticity Θ for any given wavelength λ is calculated as an external collective variable by means of reweighting the biased trajectory obtained using the peptide-SiO2 surface distance and the structural helicity as two independent, internal collective variables. Our results also provide support for the often-employed hypothesis that the Θ intensity at λ = 222 nm is linearly correlated with the peptides' fractional helicity.

Molecular calipers for highly precise and accurate measurements of single-protein mechanics

Single-molecule atomic force spectroscopy (AFM) has evolved into a powerful technique toward elucidating conformational changes in proteins when exposed to applied force. AFM technologies that are currently available allow for precise measurements of proteins length changes during conformational transitions. However, because of systematic errors in piezo calibration as well as errors originating from fitting experimental data using a worm-like chain model of polymer elasticity, high-precision measurements of length changes do not necessarily translate into highly accurate measurements of length changes, resulting in uncertainty in obtaining structural information about protein conformational changes. Actually achieving highly precise and accurate force spectroscopy measurements remains a challenge. Here, we report a protein caliper method that eliminates systematic errors that occur during single-protein force spectroscopy measurements, and thus achieves highly precise and accurate length change measurements in protein mechanics studies. To do this, a series of loop elongation variants of the small protein GB1, which differ by 2, 5, 10, 15, and 24 amino acid residues, were engineered. Differential measurements of amino acid residue length obtained from different AFM setups result in a precise measure of the length of a single amino acid residue, which varies within different AFM setups because of systematic error between individual AFM piezoelectric calibrations. The measured length of a single amino acid residue from a given AFM setup is then used as a caliper for the given setup to eliminate systematic error, leading to highly accurate and precise measurements of the number of amino acid residues that are involved in a conformation change of a polypeptide chain. We further developed a more precise, robust, and model-free method to determine the apparent size of single amino acid residues and conformational changes of proteins. This method improves the accuracy of single protein force spectroscopy measurements, providing an accurate means of measuring force-induced protein conformational changes.

Mechanical force analysis of peptide interactions using atomic force microscopy

Some peptides have previously been reported to bind low molecular weight chemicals. One such peptide with the amino acid sequence His-Ala-Ser-Tyr-Ser was selectively screened from a phage library and bound to a cationic porphyrin, 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl)-21H,23H-porphine (TMpyP), with a binding constant of 10(5) M(-1) (J. Kawakami, T. Kitano, and N. Sugimoto, Chemical Communications, 1999, pp. 1765-1766). The proposed binding was due to pi-electron stacking from two aromatic amino acids of histidine and tyrosine. In this study, the weak interactions between TMpyP and the peptide were further investigated by force curve analysis using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The mechanical force required to unbind the peptide-porphyrin complex was measured by vertical movement of the AFM tip. Peptide self-assembled monolayers were formed on both a gold-coated mica substrate and a gold-coated AFM tip. The TMpyPs could bind between the two peptide layers when the peptide-immobilized AFM tip contacted the peptide-immobilized substrate in solution containing TMpyP. In the retracting process a force that ruptured the interaction between TMpyPs and peptides was observed. The unbinding force values correlated to the concentration of TMpyP. A detection limit of 100 ng/mL porphyrin was obtained for the force measurement, and was similar to surface plasmon resonance sensor detection limits. Furthermore, we calculated the product of the observed force and the length of the molecular elongation to determine the work required to unbind the complexes. The obtained values of unbinding work were in a reasonable range compared to the binding energy of porphyrin-peptide.