1
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Chen W, Li S, Albahi A, Ye S, Li J, Li B. The effect of konjac glucomannan on enzyme kinetics and fluorescence spectrometry of digestive enzymes: An in vitro research from the perspective of macromolecule crowding. Food Res Int 2024; 184:114247. [PMID: 38609226 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024]
Abstract
Konjac glucomannan (KGM) can significantly prolong gastrointestinal digestion. However, it is still worth investigating whether the macromolecular crowding (MMC) induced by KGM is correlated with digestion. In this paper, the MMC effect was quantified by fluorescence resonance energy transfer and microrheology, and the digests of starch, protein, and oil were determined. The digestive enzymes were analyzed by enzyme reaction kinetic and fluorescence quenching. The results showed that higher molecular weight (604.85 ∼ 1002.21 kDa) KGM created a larger MMC (>0.8), and influenced the digestion of macronutrients; the digests of starch, protein, and oil all decreased significantly. MMC induced by KGM decreased the Michaelis-Menten constants (Km and Vmax) of pancreatic α-amylase (PPA), pepsin (PEP), and pancreatic lipase (PPL). The larger MMC (>0.8) induced by KGM resulted in the decrease of fluorescence quenching constants (Ksv) in PPA and PPL, and the increase of Ksv in PEP. Therefore, varying degrees of MMC induced by KGM could play a role in regulating digestion and the inhibitory effect on digestion was more significant in a relatively more crowded environment induced by KGM. This study provides theoretical support for the strategies of nutrient digestion regulation from the perspective of MMC caused by dietary fiber.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjing Chen
- College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Shenzhen Institute of Nutrition and Health, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shenzhen 518000, China; Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China
| | - Sha Li
- College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Amgad Albahi
- College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Shuxin Ye
- College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Jing Li
- College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Shenzhen Institute of Nutrition and Health, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shenzhen 518000, China; Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China.
| | - Bin Li
- College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Shenzhen Institute of Nutrition and Health, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shenzhen 518000, China; Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China.
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2
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Raczyłło E, Gołowicz D, Skóra T, Kazimierczuk K, Kondrat S. Size Sensitivity of Metabolite Diffusion in Macromolecular Crowds. NANO LETTERS 2024; 24. [PMID: 38607288 PMCID: PMC11057039 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c05100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2023] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Metabolites play crucial roles in cellular processes, yet their diffusion in the densely packed interiors of cells remains poorly understood, compounded by conflicting reports in existing studies. Here, we employ pulsed-gradient stimulated-echo NMR and Brownian/Stokesian dynamics simulations to elucidate the behavior of nano- and subnanometer-sized tracers in crowded environments. Using Ficoll as a crowder, we observe a linear decrease in tracer diffusivity with increasing occupied volume fraction, persisting─somewhat surprisingly─up to volume fractions of 30-40%. While simulations suggest a linear correlation between diffusivity slowdown and particle size, experimental findings hint at a more intricate relationship, possibly influenced by Ficoll's porosity. Simulations and numerical calculations of tracer diffusivity in the E. coli cytoplasm show a nonlinear yet monotonic diffusion slowdown with particle size. We discuss our results in the context of nanoviscosity and discrepancies with existing studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edyta Raczyłło
- Institute
of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
- Department
of Theoretical Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Sciences, Faculty
of Chemistry, Maria Curie-Skłodowska
University in Lublin, 20-031 Lublin, Poland
| | - Dariusz Gołowicz
- Institute
of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Tomasz Skóra
- Institute
of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
- Scientific
Computing and Imaging Institute, University
of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States
| | | | - Svyatoslav Kondrat
- Institute
of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
- Institute
for Computational Physics, University of
Stuttgart 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
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3
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Grassmann G, Miotto M, Desantis F, Di Rienzo L, Tartaglia GG, Pastore A, Ruocco G, Monti M, Milanetti E. Computational Approaches to Predict Protein-Protein Interactions in Crowded Cellular Environments. Chem Rev 2024; 124:3932-3977. [PMID: 38535831 PMCID: PMC11009965 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00550] [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: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Investigating protein-protein interactions is crucial for understanding cellular biological processes because proteins often function within molecular complexes rather than in isolation. While experimental and computational methods have provided valuable insights into these interactions, they often overlook a critical factor: the crowded cellular environment. This environment significantly impacts protein behavior, including structural stability, diffusion, and ultimately the nature of binding. In this review, we discuss theoretical and computational approaches that allow the modeling of biological systems to guide and complement experiments and can thus significantly advance the investigation, and possibly the predictions, of protein-protein interactions in the crowded environment of cell cytoplasm. We explore topics such as statistical mechanics for lattice simulations, hydrodynamic interactions, diffusion processes in high-viscosity environments, and several methods based on molecular dynamics simulations. By synergistically leveraging methods from biophysics and computational biology, we review the state of the art of computational methods to study the impact of molecular crowding on protein-protein interactions and discuss its potential revolutionizing effects on the characterization of the human interactome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greta Grassmann
- Department
of Biochemical Sciences “Alessandro Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00185, Italy
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
| | - Mattia Miotto
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
| | - Fausta Desantis
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
- The
Open University Affiliated Research Centre at Istituto Italiano di
Tecnologia, Genoa 16163, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Di Rienzo
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
| | - Gian Gaetano Tartaglia
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
- Department
of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa 16163, Italy
- Center
for Human Technologies, Genoa 16152, Italy
| | - Annalisa Pastore
- Experiment
Division, European Synchrotron Radiation
Facility, Grenoble 38043, France
| | - Giancarlo Ruocco
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
- Department
of Physics, Sapienza University, Rome 00185, Italy
| | - Michele Monti
- RNA
System Biology Lab, Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa 16163, Italy
| | - Edoardo Milanetti
- Center
for Life Nano & Neuro Science, Istituto
Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome 00161, Italy
- Department
of Physics, Sapienza University, Rome 00185, Italy
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4
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Prass T, Garidel P, Blech M, Schäfer LV. Viscosity Prediction of High-Concentration Antibody Solutions with Atomistic Simulations. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:6129-6140. [PMID: 37757589 PMCID: PMC10565822 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023]
Abstract
The computational prediction of the viscosity of dense protein solutions is highly desirable, for example, in the early development phase of high-concentration biopharmaceutical formulations where the material needed for experimental determination is typically limited. Here, we use large-scale atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with explicit solvation to de novo predict the dynamic viscosities of solutions of a monoclonal IgG1 antibody (mAb) from the pressure fluctuations using a Green-Kubo approach. The viscosities at simulated mAb concentrations of 200 and 250 mg/mL are compared to the experimental values, which we measured with rotational rheometry. The computational viscosity of 24 mPa·s at the mAb concentration of 250 mg/mL matches the experimental value of 23 mPa·s obtained at a concentration of 213 mg/mL, indicating slightly different effective concentrations (or activities) in the MD simulations and in the experiments. This difference is assigned to a slight underestimation of the effective mAb-mAb interactions in the simulations, leading to a too loose dynamic mAb network that governs the viscosity. Taken together, this study demonstrates the feasibility of all-atom MD simulations for predicting the properties of dense mAb solutions and provides detailed microscopic insights into the underlying molecular interactions. At the same time, it also shows that there is room for further improvements and highlights challenges, such as the massive sampling required for computing collective properties of dense biomolecular solutions in the high-viscosity regime with reasonable statistical precision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias
M. Prass
- Center
for Theoretical Chemistry, Ruhr University
Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Patrick Garidel
- Boehringer
Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Innovation Unit, PDB, D-88397 Biberach
an der Riss, Germany
| | - Michaela Blech
- Boehringer
Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Innovation Unit, PDB, D-88397 Biberach
an der Riss, Germany
| | - Lars V. Schäfer
- Center
for Theoretical Chemistry, Ruhr University
Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
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5
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Hirai M, Arai S, Iwase H. Fibrillization Process of Human Amyloid-Beta Protein (1-40) under a Molecular Crowding Environment Mimicking the Interior of Living Cells Using Cell Debris. Molecules 2023; 28:6555. [PMID: 37764331 PMCID: PMC10535490 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28186555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular crowding environments play a crucial role in understanding the mechanisms of biological reactions. Inside living cells, a diverse array of molecules coexists within a volume fraction ranging from 10% to 30% v/v. However, conventional spectroscopic methods often face difficulties in selectively observing the structures of particular proteins or membranes within such molecularly crowded environments due to the presence of high background signals. Therefore, it is crucial to establish in vitro measurement conditions that closely resemble the intracellular environment. Meanwhile, the neutron scattering method offers a significant advantage in selectively observing target biological components, even within crowded environments. Recently, we have demonstrated a novel scattering method capable of selectively detecting the structures of targeted proteins or membranes in a closely mimicking intracellular milieu achieved utilizing whole-cell contents (deuterated-cell debris). This method relies on the inverse contrast matching technique in neutron scattering. By employing this method, we successfully observed the fibrillization process of human amyloid beta-protein (Aβ 1-40) under a molecular crowding environment (13.1% w/v cell debris, Aβ/cell debris = ~1/25 w/w) that closely mimics the interior of living cells. Aβ protein is well known as a major pathogenic component of Alzheimer's disease. The present results combining model simulation analyses clearly show that the intracellular environment facilitates the potential formation of even more intricate higher-order aggregates of Aβ proteins than those previously reported.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitsuhiro Hirai
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Gunma University, 4-2 Aramaki, Maebashi 371-8510, Gunma, Japan
| | - Shigeki Arai
- National Institute for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Tokai 319-1106, Ibaraki, Japan;
| | - Hiroki Iwase
- Comprehensive Research Organization for Science and Society (CROSS), Tokai 319-1106, Ibaraki, Japan;
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6
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Kusova AM, Rakipov IT, Zuev YF. Effects of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Crowding on Translational Diffusion of Rigid Bovine Serum Albumin and Disordered Alfa-Casein. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:11148. [PMID: 37446325 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241311148] [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: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Intracellular environment includes proteins, sugars, and nucleic acids interacting in restricted media. In the cytoplasm, the excluded volume effect takes up to 40% of the volume available for occupation by macromolecules. In this work, we tested several approaches modeling crowded solutions for protein diffusion. We experimentally showed how the protein diffusion deviates from conventional Brownian motion in artificial conditions modeling the alteration of medium viscosity and rigid spatial obstacles. The studied tracer proteins were globular bovine serum albumin and intrinsically disordered α-casein. Using the pulsed field gradient NMR, we investigated the translational diffusion of protein probes of different structures in homogeneous (glycerol) and heterogeneous (PEG 300/PEG 6000/PEG 40,000) solutions as a function of crowder concentration. Our results showed fundamentally different effects of homogeneous and heterogeneous crowded environments on protein self-diffusion. In addition, the applied "tracer on lattice" model showed that smaller crowding obstacles (PEG 300 and PEG 6000) create a dense net of restrictions noticeably hindering diffusing protein probes, whereas the large-sized PEG 40,000 creates a "less restricted" environment for the diffusive motion of protein molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra M Kusova
- Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lobachevsky Str. 2/31, Kazan 420111, Russia
| | - Ilnaz T Rakipov
- Institute of Chemistry, Kazan Federal University, Kremlevskaya Str. 18, Kazan 420008, Russia
| | - Yuriy F Zuev
- Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lobachevsky Str. 2/31, Kazan 420111, Russia
- Institute of Chemistry, Kazan Federal University, Kremlevskaya Str. 18, Kazan 420008, Russia
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7
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Kragelj J, Dumarieh R, Xiao Y, Frederick KK. Conformational ensembles explain NMR spectra of frozen intrinsically disordered proteins. Protein Sci 2023; 32:e4628. [PMID: 36930141 PMCID: PMC10108432 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 03/12/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
Protein regions which are intrinsically disordered, exist as an ensemble of rapidly interconverting structures. Cooling proteins to cryogenic temperatures for dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR studies suspends most of the motions, resulting in peaks that are broad but not featureless. To demonstrate that detailed conformational restraints can be retrieved from the peak shapes of frozen proteins alone, we developed and used a simulation framework to assign peak features to conformers in the ensemble. We validated our simulations by comparing them to spectra of α-synuclein acquired under different experimental conditions. Our assignments of peaks to discrete dihedral angle populations suggest that structural constraints are attainable under cryogenic conditions. The ability to infer ensemble populations from peak shapes has important implications for DNP MAS NMR studies of proteins with regions of disorder in living cells because chemical shifts are the most accessible measured parameter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaka Kragelj
- Department of BiophysicsUT Southwestern Medical CenterDallasTexas75390‐8816USA
- Present address:
National Institute of ChemistryHajdrihova 191001LjubljanaSlovenia
| | - Rania Dumarieh
- Department of BiophysicsUT Southwestern Medical CenterDallasTexas75390‐8816USA
| | - Yiling Xiao
- Department of BiophysicsUT Southwestern Medical CenterDallasTexas75390‐8816USA
| | - Kendra K. Frederick
- Department of BiophysicsUT Southwestern Medical CenterDallasTexas75390‐8816USA
- Center for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative DiseaseUT Southwestern Medical CenterDallasTexas75390USA
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8
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Ostrowska N, Feig M, Trylska J. Varying molecular interactions explain aspects of crowder-dependent enzyme function of a viral protease. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011054. [PMID: 37098073 PMCID: PMC10162569 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Biochemical processes in cells, including enzyme-catalyzed reactions, occur in crowded conditions with various background macromolecules occupying up to 40% of cytoplasm's volume. Viral enzymes in the host cell also encounter such crowded conditions as they often function at the endoplasmic reticulum membranes. We focus on an enzyme encoded by the hepatitis C virus, the NS3/4A protease, which is crucial for viral replication. We have previously found experimentally that synthetic crowders, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and branched polysucrose (Ficoll), differently affect the kinetic parameters of peptide hydrolysis catalyzed by NS3/4A. To gain understanding of the reasons for such behavior, we perform atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of NS3/4A in the presence of either PEG or Ficoll crowders and with and without the peptide substrates. We find that both crowder types make nanosecond long contacts with the protease and slow down its diffusion. However, they also affect the enzyme structural dynamics; crowders induce functionally relevant helical structures in the disordered parts of the protease cofactor, NS4A, with the PEG effect being more pronounced. Overall, PEG interactions with NS3/4A are slightly stronger but Ficoll forms more hydrogen bonds with NS3. The crowders also interact with substrates; we find that the substrate diffusion is reduced much more in the presence of PEG than Ficoll. However, contrary to NS3, the substrate interacts more strongly with Ficoll than with PEG crowders, with the substrate diffusion being similar to crowder diffusion. Importantly, crowders also affect the substrate-enzyme interactions. We observe that both PEG and Ficoll enhance the presence of substrates near the active site, especially near catalytic H57 but Ficoll crowders increase substrate binding more than PEG molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael Feig
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Joanna Trylska
- Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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9
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Pradhan S, Rath R, Biswas M. GB1 Dimerization in Crowders: A Multiple Resolution Approach. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:1570-1577. [PMID: 36858485 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
In-cell protein-protein association, which is crucial in enzyme catalysis and polymerization, occurs in an environment that is highly heterogeneous and crowded. The crowder molecules exclude the reactant molecules from occupying certain regions of the cell, resulting in changes in the reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. Recent studies, both experiment and simulations, revealed that the nature of the interaction between crowder and protein species, in particular the soft interactions, plays an important role in crowder induced effects on protein association. To this end, from a simulation perspective, it is important to decipher the level of structural resolution in a protein-crowder model that can faithfully capture the influence of crowding on protein association. Here, we investigate the dimerization of model system GB1 in the presence of lysozyme crowders at two structural resolutions. The lower resolution model assumes both protein and crowder species as spherical beads, similar to the analytical scaled particle theory model, whereas the higher resolution model retains residue specific structural details for protein and crowder species. From the higher resolution model, it is found that GB1 dimer formation is destabilized in the presence of lysozyme crowders, and the destabilization is more for the side-by-side dimer compared to the domain-swapped dimer, in qualitative agreement with experimental findings. However, the low resolution CG model predicts stabilization of the dimers in the presence of the lysozyme crowder, similar to the SPT model. Our results indicate a nontrivial role of the choice of model resolution in computer simulation studies investigating crowder induced effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sweta Pradhan
- National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela 769008, India
| | - Rajendra Rath
- National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela 769008, India
| | - Mithun Biswas
- National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela 769008, India
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10
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Sanjeev BS, Chitara D, Madhumalar A. Physiological models to study the effect of molecular crowding on multi-drug bound proteins: insights from SARS-CoV-2 main protease. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2022; 40:13564-13580. [PMID: 34699337 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2021.1993342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Molecular Dynamics simulations are often used in drug design. However, such simulations do not account for the physiological environment of the receptor; hence overlook its impact on biomolecular interactions. To address this lacuna, we identified three objectives to pursue - develop models of physiological environment, study a drug-receptor complex in such environments, and identify methods to analyze these complicated simulations. Two novel physiological models were developed and studied. The first, called 'm10', comprises of 10 of the most abundant cytoplasmic metabolites at physiological concentrations. The second, called 'phy', supplements m10 with an additional crowder protein to elicit macromolecular crowding effect. The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, being essential for viral replication, is an attractive drug target for COVID-19. Hence, we chose Mpro docked with multiple drugs as our model drug-receptor system. With a plethora of compounds, physiological systems can be exceedingly large and complex. A novel Spark-based software (SparkTraj) was developed to rapidly analyze non-specific contacts and water interactions. Our study shows that crowding enhances the difference in the dynamics of apo- vs drug-bound complexes. Metabolites, at times as a cluster, were seen interacting with the protease, drugs, and binding sites in drug-free receptor. Except one that crawled to an adjacent pocket in phy, the drugs remained in their respective pockets in all simulations. Given these observations, we hope that the models and approach presented here would help the optimization, evaluation, and selection of potential drugs. Generic biomolecular dynamics could also benefit from such models and tools.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- B S Sanjeev
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, India
| | - Dheeraj Chitara
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, India
| | - Arumugam Madhumalar
- Multidisciplinary Centre for Advanced Research and Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
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11
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Rodriguez Barroso LG, Azaman FA, Pogue R, Devine D, Fournet MB. Monitoring In Vitro Extracellular Matrix Protein Conformations in the Presence of Biomimetic Bone-Regeneration Scaffolds Using Functionalized Gold-Edge-Coated Triangular Silver Nanoparticles. NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 13:57. [PMID: 36615967 PMCID: PMC9823344 DOI: 10.3390/nano13010057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
In the cellular environment, high noise levels, such as fluctuations in biochemical reactions, protein variability, molecular diffusion, cell-to-cell contact, and pH, can both mediate and interfere with cellular functions. In this work, gold edge-coated triangular silver nanoparticles (AuTSNP) were validated as a promising new tool to indicate protein conformational transitions in cultured cells and to monitor essential protein activity in the presence of an optimized bone biomimetic chitosan-based scaffold whose rational design mimics the ECM as a natural scaffold. A chitosan-based scaffold formulation with hydroxyapatite (CS/HAp) was selected due to its promising features for orthopedic applications, including combined high mechanical strength biocompatibility and biodegradability. Functionalized AuTSNP-based tests with the model ECM protein, fibronectin (Fn), illustrate that the protein interactions can be clearly sensed over time through the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) technique. This demonstrates that AuTNSP are a powerful tool to detect protein conformational activity in the presence of biomimetic bone tissue regeneration scaffolds within a cellular environment that comprises a diversity of molecular cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura G. Rodriguez Barroso
- Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Dublin Rd., N37 HD68 Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
| | - Farah Alwani Azaman
- Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Dublin Rd., N37 HD68 Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
| | - Robert Pogue
- Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Dublin Rd., N37 HD68 Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
- Universidade Católica de Brasília, Campus Asa Norte. SGAN Módulo B 916 Avenida W5—Asa Norte, Brasilia 70790-160-DF, Brazil
| | - Declan Devine
- Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Dublin Rd., N37 HD68 Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
| | - Margaret Brennan Fournet
- Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Dublin Rd., N37 HD68 Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
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12
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Dutta P, Roy P, Sengupta N. Effects of External Perturbations on Protein Systems: A Microscopic View. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:44556-44572. [PMID: 36530249 PMCID: PMC9753117 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c06199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Protein folding can be viewed as the origami engineering of biology resulting from the long process of evolution. Even decades after its recognition, research efforts worldwide focus on demystifying molecular factors that underlie protein structure-function relationships; this is particularly relevant in the era of proteopathic disease. A complex co-occurrence of different physicochemical factors such as temperature, pressure, solvent, cosolvent, macromolecular crowding, confinement, and mutations that represent realistic biological environments are known to modulate the folding process and protein stability in unique ways. In the current review, we have contextually summarized the substantial efforts in unveiling individual effects of these perturbative factors, with major attention toward bottom-up approaches. Moreover, we briefly present some of the biotechnological applications of the insights derived from these studies over various applications including pharmaceuticals, biofuels, cryopreservation, and novel materials. Finally, we conclude by summarizing the challenges in studying the combined effects of multifactorial perturbations in protein folding and refer to complementary advances in experiment and computational techniques that lend insights to the emergent challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pallab Dutta
- Department
of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute
of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, Mohanpur741246, India
| | - Priti Roy
- Department
of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute
of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, Mohanpur741246, India
- Department
of Chemistry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma74078, United States
| | - Neelanjana Sengupta
- Department
of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute
of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, Mohanpur741246, India
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13
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Niu Z, Hasegawa K, Deng Y, Zhang Z, Rafailovich M, Simon M, Zhang P. Modeling of the thermal properties of SARS-CoV-2 S-protein. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:953064. [PMID: 36237574 PMCID: PMC9550926 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.953064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
We calculate the thermal and conformational states of the spike glycoprotein (S-protein) of SARS-CoV-2 at seven temperatures ranging from 3°C to 95°C by all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) µs-scale simulations with the objectives to understand the structural variations on the temperatures and to determine the potential phase transition while trying to correlate such findings of the S-protein with the observed properties of the SARS-CoV2. Our simulations revealed the following thermal properties of the S-protein: 1) It is structurally stable at 3°C, agreeing with observations that the virus stays active for more than two weeks in the cold supply chain; 2) Its structure varies more significantly at temperature values of 60°C-80°C; 3) The sharpest structural variations occur near 60°C, signaling a plausible critical temperature nearby; 4) The maximum deviation of the receptor-binding domain at 37°C, corroborating the anecdotal observations that the virus is most infective at 37°C; 5) The in silico data agree with reported experiments of the SARS-CoV-2 survival times from weeks to seconds by our clustering approach analysis. Our MD simulations at µs scales demonstrated the S-protein's thermodynamics of the critical states at around 60°C, and the stable and denatured states for temperatures below and above this value, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyuan Niu
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Karin Hasegawa
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Yuefan Deng
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
- Mathematics, Division of Science, New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Ziji Zhang
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Miriam Rafailovich
- Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Marcia Simon
- Department of Oral Biology and Pathology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Peng Zhang
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
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14
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Beck C, Grimaldo M, Lopez H, Da Vela S, Sohmen B, Zhang F, Oettel M, Barrat JL, Roosen-Runge F, Schreiber F, Seydel T. Short-Time Transport Properties of Bidisperse Suspensions of Immunoglobulins and Serum Albumins Consistent with a Colloid Physics Picture. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:7400-7408. [PMID: 36112146 PMCID: PMC9527755 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c02380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
![]()
The crowded environment of biological systems such as
the interior
of living cells is occupied by macromolecules with a broad size distribution.
This situation of polydispersity might influence the dependence of
the diffusive dynamics of a given tracer macromolecule in a monodisperse
solution on its hydrodynamic size and on the volume fraction. The
resulting size dependence of diffusive transport crucially influences
the function of a living cell. Here, we investigate a simplified model
system consisting of two constituents in aqueous solution, namely,
of the proteins bovine serum albumin (BSA) and bovine polyclonal gamma-globulin
(Ig), systematically depending on the total volume fraction and ratio
of these constituents. From high-resolution quasi-elastic neutron
spectroscopy, the separate apparent short-time diffusion coefficients
for BSA and Ig in the mixture are extracted, which show substantial
deviations from the diffusion coefficients measured in monodisperse
solutions at the same total volume fraction. These deviations can
be modeled quantitatively using results from the short-time rotational
and translational diffusion in a two-component hard sphere system
with two distinct, effective hydrodynamic radii. Thus, we find that
a simple colloid picture well describes short-time diffusion in binary
mixtures as a function of the mixing ratio and the total volume fraction.
Notably, the self-diffusion of the smaller protein BSA in the mixture
is faster than the diffusion in a pure BSA solution, whereas the self-diffusion
of Ig in the mixture is slower than in the pure Ig solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Beck
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Institut Max von Laue─Paul Langevin (ILL), CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
| | - Marco Grimaldo
- Institut Max von Laue─Paul Langevin (ILL), CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
| | - Hender Lopez
- School of Physics and Optometric & Clinical Sciences, Technological University Dublin, D07 XT95 Grangegorman, Ireland
| | - Stefano Da Vela
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Benedikt Sohmen
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Fajun Zhang
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Martin Oettel
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Felix Roosen-Runge
- Department of Biomedical Science and Biofilms-Research Center for Biointerfaces (BRCB), Malmö University, 20506 Malmö, Sweden
| | - Frank Schreiber
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Tilo Seydel
- Institut Max von Laue─Paul Langevin (ILL), CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
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15
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J-aggregation of 5, 10, 15, 20-tetraphenyl-21H, 23H-porphinetetrasulfonic acid in a molecular crowding environment simulated using dextran. ANAL SCI 2022; 38:1505-1512. [PMID: 36050568 DOI: 10.1007/s44211-022-00185-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
In a molecular crowding environment, different thermodynamics is often observed in a dilute solution. One such example is the promotion of the formation of amyloids, which are causal agents of Alzheimer's disease. Although a considerable number of molecular crowding studies have been reported, its effect remains unclear. In this study, we investigated a J-aggregation of a porphyrin derivative, 5, 10, 15, 20-tetraphenyl-21H,23H-porphinetetrasulfonic acid (TPPS), in a molecular crowding environment simulated by dextran (Dex) in HClO4, HCl, and NaCl solutions. The changes in the number of monomers in the J-aggregate (n) with the concentration of Dex (CDex) depended on the type of solution. No change in n was observed in the NaCl solution, which indicated that the Dex solution did not affect the J-aggregation because of the ionic strength effect. In the HCl solution, the aggregation behavior changed with the pH. Further, at a low pH, the electrostatic interactions promoted J-aggregation by the volume exclusion of Dex, while the aggregation was suppressed at a high pH owing to steric hindrance. A different aggregation mechanism, involving the hydrogen bonding between NH in the center of the TPPS macrocyclic frame and the SO3H and ClO4- functional groups, was responsible for the J-aggregation in the HClO4 solution. Moreover, the n value increased owing to the volume exclusion effect. We expect that this study will be useful for further elucidation of the molecular crowding effect.
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16
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You X, Baiz CR. Importance of Hydrogen Bonding in Crowded Environments: A Physical Chemistry Perspective. J Phys Chem A 2022; 126:5881-5889. [PMID: 35968816 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c03803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cells are heterogeneous on every length and time scale; cytosol contains thousands of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and small molecules, and molecular interactions within this crowded environment determine the structure, dynamics, and stability of biomolecules. For decades, the effects of crowding at the atomistic scale have been overlooked in favor of more tractable models largely based on thermodynamics. Crowding can affect the conformations and stability of biomolecules by modulating water structure and dynamics within the cell, and these effects are nonlocal and environment dependent. Thus, characterizing water's hydrogen-bond (H-bond) networks is a critical step toward a complete microscopic crowding model. This perspective provides an overview of molecular crowding and describes recent time-resolved spectroscopy approaches investigating H-bond networks and dynamics in crowded or otherwise complex aqueous environments. Ultrafast spectroscopy combined with atomistic simulations has emerged as a powerful combination for studying H-bond structure and dynamics in heterogeneous multicomponent systems. We discuss the ongoing challenges toward developing a complete atomistic description of macromolecular crowding from an experimental as well as a theoretical perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao You
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 19104, United States
| | - Carlos R Baiz
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 19104, United States
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17
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Miyagawa A, Komatsu H, Nagatomo S, Nakatani K. Acid Dissociation Behavior of 8-Hydroxyquinoline-5-Sulfonic Acid in Molecular Crowding Environment Modeled Using Polyethylene Glycol. J Mol Liq 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2022.119526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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18
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Liu D, Qiu Y, Li Q, Zhang H. Atomistic Simulation of Lysozyme in Solutions Crowded by Tetraethylene Glycol: Force Field Dependence. MOLECULES (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 27:molecules27072110. [PMID: 35408509 PMCID: PMC9000840 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27072110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The behavior of biomolecules in crowded environments remains largely unknown due to the accuracy of simulation models and the limited experimental data for comparison. Here we chose a small crowder of tetraethylene glycol (PEG-4) to investigate the self-crowding of PEG-4 solutions and molecular crowding effects on the structure and diffusion of lysozyme at varied concentrations from dilute water to pure PEG-4 liquid. Two Amber-like force fields of Amber14SB and a99SB-disp were examined with TIP3P (fast diffusivity and low viscosity) and a99SB-disp (slow diffusivity and high viscosity) water models, respectively. Compared to the Amber14SB protein simulations, the a99SB-disp model yields more coordinated water and less PEG-4 molecules, less intramolecular hydrogen bonds (HBs), more protein-water HBs, and less protein-PEG HBs as well as stronger interactions and more hydrophilic and less hydrophobic contacts with solvent molecules. The a99SB-disp model offers comparable protein-solvent interactions in concentrated PEG-4 solutions to that in pure water. The PEG-4 crowding leads to a slow-down in the diffusivity of water, PEG-4, and protein, and the decline in the diffusion from atomistic simulations is close to or faster than the hard sphere model that neglects attractive interactions. Despite these differences, the overall structure of lysozyme appears to be maintained well at different PEG-4 concentrations for both force fields, except a slightly large deviation at 370 K at low concentrations with the a99SB-disp model. This is mainly attributed to the strong intramolecular interactions of the protein in the Amber14SB force field and to the large viscosity of the a99SB-disp water model. The results indicate that the protein force fields and the viscosity of crowder solutions affect the simulation of biomolecules under crowding conditions.
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19
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Beltrán HI, Alas-Guardado SJ, González-Pérez PP. Improving coarse-grained models of protein folding through weighting of polar-polar/hydrophobic-hydrophobic interactions into crowded spaces. J Mol Model 2022; 28:87. [PMID: 35262807 DOI: 10.1007/s00894-022-05071-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Herein were tested 7 hydrophobic-polar sequences in two types of 2D-square space lattices, homogeneous and correlated, the latter simulating molecular crowding included as a geometric boundary restriction. Optimization of 2D structures was carried out using a variant of Dill's model, inspired by convex function, taking into account both hydrophobic (Dill's model) and polar interactions, including more structural information to reach better folding solutions. While using correlated networks, degrees of freedom in the folding of sequences were limited; as a result in all cases, more successful structural trials were found in comparison to a homogeneous lattice. The majority of employed sequences were designed by our workgroup, two of them were folded with other approaches, and another is a modified version of a previous sequence, initial forms of the other two have been employed but without taking into account polar-polar contributions. Three of them are newly proposed, intended to test the conjoint hydrophobic-hydrophobic and polar-polar contributions in crowded spaces. One sequence turned out to be the most difficult of the seven folded, this perhaps due to intrinsic (i) degrees of freedom and (ii) motifs of the expected 2D HP structure. Meanwhile two-sequence, although optimal folding was not achieved for neither of the two approaches, folding with correlated network approach not only produced better results than homogeneous space, but for them the best values found with crowding were very close to the expected optimal fitness. In general, five sequences were better folded with medium lattice units for correlated media; instead, another two sequences were better folded with a bit larger degree of lattice unit, revealing that depending on the degrees of freedom and particular folding, motifs in each sequence would require tuned crowding to achieve better folding. Therefore, the main goal herein was to obtain a modified 2D HP lattice model to mimic folding of proteins or secondary structures, like β-sheets, taking into account both hydrophobic-hydrophobic and polar-polar interactions, and fold them in a crowded environment. This simple but enough construction would be conducted to determine the needed information to fold sequences in a sort of a minimal but complete heuristic model. Finally, we claim that all folded sequences into crowded spaces achieve better results than homogeneous ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiram Isaac Beltrán
- Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Azcapotzalco, CDMX 02200, Mexico, Mexico
| | - Salomón J Alas-Guardado
- Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Cuajimalpa, CDMX 05300, Mexico, Mexico.
| | - Pedro Pablo González-Pérez
- Departamento de Matemáticas Aplicadas y Sistemas, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Cuajimalpa, CDMX 05300, Mexico, Mexico.
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20
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Sapp K, Sodt AJ. Observed steric crowding at modest coverage requires a particular membrane-binding scheme or a complementary mechanism. Biophys J 2022; 121:430-438. [PMID: 34971618 PMCID: PMC8822614 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.12.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 08/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Membrane shape transitions, including fusion and fission, play an important role in many biological processes. It is therefore essential to understand mechanisms of "curvature generation," the mathematical quantification of membrane shape. Among the different mechanisms is the effect of steric pressure between proteins crowded on a surface. At a higher curvature, there is more space for the crowders and less steric pressure. Currently, the physical model of curvature induction by crowding views the proteins as being bound to the surface as a whole rather than to the underlying lipids. Here, we split the previously understood model into two pieces: first, the reduction in steric pressure due to reduced collisions between proteins, and second, the increased area available to the protein that is independent of other crowders. The cases are distinguished by how the crowder is attached to the membrane. When a protein is attached to a specific lipid, as is the case in a typical crowding experiment, one should not model its lateral entropy; this has already been accounted for by the underlying lipid. The Carnahan-Starling pressure includes this lateral entropy. The revised theory predicts that a purely entropic crowding mechanism is inconsistent with observations of reshaping at the lower range of surface coverage, suggesting that an additional mechanism is at play.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kayla Sapp
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Alexander J. Sodt
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland,Corresponding author
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21
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Miyagawa A, Komatsu H, Nagatomo S, Nakatani K. Effect of Molecular Crowding on Complexation of Metal Ions and 8-Quinolinol-5-Sulfonic Acid. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:9853-9859. [PMID: 34410719 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c05851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The effect of molecular crowding on macromolecular reactions has been revealed by many researchers. In this study, we investigate the complexation of metal ions (Zn, Co, and Cd) with 8-quinolinol-5-sulfonic acid as a model of small-molecular reactions in molecular crowding. The complexation constants for 1:1, 1:2, and total complexation in the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG, a molecular crowding reagent) are evaluated based on the increase in the reactant activity by volume exclusion and the decrease in the water activity due to the change in osmotic pressure. All complexation constants are enhanced by increasing the concentration of PEG. Its mechanisms differ for 1:1, 1:2, and total complexation. The 1:1 complexation is promoted only by the influence of the water activity, while the reactant and water activities influence the increase in the 1:2 complexation constant. Increasing the molecular weight of PEG further increases the complexation constants, as dehydration of the complex is promoted by a higher hydration number of PEG. Because this study gives the fundamental knowledge for the protein-metal interaction, in which solvation is an important factor, in molecular crowding, it provides new insights into molecular crowding studies and should attract the attention of a broad spectrum of biochemistry researchers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akihisa Miyagawa
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Komatsu
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
| | - Shigenori Nagatomo
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
| | - Kiyoharu Nakatani
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
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22
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Computational methods for exploring protein conformations. Biochem Soc Trans 2021; 48:1707-1724. [PMID: 32756904 PMCID: PMC7458412 DOI: 10.1042/bst20200193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 07/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Proteins are dynamic molecules that can transition between a potentially wide range of structures comprising their conformational ensemble. The nature of these conformations and their relative probabilities are described by a high-dimensional free energy landscape. While computer simulation techniques such as molecular dynamics simulations allow characterisation of the metastable conformational states and the transitions between them, and thus free energy landscapes, to be characterised, the barriers between states can be high, precluding efficient sampling without substantial computational resources. Over the past decades, a dizzying array of methods have emerged for enhancing conformational sampling, and for projecting the free energy landscape onto a reduced set of dimensions that allow conformational states to be distinguished, known as collective variables (CVs), along which sampling may be directed. Here, a brief description of what biomolecular simulation entails is followed by a more detailed exposition of the nature of CVs and methods for determining these, and, lastly, an overview of the myriad different approaches for enhancing conformational sampling, most of which rely upon CVs, including new advances in both CV determination and conformational sampling due to machine learning.
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23
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Stadmiller SS, Pielak GJ. Protein-complex stability in cells and in vitro under crowded conditions. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2020; 66:183-192. [PMID: 33285342 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2020.10.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 10/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Biology is beginning to appreciate the effects of the crowded and complex intracellular environment on the equilibrium thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding. The next logical step involves the interactions between proteins. We review quantitative, wet-experiment based efforts aimed at understanding how and why high concentrations of small molecules, synthetic polymers, biologically relevant cosolutes and the interior of living cells affect the energetics of protein-protein interactions. We then address popular theories used to explain the effects and suggest expeditious paths for a more methodical integration of experiment and simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha S Stadmiller
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA
| | - Gary J Pielak
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
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24
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Pittas T, Zuo W, Boersma AJ. Engineering crowding sensitivity into protein linkers. Methods Enzymol 2020; 647:51-81. [PMID: 33482994 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2020.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The intracellular environment contains a high concentration of biomacromolecules that present steric barriers and ample surface area for weak chemical interactions. Consequently, these forces influence protein conformations and protein self-assembly, with an outcome that depends on the sum of the effects resulting from crowding. Linkers are disordered domains that lack tertiary structure, and this flexible nature would render them susceptible to compression or extension under crowded conditions, compared to the equilibrium conformation in a dilute buffer. The change in distance between the linked proteins can become essential where it attenuates protein activity. In this chapter, we first discuss the experimental findings in vitro and in the cell on how linkers and other relevant macromolecules are affected by crowding. We focus on the dependence on the linker's size, flexibility, and the intra- and intermolecular interactions. Although the experimental data on the systematic variation of proteins in a buffer and cells is limited, extrapolating the available insights allows us to propose a protocol on how to engineer the directionality of crowding effects in the linker. Finally, we describe a straightforward experimental protocol on the determination of crowding sensitivity in a buffer and cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theodoros Pittas
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany; Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Weiyan Zuo
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany; Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Arnold J Boersma
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany; Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
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25
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Stadmiller SS, Aguilar JS, Parnham S, Pielak GJ. Protein–Peptide Binding Energetics under Crowded Conditions. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:9297-9309. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c05578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Samantha S. Stadmiller
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Jhoan S. Aguilar
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Stuart Parnham
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Gary J. Pielak
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
- Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
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26
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Chalikian TV, Liu L, Macgregor RB. Duplex-tetraplex equilibria in guanine- and cytosine-rich DNA. Biophys Chem 2020; 267:106473. [PMID: 33031980 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2020.106473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Noncanonical four-stranded DNA structures, including G-quadruplexes and i-motifs, have been discovered in the cell and are implicated in a variety of genomic regulatory functions. The tendency of a specific guanine- and cytosine-rich region of genomic DNA to adopt a four-stranded conformation depends on its ability to overcome the constraints of duplex base-pairing by undergoing consecutive duplex-to-coil and coil-to-tetraplex transitions. The latter ability is determined by the balance between the free energies of participating ordered and disordered structures. In this review, we present an overview of the literature on the stability of G-quadruplex and i-motif structures and discuss the extent of duplex-tetraplex competition as a function of the sequence context of the DNA and environmental conditions including temperature, pH, salt, molecular crowding, and the presence of G-quadruplex-binding ligands. We outline how the results of in vitro studies can be expanded to understanding duplex-tetraplex equilibria in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tigran V Chalikian
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3M2, Canada.
| | - Lutan Liu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Robert B Macgregor
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3M2, Canada
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27
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Flanagan JC, Cardenas AE, Baiz CR. Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Lipid-Water Interfaces: Transmembrane Crowding Drives H-Bond Dynamics. J Phys Chem Lett 2020; 11:4093-4098. [PMID: 32364385 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c00783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Biology takes place in crowded, heterogeneous environments, and it is therefore essential to account for crowding effects in our understanding of biophysical processes at the molecular level. Comparable to the cytosol, proteins occupy approximately 30% of the plasma membrane surface; thus, crowding should have an effect on the local structure and dynamics at the lipid-water interface. Using a combination of ultrafast two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations, we quantify the effects of membrane peptide concentration on the picosecond interfacial H-bond dynamics. The measurements reveal a nonmonotonic dependence of water orientation and dynamics as a function of transmembrane peptide:lipid ratio. We observe three dynamical regimes: a "pure lipid-like" regime at low peptide concentrations, a bulk-like region at intermediate peptide concentrations where dynamics are faster by ∼20% compared to those of the pure lipid bilayer, and a crowded regime where high peptide concentrations slow dynamics by ∼50%.
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Timr S, Madern D, Sterpone F. Protein thermal stability. PROGRESS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE 2020; 170:239-272. [PMID: 32145947 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2019.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Proteins, in general, fold to a well-organized three-dimensional structure in order to function. The stability of this functional shape can be perturbed by external environmental conditions, such as temperature. Understanding the molecular factors underlying the resistance of proteins to the thermal stress has important consequences. First of all, it can aid the design of thermostable enzymes able to perform efficient catalysis in the high-temperature regime. Second, it is an essential brick of knowledge required to decipher the evolutionary pathways of life adaptation on Earth. Thanks to the development of atomistic simulations and ad hoc enhanced sampling techniques, it is now possible to investigate this problem in silico, and therefore provide support to experiments. After having described the methodological aspects, the chapter proposes an extended discussion on two problems. First, we focus on thermophilic proteins, a perfect model to address the issue of thermal stability and molecular evolution. Second, we discuss the issue of how protein thermal stability is affected by crowded in vivo-like conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stepan Timr
- CNRS, Université de Paris, UPR 9080, Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, Paris, France; Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique-Fondation Edmond de Rothschild, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | | | - Fabio Sterpone
- CNRS, Université de Paris, UPR 9080, Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, Paris, France; Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique-Fondation Edmond de Rothschild, PSL Research University, Paris, France.
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Oliveira Bortot L, Bashardanesh Z, van der Spoel D. Making Soup: Preparing and Validating Models of the Bacterial Cytoplasm for Molecular Simulation. J Chem Inf Model 2019; 60:322-331. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Leandro Oliveira Bortot
- Laboratory of Biological Physics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida do Café s/n, 14040-903 Ribeirão Preto-SP, Brazil
| | - Zahedeh Bashardanesh
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Box 596, SE-75124 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - David van der Spoel
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Box 596, SE-75124 Uppsala, Sweden
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